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Excuse me if this has been discussed somewhere else. I did a search and didn't get any hits.
I suspect there are several articles by now that go into greater detail about this, but I thought some might be interested to know that last month the Blu-ray Disc Association with additional cooperation and input from many key film industry and consumer electronics representatives finalized the specifications for Blu-ray 3D.
One of the key points of the Blu-ray 3D specs are that it is not limited to any single type of 3D display, so the media can be played back in 3D on any display that supports 3D media, whether it be a PDP (plamsa), LCD, DLP, OLED, etc.
Oh, and we are definitely not talking about your parents (possibly grand parents) style of 3D. You know, the ones where you have to wear those terrible red and blue (cyan to be more specific) glasses and the movies are made using the traditional anaglyph and occasionally anachrome stereoscopic method.
Now before anyone says, but wait, there have already been a few 3D films released on Blu-ray like The Polar Express, Coraline, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, that used the latest polarization 3D technologies. While they were released in theaters using modern 3D technology, for their video release, all of these were converted to traditional anaglyph stereoscopic 3D. This was and still is commercially necessary as very few consumers have TVs that support any of the latest 3D display technologies.
However, based on the massive consumer interest and ever growing demand for 3D content both commercially as well as in the Home, this will soon not be the case. In fact, the main highlight of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this week is consumer 3D displays, players, and content (movies, TV shows, and games).
Going back to the Blu-ray 3D specs, the 3D content will be encoded using Multiview Video Coding (MVC) which is an extension of MPEG 4 H.264 AVC and will allow for full HD 1080p 3D content, and not just for the movie or TV show, but even the disc's menu's can be in 3D as well.
Another key point to the Blu-ray 3D specs is that it will be backward compatible in that Blu-Ray 3D discs will still be playable on all current Blu-ray players, but only in 2D. The interesting thing though is that Sony claims that unlike all current Blu-ray players, only the PS3 will be able to playback Blu-ray 3D discs in 3D. If so, I know many PS3 owners are going to be quite pleased.
Considering these new 3D technologies have been around prior to the release of the PS3, and Sony's development in modern 3D films and now 3D games, not to mention their extensive development of reflective 3D LCD displays, I suspect they did their best early on to insure the PS3 was going to be able to support modern 3D playback in the future.
Not only that, but also last month Sony and RealD announced a technology partnership to provide 3D home entertainment to consumers beginning in 2010. The partnership will include Sony licensing RealD's stereoscopic 3D format, the development of active and passive 3D eyewear and other RealD technologies. The companies are also working in partnership to bring to market 3D compatible Bravia LCD displays and other consumer products in Sony's current and future portfolio that would support the RealD's stereoscopic format.
For those without a PS3, nor interested in one, but considering the purchase of a standalone Blu-ray player, I would definitely hold off for now. Other than the PS3, standalone 3D Blu-ray players will likely start coming out later this year now that the specs have been finalized.
Although I don't currently own a display or projector that supports 3D other than the traditional anaglyph stereoscopic 3D, but considering how quickly the film industry and now the consumer electronic industry is adopting these new 3D technologies, and soon the video game industry, I may very well be upgrading at least one of my displays in the near future to take advantage of the up coming 3D content. 👍
I suspect there are several articles by now that go into greater detail about this, but I thought some might be interested to know that last month the Blu-ray Disc Association with additional cooperation and input from many key film industry and consumer electronics representatives finalized the specifications for Blu-ray 3D.
One of the key points of the Blu-ray 3D specs are that it is not limited to any single type of 3D display, so the media can be played back in 3D on any display that supports 3D media, whether it be a PDP (plamsa), LCD, DLP, OLED, etc.
Oh, and we are definitely not talking about your parents (possibly grand parents) style of 3D. You know, the ones where you have to wear those terrible red and blue (cyan to be more specific) glasses and the movies are made using the traditional anaglyph and occasionally anachrome stereoscopic method.
Now before anyone says, but wait, there have already been a few 3D films released on Blu-ray like The Polar Express, Coraline, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, that used the latest polarization 3D technologies. While they were released in theaters using modern 3D technology, for their video release, all of these were converted to traditional anaglyph stereoscopic 3D. This was and still is commercially necessary as very few consumers have TVs that support any of the latest 3D display technologies.
However, based on the massive consumer interest and ever growing demand for 3D content both commercially as well as in the Home, this will soon not be the case. In fact, the main highlight of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this week is consumer 3D displays, players, and content (movies, TV shows, and games).
Going back to the Blu-ray 3D specs, the 3D content will be encoded using Multiview Video Coding (MVC) which is an extension of MPEG 4 H.264 AVC and will allow for full HD 1080p 3D content, and not just for the movie or TV show, but even the disc's menu's can be in 3D as well.
Another key point to the Blu-ray 3D specs is that it will be backward compatible in that Blu-Ray 3D discs will still be playable on all current Blu-ray players, but only in 2D. The interesting thing though is that Sony claims that unlike all current Blu-ray players, only the PS3 will be able to playback Blu-ray 3D discs in 3D. If so, I know many PS3 owners are going to be quite pleased.
Considering these new 3D technologies have been around prior to the release of the PS3, and Sony's development in modern 3D films and now 3D games, not to mention their extensive development of reflective 3D LCD displays, I suspect they did their best early on to insure the PS3 was going to be able to support modern 3D playback in the future.
Not only that, but also last month Sony and RealD announced a technology partnership to provide 3D home entertainment to consumers beginning in 2010. The partnership will include Sony licensing RealD's stereoscopic 3D format, the development of active and passive 3D eyewear and other RealD technologies. The companies are also working in partnership to bring to market 3D compatible Bravia LCD displays and other consumer products in Sony's current and future portfolio that would support the RealD's stereoscopic format.
For those without a PS3, nor interested in one, but considering the purchase of a standalone Blu-ray player, I would definitely hold off for now. Other than the PS3, standalone 3D Blu-ray players will likely start coming out later this year now that the specs have been finalized.
Although I don't currently own a display or projector that supports 3D other than the traditional anaglyph stereoscopic 3D, but considering how quickly the film industry and now the consumer electronic industry is adopting these new 3D technologies, and soon the video game industry, I may very well be upgrading at least one of my displays in the near future to take advantage of the up coming 3D content. 👍
[/offtopic]
