Last weekend saw the first trials of 3D in British pubs (whole new meaning to having beer goggles). So far mixed reports on the success. A couple of links below:
Sky 3D soccer fails to score – The Register
3D pub football went well – The inquirer
Announced at CES Panasonic has unveiled a range of new 3D displays and a Blu-ray player.
First up is a new line up of Viera Plasma TV’s with 3D support.
The VT25 series includes four screen sizes ranging from 50-inches to 65-inches – the TC-P65VT25 class (64.8″ measured diagonally), the TC-P58VT25 class (58″ measured diagonally), the TC-P54VT25 class (54″ measured diagonally) and the TC-P50VT25 class (49.9″ measured diagonally). One pair of 3D Eyewear is included. In addition to providing 3D viewing, the VT25 series of VIERA HDTVs features the enhanced VIERA CAST service with Wireless LAN Adaptor ready on its USB port, video call capability(2), VIERA Image Viewer to view JPEG digital still images and HD video recorded on an SD Memory Card; VIERA Link, a PC input, two USB Ports, THX certification and THX Movie Mode, 24p cinematic playback, 600Hz Sub-field Drive (produces 1080 TV lines of moving picture resolution) and Infinite Black Pro display with 5,000,000:1 native contrast.
I have to say only including one pair of 3D glasses is a little singly, do they really think that only one person will be watching. It would have been better to include two or three pairs with discounts for more so the whole family can enjoy the experience.
Panasonic also introduced a range of new displays in the G25 Series lacking the 3D support but including Wi-Fi for that low-fi streaming experience. Screens range from 54 to 42 inches.
Also announced was a new line up of Viera LCD TV’s with LED backlighting. The D2 Series support 1080p with high contrast, fast response IPS panels.
For potential Blu-ray 3D fans the DMP-BDT350 is Panasonics first 3D capable player or which more information should be announced soon. The new BD65, BD85, and BDT350 players all feature a USB port for an optional Wi-Fi adapter with Viera Cast technology to enable internet streaming.
Available this summer, the BRAVIA XBR-LX900 series features integrated 3D functionality and screen sizes including 60 (XBR-60LX900), 52 (XBR-52LX900), 46 (XBR-46LX900), and 40-inch (XBR-40LX900). Sony is using its own active shutter glasses which fly against their recent announcement of a partnership with ReadD which uses passive glasses. The models also include integrated Wi-Fi for streaming video from the internet including services such as YouTube and Sony’s own Bravia Internet video platform. Perhaps more interesting is that these sets couple 3D with full-array LED backlighting improves contrast and dynamic range by local dimming that controls the LED backlight level by area so that detail is maintained in the dark areas
The XBR-HX900 series 3D ready (with the addition of Sony active shutter glasses and transmitter, both sold separately) full HD (1920 x 1080p) models feature Intelligent Dynamic LED backlight and Sony’s new Monolithic Design. These can be upgraded with an optional wireless adapter for internet streaming. These models are lit by edge LED backlighting.
Your new Sony TV will also watch you, with face detection the new presence sensor will detect if you’ve left the room and dim the TV to save power and if you’re out for an extended period of time the TV will turn off.
New 3D Blu-ray options
The BDP-S770 is Sony’s new top of the range 3D capable Blu-ray player. Featuring 802.11n high speed Wi-Fi and a wired Ethernet connection, this player also allows streaming on internet content. This player can also be controlled from Sony’s BD Remote iPod/iPhone application.
The BDV-HZ970W 3D capable home theatre system features S-Air wireless speaker technology to enable wireless (excluding the power) rear speakers or you can stream wireless audio to another room. With wired connections the system delivers 1000watts of power over its 5.1 channels.
3D systems manufacturer which created the ReadD 3D system used my many cinemas for showing 3D movies has now signed up Toshiba, Panasonic and us TV broadcaster DirectTV to use its 3D glasses system. Recently ReadD announced that they had alliances with Sony (who they have worked with in digital cinemas for a while), Samsung and JVC. That’s pretty much most of the large TV manufacturers signed up and it looks like as previously reported that the RealD 3D system will be the default system for 3D in the home.
Disney has announced that it will release a 3D Blu-ray of it hit animated movie ‘Disney’s A Christmas Carol 3D’ this year.
No further details have been released but Disney will also release a 3D Showcase Blu-ray disk to player manufacturers featuring in addition to A Christmas Carol 3D, 1953 animated short – Working for Peanuts (think we all know that feeling) and 3D trailers for up and coming movies including Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland. I can see the disk getting quite a following for those early adopters looking for something to show off their new setups.
See my impressions of A Christmas Carol 3D here
The Register reports that ESPN is going to launch a 3D version of the channel in the US. However of perhaps more interest is word that Sony is working with Discovery and IMAX on a new 3D channel that could launch sooner.
Full story at the Inquirer here
It’s looking increasingly likely that RealD’s glasses systems for 3D TV may be the default system for 3D TV. Previously signed up by Sony and JVC/Kenwood the company has now announced that its system will also be used by Samsung. With some of the biggest players in TV technology now signed up it looks like RealD could be the dominant system for 3D in the home. This could also mean that with so many companies adopting the same technology that the price could be driven down where the expected premium for 3D over conventional 2D TV’s could be lower than expected.
Following on from the recent announcement that Sony has selected ReadD as its technology partner for 3D TV’s JVC Kenwood as how announced that it will also use ReadD’s systems in future 3D TV’s and imaging systems. No announcements were made about specific products.
Today the Blu-ray Association announced the final specification for 3D Blu-ray. The specification used a new version of the existing video compression currently used called H264 MVC (MultiView CodDec) this uses two separate transport streams, one for each eye. However this will mean that there will be around a 50% overhead for decoding 3D. The good news is that by decoding just a single stream existing players should be able to play the 3D disks however in plain old 2D. The specification also means that the Playstation 3 will be able to play these disks in full 3D. The new disks can also contain new 3D options for the interface in the disks menu’s which would make for some nice 3D views of scene selection a 3D version similar to Apple’s coverflow for album artwork would be a nice 3D navigation feature. As well as backwards compatibility the new specification is display agnostic meaning that any display can be used, the two video streams once decoded can be displayed by and means which stops Blu-ray 3D being tied to any specific display technology.
Semiconductor company Broadcom has announced two new single chip Blu-ray solution. This is great news for Blu-ray as a single chip solution can help drive down the cost of Blu-ray players, the fewer components the cheaper the player can be (depending on the quality of those components). The first new chip is the BCM7630 which supports Blu-ray optical control and decoding as well as streaming of video from the internet including BD-Live, Netflix 2.0, Pandora Internet Radio, Vudu and CinemaNow. However perhaps more interesting is the announcement of the new BCM7632 chip that has all of the above features but also includes 3D support. It supports stereoscopic 3D at full 1080p resolution. It is anticipated that the BCM7632 will comply with the Blu-ray standard for 3D disks when it’s finalised. We won’t see players with these new chips anytime soon as they are just sampling to manufacturers to design into new players but we could see them in the second half of 2010.
Processor and Graphics company (as well as other parts of today’s PC) AMD today announced it will demonstrate 3D Blu-ray at the CES show in Las Vegas in January. AMD is a member of the Blu-ray consortium so the demo should be close to the final release however the group has yet to release the final specification for 3D Blu-ray but it is expected to go on sale in the second half of next year.
Read the release here
The Inquirer reports that Sky will start 3D broadcasting before 2010 in the UK. Wee that means they have a month. Read the full story here
Just a word of caution if your thinking or rushing out to pickup a 3D TV for the football. There are few models available and with no standard yet announced for Blu-ray this may be a little premature. LG have a 42 inch commercial display the M4210D which will display 3D for around £7,000, Philips have the 42-3D6W02 which can be found between £6,000 and £9,000 ish online (looks like it may have been discoutinued). There is a very steep price for being in early but you can expect cheaper consumer displays when Sky start broadcasting.
Mitsubishi is teaming up with video games and entertainment web site IGN in a great competition. The promotion showcases 3D games with over 400 being compatible with the system.
The prize consists of;
Mitsubishi 65-inch 3D-Ready Home Theater TV – WD-65737
Aspen Media Server – Velocity Micro Edge Gx335 Desktop PC (2.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Processor, 6 GB RAM, 1 TB Hard Drive, 20x DVD burner, Vista Premium)
Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB GPU
Emitter – GeForce 3D vision USB controller/Infrared emitter
3D Glasses (two pair) – Custom engineered active shutter glasses with built-in electronics
For full details and to enter the competition visit here
There is no real standard for 3D displays at the moment so promoting these TV’s as ’3D Ready’ is a little premature which is probably why the focus is around games with 3D Blu-ray still some way off
Recent research by NPD group revealed that 17% of US consumers would like to view 3D movies such as Disney/Pixar’s recent cinema release UP at home in 3D. Various industry bodies have been researching 3D and several TV manufacturers are actively selling 3D ready TV’s with no defined standard. Only recently did the BluRay Association start research into a 3D standard for BluRay.
Full story here
At the recent Display Week conference Toshiba demonstrated new mobile 3D displays. One uses an ‘integrated imaging system’ which uses a lens array to show 3D images and the second uses a special film developed by 3M couples with alternating backlights which when viewed with special glasses which use LCD ‘shutters’ gives 3D with no loss in resolution.
Full story here