Blu-ray 3D Disc Specification Finalized

[Ken S]

3-D Blu-ray players set for expected explosion of 3-D television sales; supports 2-D format

Lucas Mearian

December 17, 2009 (Computerworld) The Blu-ray Disc Association announced today that it has finalized the 3-D Disc Specification, which includes support for the PlayStation 3. The format will be display agnostic, supporting any 3-D television, including LCD and Plasma models.

The news comes less than a week after LG Electronics Inc. announced it expects to ship 400,000 3-D-enabled televisions next year, and 3.4 million in 2011. The market for 3-D television is expected to be a $1.1 billion in 2010. By 2015, it's expected to skyrocket to $15.8 billion, according to market research firm DisplaySearch.

3-D Blu-ray players will project a 1080p image for each eye. Special glasses required for viewing 3-D brings the two images together to create the additional affect of depth.

"From a technological perspective, it is simply the best available platform for bringing 3D into the home," Benn Carr, chairman of the Blu-ray Disk Association 3-D Task Force said in a statement.

The Blu-ray 3-D specification allows PS3 game consoles to play back Blu-ray 3-D content in 3-D. The specification also supports 2-D discs in upcoming 3-D players and allows 2-D playback of Blu-ray 3-D discs on the large installed base of Blu-ray Disc players.

The Blu-ray 3D specification calls for encoding 3D video using the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec, an extension to the ITU-T H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) codec currently supported by all Blu-ray Disc players.

MPEG4-MVC compresses both left and right eye views with a typical 50% overhead compared to equivalent 2D content, and can provide full 1080p resolution backward compatibility with current 2D Blu-ray Disc players. The specification also incorporates enhanced graphic features for 3D. These features provide a new experience for users, enabling navigation using 3D graphic menus and displaying 3D subtitles positioned in 3D video.

Victor Matsuda, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association Global Promotions Committee, said that in 2009 movie goers showed an overwhelming preference for 3-D when presented with the option of 3-D or 2-D.

"We believe this demand for 3-D content will carry over into the home now that we have, in Blu-ray Disc, a medium that can deliver a quality Full HD 3-D experience to the living room," Matsuda said in a statement.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic..._pm_2009-12-17

[tvine2000]

maybe,but i don't think 3d will explode.its gonna take time ,along time.people in the market for a new tv,ok maybe.these tvs are not going to be cheap.i still see people buying 720p tvs,because the price has dropped.i like the idea of 3dtv but lets get real,most consumers just don't drop everything and go out and buy a3dtv.when the price is low like lcd,then you will get impulse buying,until then its going to be a long haul for 3d.

[Loves2Watch]

A niche format at best...

[DaViD Boulet]

There is nothing "niche" about the millions of people who will be enjoying their 3-D version of UP, ToyStory, Corline, and Avatar on their home cinema over the next few years. The reason is that we finally have a 3-D spec that is fully backwards compatible... all 3-D discs will play in 2-D players so folks will begin collecting 3-D software even before they know what it is. There will be legacy means to enjoy (non full-fidelity) 3-D on current systems as with the PS3 as well as full-blown 3-D displays for those who wish to make a larger investement. This means that anyone with a PS3 will be able to enjoy 3-D in some form on their current display depending on their display's capabilities and their preferences. I have a feeling that anyone walking into a best buy seeing a demo of Avatar in 1080p 3-D on a new 3-D set will make it their priority to convince their significant other that their current HDTV needs to get moved to the bedroom to make way for a new 3-D set in the home-theater... as soon as finances permit of course.

most folks, including many skeptcis in HT forums like this, still think of 3-D using those horrible red/blue glasses or from some theme park ride where pies fly out into the crowd. Real 3-D, and tastefully done, simply provides real depth perception to the film, which enhances realism and emotional involvement. UP and Avatar are 2 great examples of 3-D done right, and anyone who's seen them done right can't rightfully think of a flat 2-D version as fully expressing the director's intended experience. as more and more movie enthusiasts experience 3-D done right, their attitude will change. Good 3-D enhances a film in the same way that mutli-channel audio or color brings new expressive tools to the artist's palette.

3-D will not dramatically increase the cost of new hardware either: the complexity to add 3-D to a 240 Hz LCD TV is basically nothing more than HDMI 1.4 and the abiltiy to sync with LCD glasses... the cost of 3-D displays will not be insurmountable even for "that sounds sort of cool" consumers who aren't 3-D diehards who are in the market for a new television or 3-D player.

Now that the spec if finalized, rest assured that 3-D is coming to sports. It won't be surprizing if this upcoming Olympics is presented in 3-D 1080p. Sports will usher in a whole new group of 3-D consumers as well.

[DaveLadely]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

There is nothing "niche" about the millions of people who will be enjoying their 3-D version of UP, ToyStory, Corline, and Avatar on their home cinema over the next few years. The reason is that we finally have a 3-D spec that is fully backwards compatible... all 3-D discs will play in 2-D players so folks will begin collecting 3-D software even before they know what it is. There will be legacy means to enjoy (non full-fidelity) 3-D on current systems as with the PS3 as well as full-blown 3-D displays for those who wish to make a larger investement. This means that anyone with a PS3 will be able to enjoy 3-D in some form on their current display depending on their display's capabilities and their preferences. I have a feeling that anyone walking into a best buy seeing a demo of Avatar in 1080p 3-D on a new 3-D set will make it their priority to convince their significant other that their current HDTV needs to get moved to the bedroom to make way for a new 3-D set in the home-theater... as soon as finances permit of course.

most folks, including many skeptcis in HT forums like this, still think of 3-D using those horrible red/blue glasses or from some theme park ride where pies fly out into the crowd. Real 3-D, and tastefully done, simply provides real depth perception to the film, which enhances realism and emotional involvement. UP and Avatar are 2 great examples of 3-D done right, and anyone who's seen them done right can't rightfully think of a flat 2-D version as fully expressing the director's intended experience. as more and more movie enthusiasts experience 3-D done right, their attitude will change. Good 3-D enhances a film in the same way that mutli-channel audio or color brings new expressive tools to the artist's palette.

3-D will not dramatically increase the cost of new hardware either: the complexity to add 3-D to a 240 Hz LCD TV is basically nothing more than HDMI 1.4 and the abiltiy to sync with LCD glasses... the cost of 3-D displays will not be insurmountable even for "that sounds sort of cool" consumers who aren't 3-D diehards who are in the market for a new television or 3-D player.

Now that the spec if finalized, rest assured that 3-D is coming to sports. It won't be surprizing if this upcoming Olympics is presented in 3-D 1080p. Sports will usher in a whole new group of 3-D consumers as well.

Well said!
I believe GOOD 3D will be considered as desirable as stereo sound vs. mono sound, even comparable to surround sound vs. mono, since its a visual experience with immediacy.
Of course, women are still giving birth to new nay saying mentalities just as they did to those who said sound movies were a fad, color was a fad, etc. I wonder if those people stuck with silent movies, black and white TVs until their last breath?
cheers
dave Ladely

[DaViD Boulet]

Originally Posted by DaveLadely

Well said!
I believe GOOD 3D will be considered as desirable as stereo sound vs. mono sound, even comparable to surround sound vs. mono, since its a visual experience with immediacy.
Of course, women are still giving birth to new nay saying mentalities just as they did to those who said sound movies were a fad, color was a fad, etc. I wonder if those people stuck with silent movies, black and white TVs until their last breath?
cheers
dave Ladely

what nay-sayers typically do is finally get into the action when no one is looking, and they keep quiet about their conversion and hope that nobody calls them out.

Rest assured that all of the laserdisc fans where were nay-sayers with the advent of DVD "because they didn't want to buy their movie collections all over again" have probably not spun a 12" platter in years, and have more DVDs than they over owned on LD. The naysayers that said "16x9 anamorphic isn't worth it to me because I plan to keep my 4x3 TV" now all have 16x9 HDTVs and get ****ed when a non-anamorphic DVD on their shelf turns out to be the only way the studio made the film available. The HD DVD enthusiasts who believed that 30 gigs were good enough, that we didn't really need lossless audio and that they'd just enjoy DVD if Blu-ray won out are now collecting blu-ray discs, many of which put 50gigs to very good use.

With time all of the folks complaining that 3-D is a gimmick and a fad will slowly come around once they experience good 3-D, and in just a few years time they'll be enjoying countless 3-D programs on their 3-D display.