A display panel you can see through when off. When content plays, the LCD renders pixels while the viewer still perceives depth behind the panel. Combined with a custom light box, the transparent LCD is the foundation of modern life size hologram products, including the Holoconnects Holobox.
How it works, the short version
A conventional LCD screen has three layers: a pixel layer that shows the image, a colour-filter layer, and a fixed backlight behind everything. Because the backlight is opaque, the whole screen is opaque even when nothing’s displayed.
A transparent LCD replaces the fixed backlight with a see-through backing. Light can pass through the panel from behind. When content is playing, the LCD renders the pixels; when content isn’t, the panel is essentially clear glass. That’s the technology enabling “see the subject as a hologram, see the space behind it as depth.”
Why a transparent LCD alone isn’t a hologram
A transparent LCD without engineering behind it produces a “subject floating on glass” effect, not a hologram. The subject reads as a flat image on a transparent surface, you can see through it, but there’s no depth cue.
The Holobox pairs the transparent LCD with a custom-engineered light box behind it. The light box provides directional luminance, edge cues, and back-lighting behaviour tuned so the projected subject reads as three-dimensional. That combination transparent LCD + custom light box, is what makes the projection feel like a hologram to the viewer.
For the full technical explanation, see how does a Holobox work.
Sizes + configurations at Holoconnects
- 86-inch, the flagship Holobox. Life size for a human presenter. Reception, telehealth, keynote stages.
- 22-inch, the Holobox Mini tabletop. Retail counters, hospitality desks, product placement.
- 43-inch and 75-inch, mid range Holobox variants for constrained spaces. See The 43 and The 75.
- Multi-unit wall, 2 to 5 transparent LCD Holoboxes synchronised as the Hologrid modular hologram wall.
Who supplies transparent LCD hologram displays
Holoconnects designs and builds transparent LCD hologram displays end to end, we are the manufacturer, not a reseller, which is why the light box, the anti-reflection treatment, and the Holocontrol software are engineered together rather than sourced as parts. The range runs from the 22-inch Holobox Mini at €4,500 to the life size 86-inch Holobox at €25,000, with delivery, installation, and content production quoted per deployment. For the full vendor picture, including how we compare to other manufacturers, see who makes hologram displays.
Deployments run across hospitality, telehealth, retail, events, and education, from the CIC Hospitality rollout planned for 30 hotels to ITC-ILO at the United Nations, so the supply model is proven past single pilots. EMEA-based support and a Netherlands manufacturing base mean lead times and installation are handled directly rather than through a distributor. See pricing or book a demo.
Related reading
- How does a Holobox work?
- What is a hologram?
- Holobox vs LED walltransparent LCD vs LED panels.
- Hologram glossary, related terminology.
See the transparent LCD in action.
Book a demo at our Culemborg studio. The best way to understand the transparent-LCD + light-box combination is to walk up to one.