From multichannel.com:
You’ll probably still need special glasses. But 3-D movies and other video could become routine home-entertainment options within the next few years.
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, a New York-based technical society for the motion imaging industry, has established a task force to define the parameters of a “stereoscopic 3-D mastering standard” for home video.
The 3-D Home Display Formats Task Force intends to define standards for 3-D content, distributed via cable, broadcast, satellite, packaged media like DVDs or the Internet.
“The impetus for this is that digital display technology is getting much better at rendering 3-D—without causing headaches,” SMPTE engineering vice president Wendy Aylsworth said.
Aylsworth, who is also senior vice president of technology for Warner Bros. Entertainment, was referring to newer 3-D display systems that use glasses with polarized lenses to generate independent views for left and right eyes.
She also pointed to the popularity of recent 3-D theatrical movie releases, including Warner’s Journey to the Center of the Earth and Walt Disney Pictures’ Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert.
“We want to take the 3-D methodologies that have worked in the theaters and take that into the home,” Aylsworth said.
Some 3-D content has made its way to TV. Disney Channel is set to air the Hannah Montana concert in 3-D on Saturday, July 26, but the broadcast will use those conventional red-and-blue cellophane glasses, referred to as anaglyphic stereoscopy.
Using polarized lenses to create a 3-D image delivers a much sharper image and displays the full color spectrum, according to Aylsworth.
And TVs with polarized-filter 3-D display technology are already in the market. For example, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America and Samsung Electronics sell 3-D high-definition TVs that use DLP chips from Texas Instruments.
