SONY AND THE 3D REVOLUTION

Written By: Harold Schossman

02-17-2010

Ever since James Cameron’s sci-fi spectacle Avatar shattered literally every single box-office record in movie history 3D technology is gearing up to invade the entire entertainment industry and it seems there is no stopping it:

Sony has announced a 3D firmware update for its Playstation 3 that will allow any game to appear in 3D. They are also developing games specifically designed for 3D gameplay. The data will be stored on 3D-BDs (Blu-Ray discs) and the PS3 will be able to read those 3D-BDs once the firmware update has been installed. A debug version of Sony’s 3.20 update is apparently now making the rounds among programmers. It clearly features a “3D Video Output” option. Pretty cool! So does that mean that next summer we all can jump into 3D at no extra expense? Unfortunately not! While you can continue to use your PS3 your TV will not be able to the task of displaying 3D. Why not?

In order to create the illusion of 3D game programmers and filmmakers have to add depth to the images they create. This is achieved by two slightly different angles, one for each eye. In order to display these two angles Sony has come up with a TV set that mimics the 3D process used in theatrical 3D motion picture presentation of movies like Avatar. Your PS3 sends out a HDMI signal to a 3D TV that runs at 200Hz. Each frame displayed on the screen alternates between the left and right eye giving a 100Hz per eye 3D image. Spectacles you need to wear polarize the film/game sending the right images to the proper eye thus creating the illusion of 3D.

So is it worth dishing out your extra bucks for a brand new 3D TV set? In my opinion: Yes. Even though 3D has been around for many decades its breakthrough is happening right now.