3D TV Demystified : An Interview with Panasonic’s Product Specialist

3D TV at home:

What is the difference between active shutter glasses and polarized glasses?

The main differentiation is in the picture resolution and the brightness of the screen. With active shutter glasses (used by Panasonic), you can present a complete frame to each eye sequentially. With the polarized system however, you can only present half the resolution at any one time; the left eye information is made up of half the number of lines and the right eye information the second half of lines.  So you do lose picture quality, picture performance and resolution with the polarized system.

Will we be able to watch 3D TV without glasses in the future?

Longer term, 3D TV without glasses is certainly a possibility. But the downside is that you would have to build the lenses into the front of the TV to give you the effect that the glasses would normally give. That means that you would not be able to watch any 2D programming on it.

Does watching 3D TV strain your eyes?

The advancements which Panasonic have made to shutter glasses have significantly reduced fatigue and eyestrain when watching 3D.  With the new technology in both the glasses and in the TV panel, fatigue and eyestrain have been largely eradicated.

For the fashion conscious, are there any desirable 3D glasses styles in the pipeline?

There has been talk of 3D prescription glasses becoming available, so I am sure the glasses manufactures including the designer brands will be looking towards 3D as an opportunity.

Previously, 3D viewing required low lighting conditions. Have manufacturers done anything to improve this?

You’ll get the best effect of 3D if you have the lights lowered, but that’s not to say that you can’t watch 3D TV in normal daylight conditions. You will still see the 3D effect in normal daylight but the effect of the viewable picture performance is improved when you are watching it in lower light.

How much space would you recommend having in the living room to be able to watch 3DTV?

Viewing distances tend to be a little bit closer for 3D than they would be under normal 2D conditions in order to get the most out of the 3D effects so that your peripheral vision is completely filled with the content.  The optimum viewing angle is 90 degrees to the screen although you can still get a very good 3D effect up to 45 degrees angle from screen.

Will 3D work on any size TV screen?

For 3D to work well you really do need a large screen and you need to completely fill your area of vision. For things like computer games, where it’s just one person sat directly in front of a small computer monitor, then the viewer can get close enough to the monitor to make the 3D work. But in a living room set up, then you tend to sit back further from the screen and therefore you really need a larger screen to make that 3D effect work.

Are we going to be seeing anymore 3D programming on television other than sports?

In terms of broadcasting in the UK Sky that will lead this new area and have recently launched their 3D channel. In other parts of the globe, other TV companies have announced partnerships with Panasonic to bring 3D content to their countries.

3D and the film industry:

When is the 3D compatible Blu-Ray player going to be released?

We expect the Panasonic BDT300 to be launched around the same time as the 3DTVs sometime in April.

Are we going to be expecting studios to begin producing 3D Blu-Ray discs this year?

Yes I think we definitely will. There have being murmurings from some of the studios. Although there has been no official announcement yet regarding specific titles I am sure we will hear in the very near future of 3D titles becoming available on Blu-Ray.

Can regular DVDs be converted to 3D?

No, DVDs cannot be converted to 3D to produce the same 3D quality that you will see with the new full HD 3D. There are some DVDs already launched in 3D, but these are based on the old system which uses the green and blue or green and red filters and is not high quality.

How is Panasonic working with the film industry?

Panasonic is unique in having its own laboratory in Hollywood where we are working directly with several film companies to produce Blu-ray discs on 3D. We work with directors of photography and film directors to make sure that when transferring 3D movies onto discs that the authoring and encoding is done with the upmost accuracy so we will get the best reproduction on to a disc as you possibly can.

Thanks to Jamie Speakman (Digital PR Specialist)