Major TV manufacturers form alliance for universal 3D glasses
Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and XpanD have agreed on a pact to develop a universal 3D glasses standard. The Full HD Glasses Initiative covers both 3D glasses with synchronization via IR and via Bluetooth.
With the universal 3d glasses agreement, the main TV manufacturers that use active 3d glasses with their sets are now under one umbrella gathered. The Full HD Glasses Initiative means that active 3D glasses based on the new standard can be used with all 3D TVs from the four TV manufacturers. The organization is responsible for developing the universal 3D glasses standard and licensing it to third parties, including the three manufacturers.
The consortium hopes to stimulate the sale of 3D-related products with the collaboration. Last year, TV manufacturers invested heavily in 3D functionality, but consumers were not yet enthusiastic about 3D. The cause of this is sought in, among other things, a limited supply and limited quality of 3D films, the higher price of 3D TVs, the price of 3D glasses that could only be used on one brand of 3D TVs, and crosstalk.
The first universal IR/RF 3D glasses will be available in mid-2012. These will be compatible with the 2011 active 3D TVs from the three manufacturers. Panasonic, Samsung and Sony believe that the frame sequential technology of active 3d offers the best 3d image quality, because each eye is presented with a 1080p image per unit time.
A number of names are missing from the list, including LG, Philips and Toshiba. LG focuses exclusively on passive 3D and no longer has TVs based on active 3D technology among the new LCD models. Philips and Toshiba each have a line of passive 3D TVs, but also still offer TVs based on active 3D technology. With LG’s passive 3D technology, each eye only sees half the number of lines of a 1080p image, although LG has now also developed technology to increase this to 1080i.
The new standard also includes the protocols developed by Panasonic and XpanD in an earlier initiative. The latter two companies decided in March to work on a universal spectacle stand called M-3DI. This name will expire.