3D TV, Cinema & Gaming Guide

  

3D Technology

  

Also in this section: Introduction | 3D Technology | 3D TV | 3D Cinema | 3D Gaming | Top Ten 3D TVs

How does 3D technology work

In the real world, we are able to perceive depth because each eye operates at a slightly different angle, generating a slightly different perspective on what's in front of us. The effect enables us to determine how close or distant an object is.

Whatever the system, all 3D formats need to create the illusion of 3D from a two dimensional image. All of the current 3D systems operate in the same fundamental way by presenting two different version of the same image to the human eye.

Anaglyph/Colourcode

The Anaglyph/Colourcode system presents two slightly different views of the same scene at the same time, but slightly offset on the horizontal.

Anaglyph 3D System

One version of the image is tinted Red while the other is tinted Cyan. Glasses with one Red lens filters out red images and only shows blue ones, while the blue lens does the opposite. Both images are then combined by the brain to create the 3D illusion.

The Anaglyph system was the original 3D film format and is being used for some TV broadcasts and Blu-ray offerings.

Polarising

The Polarising system displays two images simultaneously projected at different angles (polarised) in the same direction.

Polarising 3D System

Polarising glasses then pick up the image that is intended for each lens, creating the 3D effect.

Polarising technology is currently the system of choice in the majority of cinemas.

Active Shutter

The Active Shutter system creates separate high quality (1080p) images for the left and right eyes which are played back alternately at high speed.

The hard work is done by 'Active Shutter' glasses, which open and close at rapid speeds which ensures that your right eye sees a frame while your left eye doesn't, and vice versa.

Nvidia, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic are developing products using active shutter technology.

Lenticular

The Lenticular system, also known as auto-stereoscopic is a glasses free system and for this reason is regarded by many as the ideal long term solution.

Cylindrical lenses, Lenticules, covering a transparent sheet are attached to an LCD display and reflect light at specific angles, generating different images for each eye.

Fujifilm and Philips are currently working with the technology, although the complex nature of the system currently makes it too prohibitive for general consumer applications at present.

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