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Ed Milbourn Ed's View - 3DTV - Why Not Glasses?
By Ed Milbourn
Correspondent
Posted on January 30, 2007
Category: Technology
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At least at the start.

There is no doubt (at least in my little mind) that the next big step in television development is the addition of the third dimension - i.e. "3DTV." Interestingly, virtually all of the technical elements are in place to commercialize fully compatible 3DTV.

The one caveat to this statement is the acceptance of the use of viewing glasses, at least in the initial system designs. This is certainly a big commercial "if," but the display system design without the use of eye-level polarizing filters (glasses) would delay consumer introduction of 3DTV significantly. Otherwise the key technical elements are ready to be systemized. Here are the salient reasons 3DTV could be very close:

  • Increased television display refresh (frame) rate capability (1080p+) can provide virtually flicker free HD motion images with two sequential scans.
  • High density physical pixel deposition manufacturing techniques can allow the increased pixel count required for dual (stereoscopic) images.
  • High efficiency display techniques can provide the increased brightness necessary to overcome the inherent light attenuation of polarizing filters.
  • Increasingly efficient information compression schemes, such as the MPEG-4 variations, can allow the 3DTV stereoscopic information to be easily multiplex within the existing channel bandwidth limitations. Essentially, the present 2D HDTV production and transmission infrastructure would require little modification.

Indeed, a fully compatible first generation 3D television system is possible with very few, if any, changes in the present ATSC standard. To be certain, as time advances, many esoteric holography based 3DTV systems will be developed and deployed. Eventually these second and third generation 3DTV systems will be found in commercial and home applications, but not in any reasonable time-frame.

In the meantime, we could see our present HDTV system evolve to 3D capability if we are willing to initially accept the simple addition of inexpensive, comfortable polarizing filters - just like the movies.

Posted by Ed Milbourn, January 30, 2007 12:09 PM

Reader Commentary

See Forum Topic: Ed's View - 3DTV - Why Not Glasses? (5 replies)
Jan 30, 4:08pm
Ed...I know you've commented extensively about DirecTV's problems with their latest TIVO-type product. If you were a DirecTV subscriber now that wanted the same service that I have with my wonderful DirecTV TIVO on a "regular" TV and am purchasing an HD
Jan 30, 5:32pm
Don't confuse 3D graphics with stereoscopic photography. 3D graphics do not need glasses as the 3D image is based on persprctive. In stereoscopic photography the left eye see the left image and the right eye sees the right image. There are a couple of way
Jan 31, 7:15am
Ed & company, Is the hangup regarding glasses just that special ones, no matter how cheap are needed, or that they must be quite expensive? If display technology progresses (or has progressed) to that level that two simultaneous but differently po
Feb 2, 3:41pm
Dear Mr. Milbourn, I was very interested in your article and was just wondering if you are aware of our company - Dynamic Digital Depth? We are involved in the 3D (sterescopic) industry and have glasses free 3D mobile phones, polarized glasses based 3
Feb 3, 10:38am
I am of a certain age...I remember 3D movies when they came out in the 1950's. I especially remember watching a spectacular version of Hondo, starring John Wayne. It was shot in technicolor and used polarized glasses, not the red and green ones that were
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About Ed Milbourn

After graduating from Purdue University with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Education in 1961 and 1963 respectively, Ed Milbourn joined the RCA Home Entertainment Division in 1963. During his thirty-eight year career with RCA (later GE and Thomson multimedia), Mr. Milbourn held the positions of Field Service Engineer, Manager of Technical Training and Manager of Sales Training. In 1987, he joined Thomson's Product Management group as Manager of Advanced Television Systems Planning, with responsibilities including Digital Television and High Definition Television Product Management. Mr. Milbourn retired from Thomson multimedia in December 2001, and is now a Consumer Electronics Industry consultant.