3D Technology
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Exclusive 3D Bundles: Shooting Themselves in the Foot
3D Technology, The Big Picture
Scott Wilkinson • Mar 03, 2011 • 4 comments
According to the Home Cinema Choice blog on TechRadar.com, the idea of exclusively bundling the Avatar 3D Blu-ray with Panasonic's 3D products—a deal that runs until February 2012—was initiated by 20th Century Fox, not Panasonic. Also, this is likely to be a one-time thing for the company, not a regular policy.
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Glasses—3D's Achilles' Heel
3D Technology
Scott Wilkinson • Apr 26, 2010 • 20 comments

You get home from a long day at work, and you want to watch a movie on your brand new 3DTV. You collapse into your comfy chair, turn on the system, and—wait, where did you put those 3D glasses?
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Happy Blu-ray 3D Day!
3D Technology, News
Scott Wilkinson • Nov 16, 2010 • 1 comments
One of the criticisms aimed at 3D in the home is the dearth of available titles. Then there's all the exclusive deals that make many titles available only in bundles with 3D TVs and Blu-ray players from one manufacturer or another. But according to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), a trade association representing the home-entertainment industry, these limitations are starting to ease as more titles are being released for the holiday buying season. In fact, 10 titles are being released today—which is being called Blu-ray 3D Day—in anticipation of Black Friday (November 26 this year).
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How Do You Review 3D, Anyway?
3D Technology, How We Test
Joshua Zyber • Dec 14, 2011 • 0 comments
Those of us who’ve spent a lot of time reviewing movies on video discs (from Blu-ray to DVD and, for some of us, even back to Laserdisc) understand that the process involves its share of both objective and subjective criteria. The exact balance varies depending on the content under review. Every movie—and every disc—is unique. Nonetheless, certain rules and standards hold true in most circumstances. While Blu-ray Discs provide vastly better quality than DVDs, and we in turn have gotten a lot savvier over the years in detecting the nuances of what makes a good or bad video image, the fundamental process has remained unchanged in the transition from standard definition to high definition. That is, until now. The introduction of 3D has thrown things for a pretty big loop. The more 3D content I’ve watched (on Blu-ray or other sources), the more questions I have about exactly how 3D should be evaluated. It turns out that reviewing 3D is a lot trickier than reviewing standard 2D.
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Is Modern 3D a Leap Forward or Merely Hype?
3D Technology, Vote
Scott Wilkinson • Oct 29, 2010 • 14 comments

I'm not talking about those awful red-and-blue glasses or cheesy 3D movies from decades ago; I mean the current state of the art, including commercial cinema and 3D TVs and Blu-ray players (which can now be bought for as little as $120, less than a pair of active glasses!). Modern 3D is big news, but is it an important technological leap or merely hype to get consumers to spend more money?

Please leave a comment after you vote.

Is Modern 3D a Leap Forward or Merely Hype?
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James Cameron Plans Better 3D for Avatar 2
3D Technology, News, The Big Picture
Scott Wilkinson • Feb 03, 2011 • 1 comments
As wildly successful as Avatar was, many people still complained of eye fatigue, headaches, and other symptoms of what I call 3D sickness. (If you haven't yet taken our poll on whether or not you suffer from this malady, I invite you to do so here.) So director James Cameron plans to significantly improve the 3D experience of Avatar 2—scheduled for release in December 2014—as revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog.
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LG LZ9700 & LW6500 3D TVs at CES
3D Technology, CEDIA 2006, Ultimate Tech
Scott Wilkinson • Dec 30, 2010 • 3 comments
LG will have some big announcements at CES next week—literally. Perhaps the biggest is the 72-inch LZ9700, which the company claims is the world's largest LED-backlit 3D LCD TV.
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Lucasfilm Selects Prime Focus to Convert Star Wars to 3D
3D Technology, News
Scott Wilkinson • Apr 05, 2011 • 3 comments
Converting 2D content to 3D is controversial at best, but when George Lucas wants to do it to Star Wars, that's big news. Following an exhaustive testing process, Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic have selected Prime Focus to convert Episode I: The Phantom Menace to 3D for theatrical release on February 10, 2012.
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Mitsubishi WD-92840 DLP 3D RPTV
3D Technology, Ultimate Tech
Scott Wilkinson • Mar 10, 2011 • 7 comments
As I've said all along, you need a really big screen to get the most out of 3D video, and that usually means a front projector, which, in turn, means big bucks. But Mitsubishi will soon offer a more affordable alternative—the WD-92840, a DLP-based rear-projection 3D TV with a ginormous 92-inch screen for much less than most 3D front projectors and separate screens.
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Mozaex 3D Media Server
3D Technology, Ultimate Tech
Scott Wilkinson • Sep 03, 2010 • 3 comments
Among the myriad press releases I've received lately—no doubt in preparation for the upcoming CEDIA Expo—was one with a particularly audacious headline: "Mozaex Ships World's First 3D Blu-ray Multi-Room Media Server." Intrigued, I contacted Mozaex (pronounced like "mosaics") to learn more.
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New 3D Programming from Discovery, Imax, Sony
3D Technology, News, The Big Picture
Scott Wilkinson • Dec 14, 2010 • 1 comments
Sony, Imax, and the Discovery Channel have announced new 3D programming for 2011, with three new series, two specials, and the broadcast debut of Open Season in 3D, the first feature-length animated movie from Sony Pictures Animation. The specials include Imax's Space Station narrated by Tom Cruise and a 3D episode of Discovery's Ghost Lab.
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Orson Scott Card on 3D
3D Technology
Scott Wilkinson • May 04, 2010 • 10 comments

A couple of weeks ago, Tom Norton sent me a link to a blog entry on the website of Orson Scott Card, one of my favorite sci-fi authors who wrote the Ender and Alvin Maker series of books as well as many other fascinating stories, such as Songmaster and The Worthing Saga. In this particular blog entry, Card writes about why he hated Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and why he hates 3D in general.
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Panasonic 2011 Blu-ray Players
3D Technology, News
Scott Wilkinson • Mar 08, 2011 • 3 comments
Panasonic today held press briefings at its Panasonic Hollywood Labs facility near Universal City, CA, regarding its 2011 line of Blu-ray players, HTIBs (home-theater-in-a-box systems), self-contained iPod microsystems, and a soundbar. This being Ultimate AV, I'll focus on the Blu-ray players here.
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Panasonic 3D Briefing
3D Technology
Scott Wilkinson • Jun 10, 2010 • 7 comments

Tom Norton and I must have very bad traffic karma. After Wednesday's slog to Sony Pictures Studios for the Sony 3D Launch, we faced a similar hurdle yesterday on the Ventura Freeway as we made our way to a 3D briefing from Panasonic at the Hotel Intercontinental in Century City. Fortunately, it wasn't as far as the Sony event, and I had a few alternate routes up my sleeve, so we made our appointment on time.
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Panasonic TH-P103MT2 3D Plasma TV
3D Technology, Ultimate Tech
Scott Wilkinson • Nov 22, 2010 • 2 comments
Panasonic's 103-inch plasma is nothing new—we first saw it at the 2006 CES—and it's not even the largest plasma in production, an honor that goes to Panasonic's 152-inch behemoth. But last week, the company announced that it is taking pre-orders in Japan for an updated version of the 103-incher that now offers 3D capabilities.
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