I had a chance on Friday last week to visit a company that develops the consoles and software to deploy 3D TV programs. In the past, 3D television or movies have required viewers to wear special glasses (with red and blue lenses) or for the movie screen to be large enough to incorporate the number of pixels required for such programs.
I’m not sure if this has been in the market for some time or whether its new, but I was seriously impressed with the quality of the images. You can literally see the objects flying out of the screen towards you. From what I understand of the technology, the software manages 8 layers of images superimposed into one reel. By playing these images at different times, a special 3D imaging effect emerges.
The content is till poor at this time. I watched only a couple of demos developed for the purpose, one a cartoon and the other an ad for a car. The screen itself, while the same size as a large screen TV, apparently retails for close to 15K euros. Due to the weak content currently available, sales have not been significant which in turn does not allow the price of these screens to go down. And obviously the high price of the screens and poor penetration does not lead many companies to want to develop their own content. A truly chicken and egg problem.
Be that as it may, while I may not consider investing in this company at this time, I believe that in the very near future, 3D movies will be available to the consumer and I look forward to it.
Tong Hsien-Hui
Some Meowsings...... 