3-D: Coming at You Soon in a Home Theater Near You
3-D is already becoming a hit in theaters. Now Hollywood, TV makers and technology firms are trying to bring the eye-popping visuals-with-depth into your living room. Recent 3-D versions of theatrical releases such as Meet the Robinsons and Beowulf have sold twice as many tickets or more for each showing as standard versions. So it's no surprise that studios have as many as 40 movies planned for viewing, either all or in part in 3-D. And more theaters are adding compatible projectors and screens.
Upcoming theatrical 3-D movies include Journey to the Center of the Earth, the first live-action film shot entirely in 3-D (July 11; can be viewed in 2-D, too). Disney's Pixar studio will begin making all its computer-animated films in 3-D starting with Bolt, which arrives in November. DreamWorks plans the same strategy starting with Monsters vs. Aliens, due next March. Also due in 2009: James Cameron's computer-generated Avatar. And Disney and Pixar are reworking the first two Toy Story films for 3-D, as is George Lucas and the Star Wars saga.
"There is a real significant push from the creative community," says Doug Darrow of Texas Instruments, which makes video chips for 3-D-capable digital projectors.
It costs studios more to make 3-D movies, so there's "a high level of enthusiasm" for 3-D movies that consumers also can watch at home on high-definition TVs, says Chris Chinnock of the recently formed 3D@Home Consortium. Home video accounts for three-fourths of Hollywood's $35.5 billion annual revenue, including $16 billion in DVD sales. "3-D is a nice driver in theaters," Chinnock says, but it needs "a path to the home."
On the agenda for the consortium, whose members include Disney, Universal, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Thomson and IMAX, are the various types of 3-D technologies and home-delivery methods. Old-school paper glasses used red and blue lenses to create a grainy three-dimensional image. Current experimentation focuses on home movies and games that can be viewed with sophisticated glasses (like those used in theaters) directing different images to the left and right eye. Live test broadcasts of sports events have already taken place. Also in development are 3-D displays that can be viewed without headgear at all.
3-D has the potential "to revitalize the industry," says Phil Swann of TVPredictions.com. "Watching something in high-def makes you feel like you're there; watching something in 3-D HD makes you feel like you can reach out and touch what's there. Needless to say, this makes advertisers giddy as they contemplate viewers becoming more involved with the products they see on screen."
More signs that 3-D is headed for your home:
- 3-D HDTVs are a reality. By the end of the year, more than 1 million 3-D-ready HDTVs, primarily from Mitsubishi and Samsung, will be in U.S. homes. These sets can display standard HD video and be connected to 3-D sources. Mitsubishi's newest 3D-ready, 65-inch LaserVue set will come to market this summer, with a 73-inch model to follow (no prices set).
On Monday, Mitsubishi also announced a 3-D content deal with PC graphics-card maker Nvidia and media server company Aspen Media Products. The first offerings later this year will be computer games such as Electronic Arts' Madden NFL, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and FIFA Soccer. A competing 3-D package from DDD (Dynamic Digital Depth), the TriDef 3D Experience transforms into 3-D some PC games, such as BioShock, and movies (The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, which was in theaters in different 3-D form).
At last week's InfoComm AV trade show in Las Vegas, Philips announced several new 3-D displays, including a 52-inch LCD screen that does not require glasses for viewing. Also unveiled: the first home 3-D projector, from Norwegian firm Projectiondesign. Both are due later this year (no prices set).
- Home 3-D discs are coming. With all the new 3-D movies in the works, there will plenty of blockbuster content available for home treatment. Shown only in 3-D theaters earlier this year, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds 3-D Concert will be the first 3-D Blu-ray Disc when it's released Aug. 19. Both versions, the $36 Blu-ray Disc and $35 two-disc DVD, come with 3-D glasses. (You also can watch in normal 2-D). And the concert is longer, with additional songs not seen in the theatrical version.
- Ways to turn regular discs into 3-D are in the works. Technology company TDVision is pitching Hollywood studios with a way to make current Blu-ray Disc movies appear in 3-D. Watching in 3-D is like "the difference between watching a car chase on TV and actually being part of the car chase," says TDVision's Ethan Schur.
"There is going to be an evolution here, and it will take a little bit of time, but it is similar to the HDTV transition," says Mitsubishi's Frank DeMartin. "With HD, there was no content at all. Here we have quite a bit of content available. The next wave will be on the home-video front. The question is, how does it all happen?"
By Mike Snider, USA Today
