3D Television

3D History

The beginnings of 3D video can be traced back to the invention of the stereoscope by English scientist Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838. This viewer afforded users the first glimpses of stereo photographs by the late 19th century. The first 3D film available to the public debuted in 1922 using anaglyph images. By the 1950s, analglyph 3D movies became popular with titles such as Bwana Devil, Hondo and even Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder being shot in this format. However, 3D as a video format was soon relegated to a novelty and did not resurface in Mainstream cinema until the 1980s when movies such as Jaws 3D and Friday the 13th Part 3 brought the medium back to a new generation of audiences.

The mid 1980s brought newer, polarization-based 3D technology films such as Disney's Captain EO and the IMAX 3D Transitions. Once again though, 3D quickly slipped into obscurity until brought back from the dead yet again by the recent slew of movies encompassing multiple genres such as: children's CGI, horror, action and more. This time it appears that 3D video is here to stay since for the first time, it has made the leap into live television with the World Cup and is envisioned to be the future of sporting-event television coverage.

Stereoscopic Presentation Types

Stereoscopy is the general method for providing a three-dimensional optical illusion with two-dimensional images. Depth perception is simulated by providing each eye with a different image of the same vision field. These two images represent the slightly differing perspective for each eye in binocular vision as caused by the distance between the eyes. Our brain naturally combines the two images into one, which we interpret as having depth.

3D At Home

Want to know how to watch 3D movies at home? In order to enjoy 3D video at home, consumers will have to upgrade most of their current equipment. First, a 3D capable HDTV is the obvious prerequisite. Though currently quite pricey, look for prices to tumble rapidly in the coming months with more and more 3D adopters. The next item is a 3D capable Blu-ray player. While all Blur-ray players provide HDTV resolutions, only newer players labeled as 3D capable will deliver the goods. Additionally, one should make sure that their cable/dish network box is properly outfitted for 3D operation to enjoy three-dimensional programming such as the recent World Cup. One should not forget to make sure their A/V cables are 3D capable as well. This is covered in detail in the following section. Last and perhaps most importantly, users must be willing and ready to don the less-than-stylish 3D "sunglasses" in front of family and friends.

3D Formats

Currently there are two main formats for transmitting 3D image data to your television: sequential and side-by-side 3D. This is not quite a format war like VHS versus Betamax in the early 1980s. Rather, each of these formats was designed to maximize the existing capabilities of their associated data transmission system.

3D Capable Cable Products

The Future of 3D TV

Parallax Barrier Display (Glassless 3D)
In the future consumers will not need to wear glasses to enjoy 3D content thanks to rapidly improving parallax barrier technology. A parallax barrier is a thin, switchable liquid crystal layer that controls the direction of light leaving the display. When activated, a parallax barrier will transmit different frame images to each eye to enable a stereoscopic 3D image. While promising, this technology has major shortcoming in that it requires viewers to be positioned within defined viewing zones in front of the TV to experience a 3D effect. As a result, current parallax barrier displays have a very narrow viewing angle compared to normal TVs. Look for this display type on the recently unveiled Nintendo 3DS portable game console.

Silly Questions You Were Afraid To Ask

• Q: Will there be 3D video games?
  A: Yes, 3D television technology lends itself very well to gaming. In fact current Sony PS3 owners will be able to use their current hardware to play 3D games in the near future. Sony is looking upgrade its entire game lineup to 3D via a firmware update.
• Q: Are 3D glasses universal?
  A: For active shutter glasses the answer is yes and no. The glasses must be able to receive IR or RF transmissions from the HDTV for shutter synchronisation. Currently, there is no agreed upon specification that all active shutter glasses must adhere to. However, there are a few glasses on the market that are "universal" in that they can work with nearly all 3D TVs.
• Q: Will I get a headache from watching 3D TV?
  A: While a small percentage of the population has trouble watching 3D programming due to minor eye problems, the majority of consumers can watch 3D without any negative effects if they learn the "trick" to watching 3D correctly. In order maximize the 3D depth illusion, many 3D broadcasts are shot with a very small depth-of-field. As a result, a small part of the frame is in focus while the rest is slightly blurred. Viewers can experience headaches by trying to focus on the entire picture. Instead, one should only limit their attention to the part of the frame which is in focus (this is almost always where the action is) rather than the background details.
• Q: If 3D television is the big thing now, is hologram based TV on the horizon?
  A: Hologram technology is still on the distant horizon with the best estimates pointing to around the year 2020 before fully-functional prototypes are ready for public viewing.

Terms and Definitions

• Anaglyph: A method of encoding a three-dimensional image in a single picture by superimposing a pair of pictures.
• Ghosting: The motion blur created by slow response times of digital televisions while displaying fast motion sequences.
• IR (Infrared): A data transmission signal which uses electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between 750 nm (visible red light) and 0.1 μm (microwave).
• LCD (Liquid Crystal Display): A thin display made of electronically-modulated liquid crystal pixels which form an arrayed subtractive or reflective light filter.
• Orthogonal: When two vectors intersect at right-angles.
• Parallax: A difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle between those two lines.
• Polarization: A property of light waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations.
• RF (Radio Frequency): Data transmission signals which use electromagnetic waves with frequencies between 30 kHz to 300 GHz.
• Stereoscope: An optical device used to view side by side stereo image pairs. Viewing both images simultaneously through a stereoscope produces a single image with the optical illusion of three-dimensional depth.