3 Dimension TV
Introduction:
3D TV is here (and not doing too well)! 3D sets and 3D Blu-ray players have been available from most manufacturers for some time. A limited amount of 3D programming is available and some sporting events are being telecast in 3D. 3D Blu-ray disks are available to a limited degree. But 3D has not been the rousing success that manufacturers (and dealers) had hoped.
3D Technology Overview:
We probably all realize that to view 3D (either in the theater, or in the home) that we need to wear glasses of some sort. This is needed to direct the left image to the left eye and the right image to the right eye. [Yes, there have been discussions for years of glassless (Autostereoscopic) 3D, but it will be years (even decades) until these become practical for home viewing.]
There are two basic types of 3D glasses being used today:
Types of 3D Television Sets:
3D Signal Sources:
Connections:
3D TV is here (and not doing too well)! 3D sets and 3D Blu-ray players have been available from most manufacturers for some time. A limited amount of 3D programming is available and some sporting events are being telecast in 3D. 3D Blu-ray disks are available to a limited degree. But 3D has not been the rousing success that manufacturers (and dealers) had hoped.
3D Technology Overview:
We probably all realize that to view 3D (either in the theater, or in the home) that we need to wear glasses of some sort. This is needed to direct the left image to the left eye and the right image to the right eye. [Yes, there have been discussions for years of glassless (Autostereoscopic) 3D, but it will be years (even decades) until these become practical for home viewing.]
There are two basic types of 3D glasses being used today:
- Passive (Polarized): Most of the 3D movie theater presentations use this type of glasses.
- Active Shutter Glasses (ASGs): This is the type of glasses that have been used with most 3D television sets.
Types of 3D Television Sets:
- LCD: 3D LCD sets by Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, LG, Sharp and Vizio are available. Most of these use Active Shutter Glasses, but several sets (from LG and Vizio) are available that use passive (polarized) glasses.
- Plasma: Both Panasonic and the new 3D generation of LG and Samsung plasmas are readily available. [Note that Samsung did make a few "3D Ready" plasmas (see below) that used a different 3D technology.]
- DLP RPTV: Both Samsung and Mitsubishi previously sold "3D Ready" sets. (Mitsubishi still does). It is possible to hook up these sets to a PC and view 3D games & specially produced video on these sets. These sets use a "checkerboard" 3D system which cut the resolution. Mitsubishi is now selling an adapter (3DA-1) that converts the new 3D formats to the "checkerboard" format that their "3D Ready" sets use. Samsung has apparently decided not to support such converters. However, an enterprising 3rd party has come up with a gadget that tricks the Mitsubhisi adapter into thinking that a Samsung set is actually a Mitsubishi and reportedly allows the use of this adapter with the older Samsung "3D ready" sets.
- Front Projection: Several 3D projectors are available. One of these (the LG CF3D $15,000) uses polarized glasses & requires a special screen. Most of the rest use Active Shutter Glasses, and do not require a special screen.
3D Signal Sources:
- Blu-ray: A few 3D Blu-ray movies are now available (some are bundled with certain 3D "starter kits" ). These use a new technology that will pass a full HD resolution 3D signal through HDMI to the new 3D sets. The 3D Blu-ray discs are compatible so they will play just fine on regular (non 3D) Blu-ray players. Special 3D Blu-ray players are required for 3D - but it does not look like these will be at a price premium. There are several models available now for less than $200. The Sony Playstation 3 has an upgrade available for 3D games and movies (Note, most existing Blu-ray players will not be upgradeable to 3D).
- Cable/Satellite: It is possible to send 3D pictures over cable or satellite by squeezing the Left and Right Images and putting them side by side (or one over the other). If you used a regular TV and tuned in, you would see both images. The 3D television would take these images, separate them, stretch them out into the normal 16x9 format and display them on the screen. This technique can be used by most existing HD set top boxes (a software update might be required). Unfortunately, the resolution of the picture is not (quite) HD, but reports indicate that the added depth of 3D essentially hides the resolution reduction (DirecTV claims that between both eyes a viewer will see the full resolution, half in one eye, the other half in the other). See 3D Q&A for more discussion on the resolution issue.
- Sythensized 3D: Many of the new 3D sets have circuitry to convert regular 2D material to 3D. Reports on the quality of the 3D are mixed, but at least the use of this feature is optional.
Everything is backwards compatible: The 3D Blu-ray discs can play
on 2D
players (in 2D of course). 3D television sets will display 2D material
just fine. Purchasing 3D components now is a step to prevent
obsolescence if 3D really takes off (it might also fizzle).
Connections:
Both
the Blu-ray and Cable/Satellite approaches use HDMI connectors (it may
be possible to use component connections for Cable/Satellite, but there
is little reason for it). The HDMI standards Versions 1.4 and
1.4a have enabled 3D. That does not mean that you need to
change your HDMI cables. The odds are that the HDMI
cables that you have now are just fine.
However, if you run video through an older AV Receiver, you likely will have a problem with 3D. Older AV receivers that do any sort of video processing just will not recognize the 3D signal. However, plenty off new AV receivers are now available that are 3D compatible (if the receiver says that it is HDMI V1.4 or 1.4a then it is compatible). There are some workarounds possible:
However, if you run video through an older AV Receiver, you likely will have a problem with 3D. Older AV receivers that do any sort of video processing just will not recognize the 3D signal. However, plenty off new AV receivers are now available that are 3D compatible (if the receiver says that it is HDMI V1.4 or 1.4a then it is compatible). There are some workarounds possible:
- Run the HDMI directly to the TV and run the digital signal outputs from the 3D source(s) to the AV receiver. Of course, you won't get the new uncompressed digital soundtracks from latest Blu-rays that way.
- Buy the Panasonic 3D Blu-ray player. It has two HDMI outputs, one for the AV receiver (so you can get these uncompressed soundtracks) and one for the 3D TV. Other dual HDMI output 3D BD players are likely to follow.
3D
sets can use calibration, just as much as 2D sets do (well, actually
they need it a bit more). We still need to address all of the
issues for 2D sets. In addition, the effects of the 3D
glasses
need to be taken into account. They all reduce the image
brightness to a considerable degree - so peak white and black levels
need to be adjusted for the glasses. Most of the glasses have
a
tint, so the gray scale adjustments need to take that into account
(keeping in mind that 2D adjustments should be maintained).
