THE DAWN OF 3D BLU RAY AND 3D TELEVISION: PART 1

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by Abe Abrahamian---December 23, 2010

The history of 3D dates back to the 1890’s. 3D stands for “three dimensional”. The concept was derived from stereoscopic photography. Some of you may remember high school geography class looking at “stereoscopic” topographic maps in the 3D domain. This technology worked its way into Hollywood and 3D cinema was born in the 1950’s. It was very popular during its time using a arch-type 3-D glass. Two light filters were used. One eye would see through the red filter and the other through the blue filter.

 

The red/blue paper 3D glasses lasted for a short while in commercial cinema until the advent of polarized 3D systems. This technique worked by projecting two images superimposed on the same screen. For example, the left eye would block (polarize) one of the superimposed image and allow you to the see the other image. The right eye would block the image you were seeing in the left eye. The image you are viewing in both eyes are offset with the two superimposed images on screen. This provided “depth” and the three dimensional effect. This technique required two projectors and two images superimposed over each other. Modern projection systems deploy a polarizing filter that flashes 144 times per second rotating in front of the lens. This displays the left and right eye images separately producing the “3D” effect.

In this first part of our three part series we will be looking at 3D Blu-ray technology for the home. The new technology  uses “Active Shutter” glasses. The concept is fairly simple. The glass contains liquid crystal and a polarizing filter. When power is turned on the glasses sync with the television via IR. Left and Right  lenses alternatively darken over each eye. The image being projected by the Blu-ray player  consists of two images superimposed for Blu-ray content. For some television broadcasts the image is a split screen image. Each eye is allowed to see one image based on the state of the lenses. Your brain extrapolates this data as a 3D image.

The system requires 4 components to work properly. First you need a 3D ready television. Second, a 3D Ready Blu-ray player. Third, 3D glasses. Finally, an HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) cable. Generic cables are not recommended since the bandwidth required for 3D is very high. Companies such as Audioquest and Monster Cable provide excellent high quality HDMI cables ready for this new technology. The 3D Blu-ray specification requires all of the components in the entire chain mentioned above to be HDMI 1.4 compliant.

Now to clear up some confusion on the new 3D Blu-ray player backward compatibility aspect. All standard 2D DVD movies, 2D Blu-ray, and CD audio will play back on 3D Blu-ray machines. Part of the 3D Blu-ray specification calls for Multiview Video Coding (MVC). This is an extension of the h.264 MPEG 4 codec. Most of the critics state that 3D blu-ray technology will not take off. They are mistaken! This backwards compatibility will allow for rapid expansion of the 3D Blu-ray space. As newer generation sets are released, and they are all 3D compatible along with television and video game content, 3D technology will expand. Older technologies such has records, tapes, mini-disc, vhs, and beta had no expansion capabilities in the digital domain. Digital codec technologies and high speed connectivity such as HDMI allow for the specification to be integrated and backwards compatible. The success  of‘Avatar’ has proved that the 3D space is viable in the home. 

Viewing 3D images via Blu-ray discs might have issues such as crosstalk, blurriness, ghosting, etc. In part two of our three part series we will look at  LED televisions via 3D Blu-ray and Plasma’s via 3D Blu-ray. This new exciting technology is not only for 3D Blu-ray but for future 3D television and video gaming. Stay tuned to AVClubhouse.com!