3d blu-ray can someone explain i'm so confused???

[devonthedude]

Can some one give me a clear answer if all 3d ready bluray players are compatible with all 3d ready tvs? I have heard that since there is currently no 3d standard that each player and tv are not cross compatible and that they will only work with their respective manufactuers.

Also I have heard the movies are incompatible between each others players or is there currently a standard for 3d bluray discs. I work for a regional electronics retailer and no one can give me a clear answer including my corporate buyers and the tv/bluray manufacturer sales reps, I'm even a bda certified retailer and have no idea. Is it me or is it too soon to adopt 3d bluray, many consumers don't even have an hdtv let alone a regualr bluray player, how is 3d supposed to take off? What movies are out, only ice age 3/coraline/monster vs aliens, is that it or are they compatible with my bloody valentine in 3d for example or is that the tradtional red and blu style of glasses. I hear some of the tv mfg companies have shown off tvs with out glasses, are those cross compatible with glasses required 3d tvs? So many questions, so few answers? Please help! (Sorry I wrote this on my phone)

[devonthedude]

Also a few months back after ces sony said that any 240hz hdtv is 3d ready if that's the case why spend 3000 on a "3d ready" samsung or panasonic 3d tv. Is 3d broadcast television different too like espn's 3d channel for example (don't know how the fcc apporved that one, where is my 1080p broadcast tv then). Then there are people saying hdmi 1.4 spec is required for 3d, how is that the case when all the current players, tv and ps3 are all 1.3a certified? Please help!

[Jimmy Smith]

1. My bloody Valentine 3D and all other 3D discs for general sale are red blue anaglyph. These require no special equitment of any kind except for cardboard glasses. Unfortunitly they also feature vastly inferior picture quality from the 3D you will see in the theatre due to the limits of anaglyph technology. Colors are horribly washed out, ghosting is frequent, depth of feild is inconsistant, and fine detail is obsured on pretty much all anaglyph releases. 3D Full HD discs require a 3D television, player, and battery powered active shutter glasses but produce a 3D picture vastly better then any other form of home 3D of the past.

2. Currently there are 3 true full color 3D releases avalible. Monsters vs Aliens is avalible exclusively in a package with Samsung glasses. Coraline and Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs is avalible exclusively with mail in if you purchase Panasonic 3D televisions. There are no 3D Full HD discs avalible for general purchase. The first disc announced for general release is A Christmas Carol for November 16. Hopefully other discs will be out before years end.

3. Not all televisions with 240 hz refresh rates are 3D compatible. Cause many televisions only have motion smoothing after the fact but lack such high refresh rates for there inputs. Some DLP televisions released in 2007 were labled "3D ready" but are only compatible with half resolution checkerboard 3D not 3D Full HD and require you buy a special reciever in order to even display that.

4. 3D Full HD is display agnostic meaning that it works accross brands and it doesn't matter if your television is LCD or Plasma based or whether the television uses active shutter or polarized solution. Players are also compatible with any 3D capable device. Though active shutter glasses on the other hand are brand specific and some will only work with certain brands

5. 3D televisions are not targeted at people who don't have HDTVs or just bought HDTVs at the present time. Current displays are aimed at early adopters people who bought HDTVs five years ago. 3D will continue to go down in price with time and content will need to expand in order to hook newer buyers. Eventually 3D support will be a standard feature on HDTVs and 3D will be no big deal to own even for people with no interest in the technology. Its never too soon to introduce new technology. The sooner its introduced the sooner prices can come down and the fewer titles need to be double dipped.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by devonthedude

Can some one give me a clear answer

Yes

if all 3d ready bluray players are compatible with all 3d ready tvs?

No

I have heard that since there is currently no 3d standard that each player and tv are not cross compatible and that they will only work with their respective manufactuers.

No, the issue is two fold
1) that 3D ready TVs have existed for a long time but back then there was no standard and some manufacturers did some weird stuff. for example http://www.explore3dtv.com/blog/entr...-DLP-Displays/
2) that even though there are standards in the end there are a few too many and so not all players might be compatible with all of them. For example I have a Projector set-up in my HT, I have not seen any good relatively affordable 3D projectors, so one option I am looking into is a two projector set-up all I would need is a couple of polarizer lenses and a second projector. On the other hand for such a set-up I would need a player that outputs one image over one HDMI going to one projector and then the other eyes image going out an other HDMI to an other projector. Obviously not every player will have that functionality and most don't have dual HDMI out.

But for the most part most players should work with most TVs

Also I have heard the movies are incompatible between each others players or is there currently a standard for 3d bluray discs.

I did heare that the Samsung MVA had issues on some 2D players, but I did not hear anything about 3D players, then again there are not realy many that are out, so it is hard to say. Bt there is a 3D standard for disks and they should be compatible with all 3D players.

I hear some of the tv mfg companies have shown off tvs with out glasses, are those cross compatible with glasses required 3d tvs?

Lenticular TVs (as they are called) which are on the market are not made for movies but are extremely expensive and made for labs and medical facilities, most need to be connected to specialized TVs. I don't think we will ever have lenticular TVs for movies, but if we do they will need to be compatible to the existing standards so yes the same BDs will play on both. The basic of 3D movies has been set in stone for 50+ years, with stereoscopic vision we see two images one from the right eye and one from the left and that is what is filmed. The medical/lab lenticulars work differently, they don't use stereoscopy but multiscopy so you get the equivalent of a semi-holographic image (i.e. you could see it from a bit more to the left or a bit more to the right as you move from left to right) and the person who uses it (in the lab) can move a bit to get to the right angle to see that image from that angle (let’s say from an MRI or something). That is not good for films because you want the person at the lefty side of the room to see the exact same thing as the guy on the right, which is the same as the guy in the centre.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by devonthedude

Is 3d broadcast television different too like espn's 3d channel for example

yes, but it is much more limited so, like the article above, mentions it might not be directly compatible with older 3D ready TVs.

Then there are people saying hdmi 1.4 spec is required for 3d, how is that the case when all the current players, tv and ps3 are all 1.3a certified? Please help!

the 3D players are 1.4, and so are the newer TVs. HDMI specs are minimums and not maximums. And to make it worst have some optional. If a device is <1.4 then it might not be able to do full 3D, it does not stop it (like the Mits and Samsung RPTV DLPs that where 3D ready mentioned above) to use a less then 1080p standard. It also does not stop the sending of the signal like the PS3, but it won't have some of the hand shaking that make it easier to set up and use (at least that is my understanding).

[devonthedude]

Thanks guys this helps a lot!

Still don't understand how the fcc approved 3d broadcast television though. I had some rediclous customer tell me that best buys employee tool kit states that 50 bluray3d titles are coming out between july and the fall, I thought that was a load of sh*t. The customer went on to tell me that best buy said that avatar in 3d was coming out in november and that they were right, I told them that according to home media magazine (a trade publication) that james cameron and most movie studios were reluctant to bring out their or more 3d movies to the public and that the november release of avatar is supposed to be a 2d special edition release. Did the customer listen, no they said that best buy knows more than the movie studios, after that I was done talking to them, I hate poeple who think they know everything yet they are completely oblivoius.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by devonthedude

Thanks guys this helps a lot!

Still don't understand how the fcc approved 3d broadcast television though. I had some rediclous customer tell me that best buys employee tool kit states that 50 bluray3d titles are coming out between july and the fall, I thought that was a load of sh*t. The customer went on to tell me that best buy said that avatar in 3d was coming out in november and that they were right, I told them that according to home media magazine (a trade publication) that james cameron and most movie studios were reluctant to bring out their or more 3d movies to the public and that the november release of avatar is supposed to be a 2d special edition release. Did the customer listen, no they said that best buy knows more than the movie studios, after that I was done talking to them, I hate poeple who think they know everything yet they are completely oblivoius.

50 sounds high, maybe the guy mixed up a few things (like the 30 or so that have/will hit theatres this year) but I will be happy with a dozen available for purchase

As for Avatar, JC had said early on that there would be one in the spring and one in Nov (3D if I remember correctly), then Fox said it would be bare bones in spring and feature rich in Nov, a few days ago we heard that there will actually be a 3D in Nov but exclusive to Panasonic http://hollywoodinhidef.com/2010/05/...from-pansonic/ so you are both a bit right on that one

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by devonthedude

Still don't understand how the fcc approved 3d broadcast television though.

Other than anaglyph 3-D, I'm not aware that the FCC has ever approved 3-D for broadcast TV. AFAIK, true 3-D will be available for movies (BD 3D), games, and cable; none of those is a broadcast format, and only cable *might* require FCC approval.

OTA broadcasting has unique issues because it has to maintain B/C with all the digital tuners out there, especially the CECBs that all those $40 coupons paid for. Broadcasters certainly can't go 3-D without offering some kind of channel that older tuners, including CECBs, can still receive; the bandwidth constraints for OTA are too strict to simply block off another virtual channel just for 3-D.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

OTA broadcasting has unique issues because it has to maintain B/C with all the digital tuners out there, especially the CECBs that all those $40 coupons paid for. Broadcasters certainly can't go 3-D without offering some kind of channel that older tuners, including CECBs, can still receive; the bandwidth constraints for OTA are too strict to simply block off another virtual channel just for 3-D.

I was thinking of this, and don't see it as a big issue. The spec could easily be added to ATSC. Here is one possible trick. ATSC allows for sub channels, so what is to stop the left eye+sound being X.N (i.e. 2.1) and then X.M (i.e. 2.5) for the right eye. Now all you need is a way to say that M & N should be combined in 3D, my guess is that such a standard could be added easily as metadata, but I am not versed well enough in ATSC, but worst case scenario it could just be a setting on the TV (i.e. the same way you have favourites and locks and display you could have combine). The only thing would be that manufacturers would need to make that special tuner that takes the multiplexed data (you don't need two tuners because the tuner tunes to the channel, i.e. 2 in the previous case, and then receives the multiplexed data, i.e. 2.1, 2.2...., all together and then splits them apart) and then decodes two sub channels which it combines for 3D.

[spiderguy84]

So, a Samsung HLT5075S should be able to use the glasses that were made for it in conjunction with the Panasonic BDT300 to achieve the 3D effect, without any converter inbetween?

[farawayplace]

See the link in my signature. It will open your eyes.

Wait, wait, wait. Enjoy 2D blu-ray, and just wait on 3D.

And if arguing "sweet spots" is your defense, then you didn't watch the video:

[kjack]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

I was thinking of this, and don't see it as a big issue. The spec could easily be added to ATSC. Here is one possible trick. ATSC allows for sub channels, so what is to stop the left eye+sound being X.N (i.e. 2.1) and then X.M (i.e. 2.5) for the right eye. Now all you need is a way to say that M & N should be combined in 3D, my guess is that such a standard could be added easily as metadata, but I am not versed well enough in ATSC, but worst case scenario it could just be a setting on the TV (i.e. the same way you have favourites and locks and display you could have combine). The only thing would be that manufacturers would need to make that special tuner that takes the multiplexed data (you don't need two tuners because the tuner tunes to the channel, i.e. 2 in the previous case, and then receives the multiplexed data, i.e. 2.1, 2.2...., all together and then splits them apart) and then decodes two sub channels which it combines for 3D.

Korea is trying something even easier... MPEG-2 at 12Mbps for the left eye and backward compatibility, H.264 at 6Mbps for the right eye. Current MPEG-2 STBs and TVs ignore the H.264 stream.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by kjack

Korea is trying something even easier... MPEG-2 at 12Mbps for the left eye and backward compatibility, H.264 at 6Mbps for the right eye. Current MPEG-2 STBs and TVs ignore the H.264 stream.

cool