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TV Manufacturers Aim For 3-D

Posted on: Monday, 12 January 2009, 12:48 CST

Each of the top makers of televisions showed off their own versions of 3-D display models during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, thereby showing their effort to make the technology more readily available.

Manufacturers including Sony Corp., Panasonic Corp., LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled prototype 3-D screens intended for use in home entertainment systems.

Yoshi Yamada, head of Panasonic Corp.'s North American unit, referred to the company’s 3-D transition as "a phase change that will have a major impact on Panasonic's business." The company demonstrated the capabilities of its 3-D plasma screen to viewers wearing battery-powered glasses.

"There's three or more times more 3-D than last year," Richard Doherty, an analyst with Envisioneering Group told the AP.

Doherty said tech firms are making the move toward 3-D to keep their consumers interested and engaged so they will continue to be willing to buy.

All the 3-D TVs on display at CES were prototypes with no firm launch date. In order for 3-D to take off, there has to be a widely-accepted format for the technology to use.

Filming in 3-D is not a problem, and displaying the footage on a home system is not difficult either. But the industry has yet to adopt one true format for broadcasting 3-D.

Yamada said Panasonic is working to resolve that issue by creating standards for both broadcasts and discs, probably with some variation of the high-definition Blu-ray disc with the goal of having products on the market by next year.

But the move toward 3-D would be a flop without backing from Hollywood.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. said 3-D is important, but he focuses more on the in-theater experience.

The technology "represents the opportunity to re-energize our audiences worldwide about the film medium, to give them a new exciting premium experience that can only be seen in the movie theaters," Katzenberg said.

DreamWorks plans to give away 150 million 3-D glasses to Super Bowl audiences so that they can view a 90 second ad for its next animated feature, "Monsters vs. Aliens," in 3-D on unmodified TV sets.

Glasses are another issue that some firms, like 3M and partner Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., are trying to make obsolete.

The company has developed a thin film that goes inside the small handheld screen and beams light selectively to the right and left eyes of the viewer. If 3M’s technology is adopted, consumers could see their phones go 3-D by the end of 2009.

But until an industry-wide standard is adopted, content will remain to be the key issue missing from the 3-D equation.

"The content people haven't been willing to do a lot of content because there have been no displays," William Bryan, 3M senior technology manager.

But all of the issues dealing with content in the entertainment industry have nothing to do with the video game industry, which may be the 3-D’s saving grace.

The gaming industry has been leading the charge into widely used 3-D technology.

Nvidia, one of the two leading makers of graphics chips for PCs and game consoles, showed off its new $199 GeForce 3D Vision glasses at CES. The glasses are compatible with LCD monitors and transform more than 350 games into 3-D.

Existing games include "Left 4 Dead,” “Spore” and "World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King."

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On the Net:

• Consumer Electronics Show
• Sony Corp.
• Panasonic Corp.
• LG Electronics Inc.
• Samsung Electronics Co.
• Envisioneering Group
• DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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