3D Movie Technology is Coming in 2010
Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and other HDTV manufacturers appear to be positioning themselves for new 3D movie technology introductions in 2010.
Several recent articles on consumer electronics web sites and news sites indicate that major television manufacturers are getting ready to introduce new 3D movie features for home theaters in 2010. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics show, we saw several HDTVs demonstrating 3D movie technology. Sony, Samsung and Panasonic each displayed 3D movie and gaming technology, but each used prototype televisions, not actual models ready for the market.
Samsung and Panasonic displayed 3D models using LCD shutter technology, which requires an emitter that synchronizes high speed LCD shutter glasses with alternating left-eye, right-eye images on an HDTV using a 120Hz or 240Hz refresh rate. Sony’s approach was different from that of the others, and they would not talk about the technology. Rather than using shutter technology, the Sony demonstration used polarized glasses from RealD. The speculation at the show was that Sony was using a dual-layer LCD display, or perhaps was alternating the polarization of the images on the screen. Both the LCD shutter technology and Sony’s top secret approach worked very well. The images were crisp and displayed great 3D depth without the ghosting problems that are common to the anaglyph 3D movie technology currently available for home viewing. Panasonic’s and Samsung’s LCD shutter technology was particularly impressive and was every bit as good as the RealD circular polarized technology found in movie theaters.
The technology to produce high quality 3D movies for home viewing is available today. What is holding things up is a standard for 3D movie technology. The industry obviously wants to avoid a technology war similar to the Blu-ray and HD DVD battles. A lot of companies were badly burned when they supported the wrong side of that debate. Several HDTV models from Mitsubishi and Samsung that are already available boast that they are 3D-ready, but that claim is questionable because no standard has been set.
A group called the 3D@Home Consortium and Korea’s 3D Fusion Industry Consortium recently announced that they have teamed up to form a 3D DVD home viewing standard. The 3D@Home Consortium has consumer electronics manufacturing members from Asia, USA and Europe, which makes them the ideal group to form a standard. In the USA, the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers is working on a standard to be used in the future for broadcasts. Because 3D broadcasts would require a lot of bandwidth that is not currently available in many areas, 3D broadcasting is probably several years away and will likely follow the standards set for DVD viewing.
Everyone could win if a standard is established that will work with standard HDTVs. The difficult part will be in adapting current HDTVs to use the new standard, or at least find a way to attach an emitter to current models so that shutter technology could be used to synchronize television images with wireless shutter glasses. If the new standard requires everyone to buy a new and expensive 3D HDTV, it will take many years before 3D home movies can become successful because most people will not replace newer LCD and plasma televisions just to gain 3D capabilities. The solution has to be fairly simple and not too expensive.
I suspect that we will see new 3D television models introduced at the upcoming January 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. The difference from last year will be that this time the manufacturers will likely have actual 3D HDTVs and devices that are ready for production.
Dina Haansley Says:
Looking forward to this, I think 3D technology is pretty awesome, when you can find something that really works or is worth watching. I tried to watch My Blood Valentine 3D version and I didn’t get the real 3D effect, maybe I should have watched it at the theater instead.
Doogie Says:
Hi Dina
There are a lot of variables to work with when trying to get anaglyph 3D moves to play on your home theater. I thought the 3D effects were pretty good with My Bloody Valentine. You have to get the brightness and contrast just right on your TV, plus the proper room lighting helps.
Try using out Tips for Better 3D. That might help.
From what I have seen with the new 3D technology, all of these problems should be going away. I just hope we will not be forced to invest $5000 in a new HDTV and equipment in order to get it to work.
Christopher Says:
There are plenty of 3D technologies out there, including the already available iZ3D Monitor (google search) for computers which allow true 3D in many of today’s PC Games. The monitor has been using the same technique that Sony has for longer, and I would not be surprised if the makers of iZ3D take Sony to court.
Phillips’ WOWvx display technology is the most impressive as it is a 3D display that does not require the need for assisted eye-wear. I also recommend a google search on this one.
Laser TVs coming from Australia are said to be compatible with Dolby3D technology, and if Laser TVs become popular in North America and Europe that could be an interesting development.
Current LCDs would not be compatible with the technology, as 60Hz TVs do not have enough frames in a second to provide smooth motion, and 120Hz TVs still only accept up to a 60Hz video signal and then use processors to create the illusion of 120Hz motion (although some LCD displays may accept a 75Hz signal from a PC input). Plasma’s also only accept up to a 60 Hz signal although Plasma TVs often boast a “600Hz Sub-field Motion” capability which, like 120Hz LCD TVs, is meant to smooth out motion to give a more life-like or desirable presentation. Though I do not have an intimate knowledge of Plasma technology, I believe that trying to get a plasma screen to switch between two perspectives of a scene 120 times a second or more could heat up the screen more, or wear down the materials or components in a way that could significantly shorten the lifespan of your investment.
There was a rumor that started due to a patent that Nintendo filed, surprisingly, that showed the possibility of using some sort of projector aimed at a television screen, or device atop a screen, to cause the display on the screen to seem 3-Dimensional without the use of assisted eye-wear. Unfortunately I’ve lost the source link to the patent. It is unknown whether Nintendo has this in R&D or if they have abandoned the idea, but if so it may be the only way to obtain 3D with the use of a standard screen.
My personal vote is that TVs go the way of iZ3D, using polarized dual-displays with Polarized glasses. If this became the standard technology, I would not be surprised if contact lenses became offered in polarized format so that enthusiasts and those hard of sight can enjoy the 3D experience without using bulky RealD glasses, and since such contact lenses would only have a small sunglasses-like effect on your sight, they can be worn daily. So you walk in to your local retail chain’s electronics department, and find it entirely natural to see all the TVs operating in polarized 3D, seeing objects pop in and out, before remembering that you only see it this way because of your polarized purchase.
I’m also a fan of this technology because I believe that if they ever get oLED technology right, producing all oLED TVs as polarized 3D compatible TVs from the get go would be like Sony putting Blu-ray in their PS3s, you inject the already interested market with a new technology, and it explodes as the clear winner. Organic-LED TVs are as bright and colorful as a Plasma, but offer thinner design, better contrast, and significantly lower power requirements than any of the competition. The brighter image and extraordinary 1,000,000:1 True Contrast Ratio (not Dynamic) would further reduce the illusion of ghosting and glowing effects around borders of contrasting 3D images, and provide a most excellent unmatched viewing experience. The End.
Well I have some more to say: as for 3D standard, a new HDMI standard may be on it’s way with a significant improvement in signal transfer. As they are considering adding new things like data networking into the HDMI standard, as well as a few other tidbits, they may (whether advertantly or inadvertantly) add the required bandwidth to provide two solid 1080p Full HD signals over a single cable. If the TV did not support the additional screen’s signal, it could be ignored, allowing the movie or game to be watched from the single side’s perspective. If it were supported, the recieving TV would choose (based on it’s 3D technology design) whether it needs both 1080p signals together (Polarized 3D solution or Philips WOWvx) or to alternate between them half-frame by half-frame (Shutter technology). Blu-ray Discs are also more than capable of leading the industry into High Definition 3D. BD Movies are released on 25 GB Single Layer and 50 GB Dual Layer Discs, more commonly now – the latter. However, during the design of BD format, there were Triple- and Quadrouple-Layer Discs, showing that the true capacity of a Blu-ray could reach 100 GBs a Disc. Players are not made to support this many layers to my knowledge, and simply using double-sided Dual-Layer Discs or 2-Disc sets would be more practical at this stage. However, convenience could see the release of compatible players if new players were needed for 3D viewing. And a note to that effect, 50 GBs should be enough for 1080P Movies under 2 hours (I would think).
Finally, a 3D standard should be chosen as early in 2010 as possible, but if the TV companies want to get consumers on their side, choosing a single method by which to deliver that 3D on their TV should be collaborated and agreed upon by all TV manufacturing parties. I sell TVs, and I can tell you that the market is already complicated enough – which brand, which is brighter, clearer, how much does it cost, how long will it last, and how good is the warrenty. Do not put more on the consumers table, if they want 3D, that’s already a new choice they will have to contend with and wait for content to be released for them to enjoy.
Thank you for reading.
Doogie Says:
Hi Christopher
Wow! That is quite a bit of interesting information. I have not seen the iZ3D technology, but it does sound remarkably similar the the Sony 3D approach that we saw at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2009. The Sony demo used standard movie theater RealD polarized glasses for 3D viewing. All of the others that we saw used shutter technology.
Like High definition movies, it all comes down to creating a standard 3D format that will work with multiple viewing technologies. It also needs to be reasonably priced. Not very many consumers will rush out to buy a special $5,000 3D LCD just to replace the $2000 display they already have.
Thanks for the info!