3D Insights

3D Success Still Coming Into Focus

As we move further past the one-year anniversary of the first 3D TV sets launched in the U.S., it’s clear 3D hasn’t leapt to the forefront of consumer technology market. But it hasn’t fallen completely into the background, either.

The recent announcement by Nintendo that it would dramatically cut the price of the Nintendo 3DS could be seen as another tough break for 3D products. In fact, Nintendo’s newest handheld gaming system overcame two of the most commonly cited objections for 3D–high prices for hardware and the need to wear glasses. Read more…

3D TV penetration to grow 50% in 2013

Spurred by rapid consumer acceptance, the 3D TV’s market penetration is projected to exceed 10 percent in 2011 and 50 percent in 2013, overtaking connected or Internet TVs. Consumer demand has also prompted local technology companies in Taiwan to develop and release new lines of 3D and Internet-enabled televisions in the second half of this year.

Leading these companies are Chimei Innolux (CMI), which announced plans to adopt active 3D TV panels for its large-size LED TVs, and BenQ, which will adopt passive 3D panel technology for its 3D TV product lines. Read more…

Is 3D in trouble… again?

With the disappointing box office results for the latest Pirates of the Caribbean and Kung Fu Panda installments, reports that 3D is in trouble have flooded a number of industry publications.

“Pirates of the Caribbean’s’ Low 3D Numbers in U.S. Could Be Wake-Up Call to Hollywood” read one Hollywood Reporter headline, with the story adding, “This summer will put 3D to the test…”

Variety also reported Pirates had the lowest 3D opening since Avatar brought the technology back strong in late 2009.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, who pushed 3D as the alleged salvation of the industry in the first place, told Hollywood Reporter that it’s “right smack in the terrible twos,” and that it’s “really heartbreaking to see what has been the single greatest opportunity that has happened to the film business in over a decade being harmed.”

Katzenberg said a year and a half ago “there was genuine excitement, enthusiasm and reward for the first group of 3D films that actually delivered a quality experience.”

Of course, converting a terrible movie to 3D isn’t going to make it any better, something audiences are wary of with movies like Clash of the Titans and The Last Airbender being converted to 3D, and both Pirates and Panda already felt played out, 3D or not. (Variety reported that according to the BO experts, Pirates probably wouldn’t have done better if it was completely released in 2D.)

Katzenberg also tap danced around the fact that 3D movie prices are very expensive in today’s economy.

“Quite frankly, there’s no industry in the world that doesn’t attempt to move the customer to a premium experience,” he told the Reporter. “I don’t care whether you make shoes or wine or iced tea or cars, everybody tries to create multiple price points. So why shouldn’t we be in the same business of offering our customer a premium experience at a premium price – as long as we deliver them a premium value?”

And even though DreamWorks is part of the problem with Kung Fu Panda 2, Katzenberg also insists, “We are not the problem,” claiming the technology is getting better every film, and the costs of the movies are much cheaper than three years ago as well.

Of course, nobody’s mentioning that 3D didn’t last long the first two times it was around in the fifties as well as in the brief two years or so it came back in the eighties, not to mention many haven’t bought the hype surrounding it this time around.

Both Hollywood Reporter stories also state that overseas 3D is still doing very well, the “appetite” for the technology being “virtually insatiable in such territories as Russia, China and Brazil.”

Variety reports that with 3D box office grosses fluctuating wildly, “it seems audiences haven’t been embracing the format to the extent they did when Avatar set the 3D gold standard,” but of course that’s a very tough benchmark to reach.

See the original report here>>

3D Active Shutter Technology On Toshiba’s Latest Satellite P Series

Computer Systems, a division of Toshiba Europe GmbH, today announced new models of its Satellite P series that come with integrated 3D active shutter technology. The Satellite P750 3D / P755 3D and the Satellite P770 3D / P775 3D offer everything movie and gaming enthusiasts are looking for. The 3D laptops bundled with 3D active shutter glasses will be available during the second quarter of 2011 in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

3D gaming and movie experience on the laptop’s display

The Satellite P series 3D laptop models let users enjoy 3D movies and games in first-class quality on the stereoscopic 39.6cm (15.6”) TruBrite® HD 3D (Satellite P750 3D / P755 3D) or 43.9cm (17.3”) TruBrite® Full HD 3D (Satellite P770 3D / P775 3D) displays. They all offer a rich 3D gaming and 3D movie experience in crystal-clear quality with a frame rate of 120Hz, dedicated 3D graphics and the support of NVIDIA® 3D VisionTM featuring a pair of 3D wireless active shutter glasses. Read more…

3D glasses: Big Sales Opportunity Or Big Hassle?

3D glasses are a double-edged sword for TV manufacturers. According to NPD’s 3D 360° Monitor, an aversion to wearing glasses is the second most popular reason consumers give for not wanting to purchase a 3D TV. But for those who do buy 3D TVs, glasses represent one of the best accessory sale opportunities TV manufacturers have had since the flat-panel mount. Ring up a family pack of four glasses and you can easily reach the price of what some manufacturers charge for a flat-panel 2D television by itself.

Indeed, rather than treat glasses as a throwaway, Samsung recently revamped its 3D glasses, cramming an impressive amount of technology into a wearable product 25 percent lighter than its predecessor. Read more…

Sony To Give First Year Post Mortem on PS3 3D Gaming

Per IGN:

Sony Computer Entertainment’s Vice President Mick Hocking will reveal whether it’s a happy first birthday for 3D gaming on PlayStation 3 during a keynote presentation at the Develop Conference in Brighton. Hocking’s address – The Stereoscopic 3D Experience: The First Year of 3D on PlayStation 3 – will take place at the Odeon Brighton cinema in full HD stereoscopic 3D and open the third day of the conference on Thursday 21 July.

Develop delegates will hear about the transition from promoting 3D gaming to actually delivering the experience into people’s homes, as well as tales about what can go wrong with 3D content and a glimpse into the future to see how new technologies may shape the 3D gaming experience in coming years. Read more…

Global 3D TV Market To Grow 5-Fold In 2011: iSuppli

The global 3D television market will grow more than 5-fold to account for 11 percent of flat-screen TV sales this year, as prices fall sharply and manufacturers add the function as an add-on feature, research firm IHS iSuppli predicted on Friday.

It projected 3D TV shipments would rise to 23.4 million units this year from last year’s 4.2 million units, gaining further to 159 million units in 2015. By that time, iSuppli said, 3D TVs would account for more than half of global flat-panel shipments. Read more…

MIT: New Approach To Glasses-Free 3D Technology

Researchers at MIT’s Media Lab announced on Wednesday that they have developed a new approach to glasses-free 3D technology.

The team said they could double the battery life of devices like Nintendo’s 3DS portable gaming system without compromising screen brightness or resolution.

The researchers also said that their technique would expand the viewing angle of a 3D screen.

According to Doug Lanman, a postdoc in Associate Professor Ramesh Raskar’s Camera Culture Group at the Media Lab, Nintendo’s 3DS relies on an older technology known as parallax barrier.  This requires two versions of the same image, both of which are sliced into vertical segments and interleaved on a single surface.

The team’s HR3D system uses two layers of liquid-crystal displays.  The top LCD displays a pattern customized to the image beneath it.

This top layer consists of thousands of tiny slits, whose orientations follow the contours of the objects in the image.

The slits are oriented in so many different directions that the 3D illusion is consistent no matter whether the image is upright or rotated 90 degrees.

Lanman said in a statement that if a device like the 3DS used HR3D then its battery life would be longer because the parallax barrier would block less light.

The 3D image would also be consistent no matter the viewing angle.

“The great thing about Ramesh’s group is that they think of things that no one else has thought of and then demonstrate that they can actually be done,” Neil Dodgson, professor of graphics and imaging at the University of Cambridge in England, said in a statement.

“It’s quite a clever idea they’ve got here.”

However, Dodgson said that HR3D is very computationally intensive.

“If you’re saving battery power because you’ve got this extra brightness, but you’re actually using all that battery power to do the computation, then you’re not saving anything,” he says.

See the full article from Red Orbit here>>

3D Pioneers, DIRECTV And Panasonic, To Host Inaugural 3D Film Invitational

Accoridng to BusinessWire:

Six Filmmakers to Train with Technicolor and Panasonic; Films to be Showcased on DIRECTV and at Premiere Screening Event at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles

Winner of the 2011 DIRECTV n3D Film Invitational Presented by Panasonic will Take Home $25,000 Grand Prize

Furthering their commitment to the 3D category, DIRECTV and Panasonic will host the inaugural 2011 DIRECTV n3D™ Film Invitational Presented by Panasonic.

The Invitational will give six filmmakers the opportunity to train on the latest 3D equipment and create a short film that is funded by DIRECTV and Panasonic. All six films will premiere on DIRECTV’s 3D channel, n3D™, powered by Panasonic, and will be screened at a premiere event, which will be held at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles this summer. The winner of the Invitational’s n3D Excellence Award will receive a $25,000 grand prize. In addition, Technicolor will also present a 3D Technical Achievement Award and $5,000 prize. Read more…

Luddites Rejoice! New Glasses Let You Watch 3D Films in 2D

Per Discover:

Eyestrain. Headaches. Nausea. For some people, this is all part of the 3D movie experience. And until now, your choice was to either suffer through 3D; find a cheaper, low-tech theater; or else forgo some new films altogether. But that was before one guy invented 2D Glasses, a pair of specs that converts projected 3D images into 2D (yup, you read that right). It’s touted as a way of preventing eye strain while still enjoying a flick with your 3D-loving friends. Read more…