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December 2009
Movie Entertainment
Jack Kapica
After high definition TV and hundreds of new channels, what’s the next revolution in television?
According to the tech world, it’s a 3-D TV. And the stars are aligning for that to happen soon.
During the Super Bowl last January, chipmaker Intel and the DreamWorks studio showed American viewers a 3-D trailer of the animated movie Monsters vs. Aliens. PepsiCo did the same for SoBe LifeWater energy drinks.
Dolby released Journey to the Center of the Earth and
Beowulf in 3-D. In August, a Panasonic prototype 3-D TV system was running on a 103-inch plasma screen. And in September, a Montreal company called Sensio Technologies broadcast a college football game between USC and Ohio State live in 3-D on ESPN.
Three-dimensional imaging took its baby steps in the 1840s when stereoscopy, as it was known then, created the illusion of depth by showing each eye a slightly different picture. But TV makers are chasing two different technologies: one with and one without the need for special glasses. Before airing the movie trailer at the Super Bowl, Intel gave away 125 million “InTru3D” glasses with dorky plastic frames.
Sharp Electronics has an LCD screen that shows 3-D, but you have to sit perfectly still to watch it. Philips’s technology allows viewers to move around, with a little double-vision as the scenes change; it’s also more expensive.
Of course, watching TV would be better without glasses at all. Mitsubishi and Samsung already have some 3-D TV sets on sale in the U.S., but the sets are only “3-D ready.” You might also need a box selling for $400 to $500 before getting 3-D imagery.
Sensio’s technology is a breakthrough: It can deliver live 2-D and 3-D content over the existing cable system. But you will still need the 3-D glasses.
The effect of 3-D TV is mesmerizing, and so the first customers are likely to be sports events and retailers seeking eye-popping advertising displays.
So when will we see 3-D TV? The technology is still in its infancy, but developments are happening quickly. The cable and satellite TV providers will jump on board only after the broadcasters start using 3-D, and that will be only after producers start filming in 3-D.
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