Blu-ray 3-D players on the way

[Batman1980]

3-D for Blu-ray Is Just Around the Corner
Posted August 12, 2009 05:58 AM by Juan Calonge

Movie studios are close to an agreement on the final format for 3-D Blu-ray, according to Yoshinami Takahashi, deputy senior general manager of Sony Corporation's home entertainment group. According to Takahashi, the specification will probably be adopted before the end of 2009, and discs and players with 3-D will then launch in late 2010.

Source - SCEA
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Where's that facepalm smiley when I need it?

[Blu Titan]

Fantastic! I am looking towards Real 3D in glorious Blu-ray. Hopefully, sooner than later.

[Chris60119]

Awesome. I'm lookinf forward to these. Just as long as I don't have to buy a new tv.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by frettless5

Just as long as I don't have to buy a new tv.

I think that's the catch. You have to buy a new TV to take advantage of the 3D. I hope I'm wrong.

[Chris60119]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

I think that's the catch. You have to buy a new TV to take advantage of the 3D. I hope I'm wrong.

Then it's going to be awhile before I jump into home 3D viewing.

[DarkDune]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

I think that's the catch. You have to buy a new TV to take advantage of the 3D. I hope I'm wrong.

If you already have a 240Hz TV -- you are set

Disney Digital 3D How it works

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

I think that's the catch. You have to buy a new TV to take advantage of the 3D. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm just hoping the players with the new 3D profile will be capable of outputting the 3D as anaglyphs if we have older TVs and don't want to buy new ones.

But either way, at least with a standard in place, my collection of movies with 3D content should be set to go for when I finally am willing to get a new screen. Always better to have a software standard in place before hardware is ready to support it so that when the hardware finally can handle it, software is already in our homes.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by DarkDune

If you already have a 240Hz TV -- you are set

Disney Digital 3D How it works

Do all 240Hz TVs accept 240hz or just interpolate to 240hz? What about 120hz TVs?

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by frettless5

Awesome. I'm lookinf forward to these. Just as long as I don't have to buy a new tv.

Don't 3D need a new player as well. How can 24p support 3D without jitter?

[Kyo28]

I guess I'll have to buy a new player & HDTV to be able to enjoy this. I'm willing to go for it but not in the immediate future. I think I'll sit this one out and wait till prices drop.

[Oddiophile]

Originally Posted by DarkDune

If you already have a 240Hz TV -- you are set

Disney Digital 3D How it works

As the article says "Movie studios are close to an agreement on the final format for 3-D Blu-ray"

If there is not a standard yet, how can you say if you have a 240hz TV your set?

I looked threw the link you posted and saw nothing in there pertaining to Blu-Ray. Only to how Disney's Digital 3D works for movie theaters. There are displays currently on the market that say "3D ready" but with so many 3D technology's out there trying to become the standard it's pointless to buy anything thats 3D ready till a standard is created or chosen. IMO

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Do all 240Hz TVs accept 240hz or just interpolate to 240hz? What about 120hz TVs?

No, none of the 120/240hz displays that I know of can except a 120/240hz signal.

It's all currently done with frame interpolation.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by syncguy

Don't 3D need a new player as well. How can 24p support 3D without jitter?

It's potentially possible that the player could be updated with new software alone. It's all on the software end in this case, unlike the BDlive profile update which required additional hardware that isn't present in many older machines. Don't be surprised if the industry forces you to buy a new player regardless though. Could easily end up being that the only one that will update the software alone will be the PS3. And heck, I might even be wrong: new hardware could potentially be necessary.

[Hale-Bopp]

I thought they were talking about just updating the firmware to current blu-ray players to handle the new standard for 3-D at home. Is this not happening now?

[Jeff Kleist]

It depends on how it's actually achieved

Hypothetically, any 120hz TV should be 3D compatible. Many of them already have 3-D sync ports in them as well, like Samungs. You shouldn't need any firmware update in that kind of case.

If you're syncing to the player, you'll need a new one.

I'm curious about the 3D glasses that Ubisoft is shipping with the avatar game. Hypotheticallly it's the same as the old Sega 3D shutter glasses (higher refresh rate), but how will it hook up to the xboxes and PS3s?

I can't wait to find out

[blu1183]

Is all of this just for movies that are already 3d like bloody valentine or are they going to some how make older movies compatible in 3d thAt werent in 3d to begin with like iron man and TDK? Cuz if its just for those handful of 3d movies now its not worth it. And im assuming no glasses required for this?

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by blu1183

Is all of this just for movies that are already 3d like bloody valentine or are they going to some how make older movies compatible in 3d thAt werent in 3d to begin with like iron man and TDK? Cuz if its just for those handful of 3d movies now its not worth it. And im assuming no glasses required for this?

In time more and more movies will be created in 3D, and classics of the past may be digitally converted.

For example, James Cameron has his Avatar movie coming. He's pushing hard for 3D, not just for computer animation, but for all film. I personally think it will happen eventually where everything will be filmed stereoscopically.

Then there's Titanic (also by Cameron) that is to be converted from traditional 2D into 3D. As 3D becomes more and more common and it gets pushed into the home venue in a reasonable way (i.e., something that ISN'T anaglyph), don't be surprised to see older films being converted. There is talk that George Lucas wants to convert Star Wars for example.

[Oddiophile]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10245382-1.html





Are you willing to wear 3D glasses in your living room?

The Blu-ray Disc Association has started looking to officially integrate 3D technology with the Blu-ray standard, according to a report by Video Business. While Blu-ray already trumps standard DVD in image quality, many consumers don't feel the improvement is large enough to justify the extra cost; 3D would presumably be another reason to ditch DVDs for Blu-ray Discs.

3D isn't completely new to Blu-ray, with recent titles like "My Bloody Valentine 3D" packing in the old-style red and blue glasses in the box. However, the 3D effects obtained with the older red/blue (anaglyph) glasses pale in comparison with the effects commonly seem in theaters today with polarized glasses. It's likely that the Blu-ray association will try to incorporate the newer 3D technology into the standard, but from the demos we've seen (like Panasonic's 3D Blu-ray demo at CES 2009), it will require new, 3D-capable HDTVs to work, which means it's a long shot to gain widespread adoption.

Would you be willing to buy a new HDTV to experience high-quality 3D movies in your living room? Or are HD movies "good enough" without 3D gimmicks?

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by Oddiophile

Are you willing to wear 3D glasses in your living room?

Would you be willing to buy a new HDTV to experience high-quality 3D movies in your living room? Or are HD movies "good enough" without 3D gimmicks?

For me high quality HD is good and pleasing. Not sure about 3D at this stage. 3D gives that unnatural affect - it is not natural 3D, so that bothers me. But it is okay and I can enjoy 3D but not probably for every day viewing (based on my 3D experience).

[brettallica]

The whole 3D technology thing really trips me out. I am more than satisfied with my current visual setup at my house, and while I'm a big fan of new and cool stuff, I'm not sure if I'd really jump on the "3D in the living room" bandwagon just yet. One thing is for darned sure: I will not wear glasses in my living room to watch TV no matter what. That to me is plain silly. If it could be done without glasses, I would probably be more open to it. Either way, I probably couldn't justify buying all new gear to support this technology — in my own mind and to my wife.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

If this technology requires people to go out and get another new player and/or TV, I don't think it will take off.

Time could prove me wrong on this, but I doubt it.

Honestly, as cool as modern 3D is in general (and I've seen a few movies in 3D in theaters, like UP and the Nightmare Before Christmas re-release), it's really something that I would prefer to enjoy from time to time, and not regularly with most of my movies.

The big issue is that while it's cool, I do find that after watching a movie for 90 minutes or more with those glasses on, it does tend to strain my eyes a bit and sometimes I'll even get a bit of a headache.

I also don't think ongoing, prolonged use of the 3D glasses on a daily or near-daily basis would be good for anyone's eyes in the long run.


I at least hope that the profile needed for this can be added to existing PS3 systems, and if some current TVs can handle it, then cool. If not, then that sucks.


I at the very least hope this will be set up in such a way that people who buy these movies can watch them in their non-3D versions on existing players and TVs, and those with the proper equipment can choose to watch them in 3D, or something along those lines.



At this point, something like this (if it requires too many people to purchase new equipment) can be very bad for the format. The format is still growing and needs more people to jump on board to become truely mainstream, but it's already big enough that a lot of people are already on board and have recently updated their equipment, and I doubt most of them will want to upgrade.

A change that requires new equipment will just upset many of those already on board, and will likely prevent those who haven't 'taken the plunge' yet from doing so, as even if they buy the newer 3D equipment, they will wonder if some other change is just around the corner that will make the 3D equipment obselete in the very near future.