TDVision Systems

TDVision Systems makes the world's only 2D/3D compatible stereoscopic HD3D video codec (TDVCodec). This format is compatible with MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVC, and VC-1. This format works on all legacy display devices in 3D and all 3D display devices in 3D including DLP, LCD, Plasma, and Laser. This format works off of a single MPEG file meaning that a single Blu-ray disc or video file can work in 1080p 3D on all 3D display devices. If you pop one of our Blu-rays in a standard player it will play in 2D. We require a firmware update and voila you can view in 3D. Most newer Blu-ray players can have their firmware updated either through ethernet port in the back or a cd-rom burn.

The firmware update should enable all popular 3D@Home TV solutions including checkerboard and xpol among others. As for dual projection, you may be better off using a TDVision enabled file on a PC. You shouldn't need a separate firmware for each display type.

What are our major advantages over side/side, over/under, and checkerboard formats?
- No chip required!
- Multi Device Support
- Legacy 2D playback support

We work over IPTV, Cable, Satellite, and ATSC. There is also a stereoscopic compression in our format which takes advantage of redundancies between the left and right streams. We are fully patented and have been for years. We are members of SMPTE, ATSC, 3D@Home, DVB, CEA and other task forces releated to S-3D in the home. We also make a camera, virtual environment, and gaming tools.

Dual Projection works wonderfully with our format. We have tested in multiple dual projection systems including our dual input TDVisor. We have tested on dual projectors at 1080p 60hz. There is no problem at all.

Since our solution is MPEG compatible it is able to run off Blu-ray, DVD, Standard PC video files, broadcast streams and more. For example a TDVision video file is indistinguishable from any MPEG-2, AVC or VC-1 file. When you play one of our files in Windows Media Player it will play in 1080p 2D. If you update your PC decoder with our decoder profile for PC you will be able to see the same file in 3D (DejaView).

We are in production of a realtime encoder for 3D broadcast or digital cinema contribution (live 3D alternative content in digital theaters for instance). Our format can be broadcast over cable, satellite, and ATSC with no impact on the user. This means that unlike other formats you can watch the same channel on existing TV sets in 2D as you would with a 3D ready TV set in 3D. This lessens confusion and allows compatibility. Much like the transition from black and white to color.

Existing 3D Formats:
Side by Side - This is an image format where the left and right views are squeezed side-by-side in a single 1080 frame container. This means that you have a 1080p frame with two half resolution view images. These images then require a chip to process and interpolate the images by stretching them out and interpolating (inventing) half the pixels. This system is not compatible with 2D, you will see a side by side image on any 2D player, this system requires a chip to process the frame, this chip must be embedded in the television. This system also cuts resolution completely in half. If you consider using a row interleaved LCD Monitor this means that the effective resolution per eye is 960x540. Not to mention all the decompression artifacts.

- Depth Map - The system is geared towards autostereoscopic screens. We don't believe those are ready for prime time yet in the home. 2D+Depth uses a 256 bit color greyscale to represent depth. The issue here is the world has more than 256 "grades" of depth in any given scene. 2D+Depth is greating a depth map which is analogous to robot-vision or giving a z co-ordinate to every pixel. We prefer to let the brain do the work on a visual stereoscopic level rather than assigning depth by a robotic process. It's more natural and it looks way better.

- Multi-view Video Coding (MVC) - Another process that originated in the ISO/JVT as an add-on to H.264. This process has not been implemented yet, is specific to H.264 and implements methods TDVision has been using (and patented) since 2003.

By Ethan Schur, Director of Marketing for TDVision, from 3DTV Group discussions.