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The incompatibility of different 3-D TVs may also deter some consumers from upgrading their home entertainment systems. In the theater, users wear "passive" polarized glasses to transform the blurry image onscreen into a 3-D image. But in-home theaters generally require that users wear battery-powered "active" shutter-type glasses, which work by quickly opening and closing a screen in front of each eye (usually 60 or 120 times per second) in time with onscreen frames. The glasses stay in sync with the TV images usually via an infrared emitter and receiver. The problem is that shutter times and transmitting standards vary between TV sets (although a company called XpanD, which makes 3-D glasses for movie theaters, says it has developed universal 3-D glasses). Another issue is that many potential early adopters probably recently bought large flat-screen TVs and may be less inclined to invest in another one soon.
Even if customers do buy 3-D TVs, there isn't a lot of 3-D content available. But TV stations such as DirecTV and ESPN have promised to start broadcasting in 3-D, and the first Blu-Ray 3-D movies are starting to roll out. TVs from Mitsubishi, Samsung, and Toshiba can convert 2-D content to 3-D by using algorithms that guess where depth should appear, but the results tend not to be as vivid as content filmed in 3-D. "My opinion is that these kinds of [converting] technologies will be very important, but right now they are not in high quality yet," says Colegrove.
Early on, one of the biggest sources of 3-D content could be computer games. "There's no doubt that 3-D gaming should be a big driver for adoption of these products," says Samsung's Tanenbaum. At Panasonic's demo, Nvidia showed off its 3-D gaming technology. The company has converted over 400 PC games to 3-D. While the 3-D didn't pop quite as much as the other content, it was enough to make a racing game slightly more immersive.
Manufacturers will be hoping that other products, including 3-D camcorders and cameras, will encourage people to create their own 3-D content. DisplaySearch predicts that by 2010, there will be 10 million 3-D cameras and camcorders shipped, compared to a forecast of under 100,000 for this year. "We think the price will drop and expect the technology will get better," says Colegrove.
Amar Aggoun, a researcher in 3-D imaging technologies at Brunel University in London, is developing a 3-D system that can display 3-D images without requiring glasses. "For the home, where everyone would have to [wear] glasses, it might not be as practical as going to a movie," he says, adding that 3-D viewing with glasses "tends to give you a headache."
There have been a few demos of prototype glasses-free 3-D technology, but Aggoun believes it'll be about three years before this hits the market.