BLURAY3D

(December 21, 2009) The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced last week an industry-wide standard for 3D high definition content on disc. The HD Guru reveals here details not contained within that press release.

According to Futuresource Consulting, a U.K. specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company with expertise in consumer electronics, “next generation 3D Blu-ray players will be available in the second quarter of 2010“—far earlier than other reporters’ predictions. Full HD 3D Blu-ray content will appear at the same time as the players’ introduction, as occurred with the previous format releases of DVD and  2D Blu-ray.

Futuresource  Consulting’s press release obtained by HD Guru states that “…3D-enabled BD players will be available in Q2 next year to support the major push on 3D TVs that will start at CES and build throughout the year. Further interest will be driven by owners of PS3 consoles, which will be able to play ‘Blu-ray 3D’ content.”

Sony, LG and Panasonic have already announced plans to launch 3D products in 2010. Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba publicly displayed prototypes of their respective 3D designs in 2009. The industry wide Blu-ray 3D standard requires all players to output Full HD (1920 x 1080p) 3D resolution.

The BDA press release highlights are:

  • 3D players deliver 1080p Full HD to the each eye
  • 3D players are standardized to operate with any brand or model 3D-enabled HDTV
  • 3D players will play standard 2D Blu-ray discs as well as 3D ones
  • Current Blu-ray players will all be able to play 3D titles, however only in 2D
  • PlayStation 3 game console will be upgradable to play 3D titles in 3D
  • Standard includes new graphic features, such as 3D menus and subtitles

In an email response to questions regarding the new Blu-ray 3D standard, a BDA representative revealed players may output 3D 1080p HD at a 48 frame per second rate (fps). This output represents sequential alternate frames of the left and right 24fps motion picture film. 3D Blu-ray players can also output 3D as 1080p/120 Hz.

A number of 3D HDTVs will display at 120 Hz (as demonstrated by Panasonic’s 50″ and 103″ plasma prototypes) while others will choose to upconvert all HD 3D and 2D content to 240 Hz, the refresh rate cited by some LCD manufacturers in their 3D demonstrations.

With unified support of a 3D Blu-ray standard by the Hollywood movie studios and the TV manufacturers, a format war has been avoided that would have resulted in consumer confusion and doubt. The industries are expected to join together at the International CES in Las Vegas next month to roll out the first consumer 3D displays and Blu-ray players.

With great pleasure HD Guru announces its new 3D dedicated website, HDGURU3D.com. We intend to make it the go-to source for 3D information, product reviews, news and much more.

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Edited By Michael Fremer. If you’re looking for great music to play on your home theater/audio system, check out Michael’s website (link)

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