Entries from March 2008 ↓

This is definitely the future of 3D. Remember when the first big screen TVs came out? You had to sit directly in front of them to get a good picture. Well, we’re getting back to that again with the new 3D TVs. Since they project two sets of images, the angle is important — however it won’t be long before they fix that. This article is awesome and talks about the capabilities that already exist. Samsung and others are going down the 3D glasses path and I just don’t see how 3D will move into homes if you need glasses. Wired magazine reports:

I entered a conference room in Manhattan and a woman on the TV tossed a handful of rose petals out of the screen, where they floated in the air before my eyes.

At least, that’s what I saw. In truth, the image resided on a perfectly flat, 42-inch LCD screen. But the 3-D illusion was fully believable, and I didn’t have to wear a dorky set of polarizing glasses.

A new line of 3-D televisions by Philips uses the familiar trick of sending slightly different images to the left and right eyes — mimicking our stereoscopic view of the real world. But where old-fashioned 3-D movies rely on the special glasses to block images meant for the other eye, Philips’ WOWvx technology places tiny lenses over each of the millions of red, green and blue sub pixels that make up an LCD or plasma screen. The lenses cause each sub pixel to project light at one of nine angles fanning out in front of the display.

A processor in the TV generates nine slightly different views corresponding to the different angles. From almost any location, a viewer catches a different image in each eye.

Read more here:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/08/71627

It seems many people are getting quite used to seeing 3D in the mainstream.  What cracks me up is that this younger generation of kids are not completely amazed by the 3D movement as I am — seems that because they grew up with xbox360’s and Wii’s and the like, they’re already fully prepared for this advance in entertainment television.  Check out this article about the proliferation of 3D into the mainstream…

The 3D phenomenon isn’t just something being discussed in theory at trade shows like ShoWest, since its practical uses have already had an impact with moviegoers. Last year, Robert Zemeckis’ animated epic Beowulf made much from its money from the theaters that were able to screen it in 3D, because there were a lot of moviegoers who wanted to see the adventure in that format and were ready to pay more money to do so. This year, there have already been 3D concert films from two of the biggest touring acts, with Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour setting a new per-theater average record when it opened in early February. James Cameron’s next movie Avatar, his first dramatic feature since Titanic over ten years ago scheduled for release in December 2009, is being filmed entirely using similar 3D technology as “Journey.”

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=43367

The SpectronIQ sets are going to retail for $5,999, and are also going to be bundled with a concert DVD as well as the CG-heavy movie “Beowulf.” It’s a bundling strategy that aims to provide as much content out of the box.

“We’ve been talking with movie companies, and they are all talking about producing more movies in 3D,” Bennett said. “When VCRs and DVD players came out, the question was always about content. The same thing is happening here.”

There you have it folks, 3D Television is turning into the next gold rush. BUT — without content it really is meaningless. I truly believe you’ll see more 3D content coming through the web as soon as a technology is available to produce 3D movies on your computer. Of course, the 3D production isn’t that difficult, but the 3D transmission is. Are there any standards/codecs for sending 3D video through the internet?

Read more about the Spectron IQ 3D TV and 3D movies here:

http://www.sbsun.com/living/ci_8708881

Samsung announced their plans to be a pioneer in the consumer 3D TV market. There seems to be a lot of talk about the new technology, however, I’m not sure if the tipping point for home 3D TVs will ever be hit until the TVs are under $1000 and they don’t require 3D glasses. Here’s a clip:

Samsung Unveils World’s 1st 3D Plasma TV
Samsung Electronics has commercialized 3D PDP TVs, a world first, in partnership with Electronic Arts (EA), the world’s largest game contents provider.

Samsung said the move reflects its ambitious strategy to take the lead in the 3D contents market as more and more consumers seek easy-to-use 3D home entertainment.

The 50-inch “PAVV Cannes 450’’ model is featured with the industry’s highest 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and can easily revive a deep black color thanks to the cutting-edge cell light control technology, according to the company.

“Users could see the latest generation of Hollywood 3D movies by wearing a designated eyewear and play 3D games by just connecting 3D-only software to PCs,’’ a Samsung spokesperson said on Thursday.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/02/123_19800.html