The 3DTV format is set to make a splash in primetime during the Super Bowl and a broadcast movie. During the NFL Championship game on Sunday (Feb. 1), a new 3DTV format that renders colors more accurately will be broadcast during two 3-D commercials. On Monday, NBC will broadcast DreamWorks' "Monsters versus Aliens" in the new 3DTV format. Patented technology developed by ColorCode 3-D Center (Lyngby, Denmark) uses a new anaglyph format that enables any TV to render accurate 3-D colors when viewers use amber-blue lenses instead of the traditional red-cyan 3-D glasses. Intel Corp. (Santa Clara,. Calif.) is providing 3-D glasses that will be distributed nation-wide for use during the Super Bowl.
Alioscopy Singapore Pte Ltd. also demonstated an LCD television fitted with an integral lenticular lens for glasses-free 3D. Called stereovision by the company, the Aliscopy displayed specially mixed videos combining eight different points of view. Displayed on customized LCD screens fitting an array of lenticular lenses, each eye addresses these lenses from a different angle and thus receives a different point of view in the mixed video. This results in a 3D stereo image including object coming through the stereo window protrude in front of the display, according to the company. Viewers can view the 3D images over a wide viewing angle on the 40" full HD (1920-by-1080 pixel) flat LCD panel, which provides 30 line-per-inch resolution for each of the eight stereo images.
Dual video cameras and anaglyph processing software realize an inexpensive 3D stereoscopic webcam from Promotion & Display Technology Ltd. (PDT, Manchester, England). Called Minoru (the name of King Edward VII's horse) the 3D webcam was announced at this month's Consumer Electronics Show (CES, Jan. 8-11, 2009).
Conceived by PDT designer David Holder, Minoru won the "Fans Favorite" award at the i-stage competition--a preconference contest where companies can submit their new consumer electronic devices to a panel of judges before the actual CES. The slick molded plastic housing around Minoru makes it look like a cuddly pal akin in to a small robot with the visual appeal of ET. Holder claims the cute design is actually functional, since its appearance as akin to a person makes it more natural to look Minoru in-the-eye when using it as a webcam.
The Minoru cameras are space the same distance apart as the human eyes (about 2.5 inches) and uses a single USB cable to connect to any PC running Windows XT or Vista. Software provided with the camera converts the two images, for left and right eyes, into a single image encoded for the red and blue lenses of standard anaglyph glasses. Minoru can also be used as a normal 2D webcam or can provide a picture-in-picture image.
Minoru can be used to video chats using Windows Live Messenger, Skype, AOL instant messenger, OoVoo and other video conferencing systems. The twin CMOS image sensor-based cameras encode video data streams at 800-by-600, 640-by-480, 352-by-288 or 320-by-240 pixels per frame. A special chip inside Minoru handles the stereo video encoding at a rate of 30 frames per second. Power consumption is just 1.5 Watts or (2 milliWatts in standby mode).
Minoru 3D Webcam is available from Amazon.com for $90.
The first horror film to be encoded with advanced 3-D technology opens this weekend. A 3-D remake of the 1981 independent film, "My Bloody Valentine," uses RealD Cinema's stereoscopic encoding process, enabling viewers to experience state-of-the-art 3-D by wearing polarized glasses in a theater. The horror film is the first of 14 stereoscopic 3-D films to be release in 2009 using the RealD encoding process. Its developer claims a large patent portfolio of 3-D video technologies, with some of its over 150 patents dating back to the work of chief technology officer Lenny Lipton, who pioneered 3-D with his company, StereoGraphics, which was acquired by RealD in 2005.
Japan's JVC Professional Products Company has joined forces with U.S.'s Sensio Technologies Inc. to build a high-end 3D display for the consumer market. Two JVC 1080p quality Pro projectors will handle the left- and right-eye images streaming from a media server using Sensio's proprietary decoding technology. The first demonstration of 3D projection using two JVC Pro projectors with Sensio technology was at the CEDIA Expo 2008. Partially because of the wide acceptance of the demonstration did the two companies sign a memorandum of understanding. The next joint demonstration of JVC Pro + Sensio comes during the 2009 Consumer Electronic Show next month in Las Vegas. The 3D theater solution will be sold and marketed in the United States to high end home cinemas owners by JVC Pro.
Walt Disney Picture's "Bolt" opened nationwide in polarized 3D at more than 1000 theaters featuring an action-hero dog that believes he has superpowers. John Travolta is the voice of the super-dog Bolt--a dog actor whose stage life is filled with adventure, danger and suspense. Unfortunatley, he gets shipped to the wrong address--New York City instead of Los Angeles--where he finds himself having to call on those powers he has only pretended to have on stage. In his harrowing cross country journey to get back to L.A., Bolt takes on two traveling companions--a stray cat and an escaped hamster. During the journey, Bolt discovers his own canine cunning is as good as having superpowers to be a hero. Boly was produced in 3D by RealD, whose double-speed projectors alternately project the left and right eye images through orthogonal polarizers, permitting viewers to direct the correct image to the correct eye with polarized glasses. In the next three years, over 30 films in 3D are slated to be released by Disney and other popular studios.
