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3D TV: Are we there yet?

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The success of Avatar was the green light for the display industry to unveil large-screen, high definition 3D displays to the home-viewing market. 3D buffs will need to prepare for the expense of a new 3D display, special 3D viewing glasses for each viewer, a 3D-compatable Blu-Ray player, a 3D ready set-box and a subscription to 3D content from a satellite or cable provider.

Right now, most 3D broadcast content is limited to sports. There will be more interesting content soon, as the Discovery Channel announced this week that they will be broadcasting 3D 24/7 by 2011 and plans to continue investment in quality content. It is working in partnership with Sony.

Things have been moving slowly in the world of 3D TV. In April, a portion of the Masters golf tournament was broadcast in 3D by Comcast, limited to just two hours a day. For the next couple of weeks or so, you can view the 2010 World Cup tournament on the ESPN3D channel if you happen to have all of the necessary gear – and a passion for the sport. A warning: Recent reports from 3D TV viewers of the World Cup indicate that there are a few bugs to be worked out. Apparently some systems do not consistently auto-detect the 3D signal.

So what happens when we view things in 3D?

We see the real world in 3D because we have two eyes. Each eye takes in visual information from a slightly different angle – it is this information that helps our brain perceive depth, and is known as binocular vision.

Unlike ordinary video cameras that have just one lens, a 3D camera is really two cameras, to mimic human binocular vision. Like our eyes, the two camera lenses are slightly apart from each other, so they capture separate images at the same time. One camera focuses on the left angle of the scene, and the other camera lens focuses on the right angle. Video from the camera is run through a 3D processor to ensure that the images are consistent.

If the video is live via satellite, it is compressed by a digital MPEG HD encoder so it can be transmitted in high-definition format.The signal is picked up by a home mini-dish, processed through a set-top box, and then displayed on your 3D television.

It won’t truly work unless you wear special polarized 3D TV glasses, which are designed to let your brain perceive the images in 3D. With the glasses, your left eye will see only the images for the left eye, and your right eye will see only the images intended for the right. All of this fools your brain into perceiving the images are in 3D. The polarized glasses used to view new 3D displays are the same as those commonly used for viewing 3D movies in 3D movie theaters such as IMAX.

The 3D glasses most people remember were popular for watching 3D movies during the 1950’s. Called anaglyphic glasses, each lens is a different color, and filters the images so that each eye receives one image, similar to the process that takes place when viewing 3D content with polarized lenses.

The main problem with anaglyph glasses is that the colored filters reduce the perceived quality of the colors displayed in the image or movie. These glasses have gained renewed interest, since several magazines, such as Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, provide pictures of models in 3D.

Advances in technology provide a 3D viewing experience that is more comfortable than offered in the past. The 3D processing system calibrates things to take into consideration the distance of the images on the screen, movement, and the perception of depth from various points of view.

The problem is that there are differences in formats, and these differences have not played out in the market. Some systems won’t work with polarized glasses, as they require active shutter glasses. These glasses work well with the Sony and Panasonic HD plasma and LCD televisions. The shutters are embedded in the lenses of the glasses, and are designed to synchronize with signals from the display. The images are alternately displayed at a high speed, alternating the right and left eye images. As the viewer watches the display, the shutter action filters the images, producing the perception of depth.

So is 3D TV worth it? For most people, it might not be worth the expense until there is more content available.

A smattering of YouTube Video Clips about 3DTV:

ESPN 3D is Here!

Panasonic 3D TV

If you are thinking of adding 3D production skills to your creativity tool-kit, there are some important things to consider.

CES 2010: Sony 3D TVs and Active Shutter Glasses

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About the author: Lynn Marentette has over 20 years of professional experience as a school psychologist, and has used interactive multimedia applications and games with students who have disabilities since the early 1990’s. She is passionate about emerging collaborative technologies, natural user interactions and interfaces, and how the power of interactive multimedia can be harnessed in education. In addition to her work as a psychologist, she blogs about accessible off-the-desktop natural-user interfaces at “Interactive Multimedia Technology.”

Other posts that might interest you:

• The 3D Evolution: Part I, Introduction
• Evolution of 3D: Stereoscopic 3D Gaming
• Multimedia must see: Cisco Systems’ “You are the boss”

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