PDA

View Full Version : ARE YOU READY FOR THE THIRD DIMENSION?



gmb45
17th October, 2009, 06:24 AM
Cameras, laptops, computer games, even Channel 4 - the 3D experience is about to leap off the big screen and into your living room...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/16/article-1220831-06D8645B000005DC-817_306x301.jpg Coming to a home near you: Sky and Channel 4 are set to bring 3D technology into the living room

This Is It, the movie that documents Michael Jackson's final rehearsals for his never-to-be O2 residency, includes 3D movie sequences originally intended to be used in his comeback shows.

It's part of a new generation of 3D movies designed to tempt recession-hit movie-lovers back into the cinema - and it follows this year's string of 3D successes, including Coraline, Monsters vs Aliens and Bolt.

For all the hype, 3D is nothing new at the cinema. The technology - which involves wearing a pair of glasses to make your left and right eyes see different images, thereby creating the illusion of depth - was developed in the 1930s and saw brief periods of popularity in the 1950s and 1980s.

But this time it's different: 3D technologies are set to leap from the big screen into your living room.

Next month, Channel 4 will air a week-long season of 3D shows including a Derren Brown spectacular and rarely seen 3D footage of the Queen at the time of her Coronation. And next year, Sky is planning to launch a 3D channel.

While Channel 4's 3D venture will rely on your existing television and blue-and-amber glasses given away free at Sainsbury's, Sky is being far more ambitious with its plan to launch Britain's first 3D TV channel in 2010.

The new channel will feature a mixture of 3D films, documentaries and live 3D broadcasts of sporting events.

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220831/From-cameras-laptops-3D-experience-leaping-big-screen-homes.html#) The good news: Sky's 3D channel will use the existing HD set-top box. The bad news: to get the 3D effect, you'll need to invest hundreds of pounds in a new '3D-ready' TV - and you'll have to wear special glasses.

To present 3D movies in HD, Sony and Panasonic are planning to launch TVs that work with 'active shutter' 3D glasses. This system will work with 3D Blu-ray movie discs and games, too, but is incompatible with Sky's 3D channel.

Amazingly, there are already products that work without glasses.

Fujifilm has just released the world's first 3D digital compact camera. The Fujifilm Real 3D W1 has two lenses that capture two images - but the real magic happens around the back, where the images are combined on a special 3D screen.

The screen uses the same lenticular technology as those novelty postcards that appear to move when you hold them at different angles: tiny ridges have multiple versions of a picture on them, angled so that your left and right eyes see a slightly different image.

TV manufacturers have tried lenticular technology, too. Philips' 42in lenticular 3DTV drew huge crowds at trade shows, but few were convinced by the ?8,000 asking price and Philips pulled the plug on its lenticular development to focus on 3D-ready TVs that require glasses but cost little more than conventional LCD TVs.

For now, 3D may still seem like a bit of a gimmick. Before too long, though, we may be doing all our viewing in the third dimension.
HOW DOES 3D WORK?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/16/article-1220831-06D86432000005DC-517_306x331.jpg
We perceive depth in the real world because our two eyes see at slightly different angles - which helps us work out whether something is close up and small or far away and big.
To create the illusion of depth from two-dimensional pictures, our eyes need to see different versions of the same picture - which can be done in a variety of ways.
Most commonly, two images are shown and glasses filter one out - in the case of the familiar 3D specs, the red lens filters out red images and only shows blue ones, while the blue lens does the opposite.
But forthcoming 3D-ready TVs from Sony and Panasonic eschew any extra filtering - instead, they feature a screen that updates its image at twice the normal speed.
The hard work is done by the 'active shutter' glasses, which open and close at speeds so rapid that the movement is imperceptible - ensuring your right eye sees a frame while your left eye doesn't, and vice versa.
Active Shutter systems deliver a 3D effect without compromising the quality of HDTV - and unlike polarising systems, you don't have to be positioned directly in front of the television to get the full 3D effect.
However, the glasses are expensive and need to be recharged every few hours.

greasley
17th October, 2009, 01:49 PM
hi can you help:girl:

caveman_nige
17th October, 2009, 02:02 PM
help with what?

on_the_jazz
21st October, 2009, 01:08 PM
help with what?

Downloads.