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Discoblog
« Live From CES: Unshackled From a Tuner, Wireless Panasonic Plasma TV Is Just 1″ Thick
The Science of Virgin Birth »

Live From CES: 3D HD TVs Powered by “They Live” Technology

As Stephen mentioned yesterday, 3D HD TV is a big theme here at CES this year: Multiple manufacturers, including Sony, LG, Samsung, and Panasonic are all showing products. Panasonic is using LCD shutter glasses to make it happen–the glasses receive IR signals from the TV and alternately blacken each of the lenses to give each eye a slightly different perspective, and that binocular difference creates the 3D effect.

But perhaps most importantly, the glasses remind me of the classic 80s sci-fi B movie They Live, with super awesome wrestler-turned-actor Rowdy Roddy Piper (and one notoriously, ridiculously long fight scene) . Before The Rock, there was Roddy, God love ‘im.

By the way, there are apparently plans to remake They Live. This could end in disaster.

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January 9th, 2009 12:05 PM Tags: 3D, HD, LCD, Live from CES, plasma, Rowdy Roddy Piper, television, The Rock, They Live, TV
by Amos Zeeberg (Discover Web Editor) in Events | 9 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

  • Bill

    I wonder if these will work for me? I cannot see traditional 3-d images (red and blue glasses, magic eye prints). Interesting technology, but it sounds expensive.

  • Amos Kenigsberg (Discover Web Editor)

    @ Bill:
    Do you know why you don’t see 3D images? Is one eye much stronger than the other?

    And yes, this will be pretty expensive (at least at first)–if in fact it happens. The thing is that for the demonstration that Panasonic showed here at CES–a 10-minute video montage of various 3D content, from Bolt to NBA basketball to anime–the company encoded special extra information on a Blu-ray disc. They’re showing 1080p hi-def to *each eye*, which is not part of the Blu-ray standard, so they’re trying to get the Blu-ray alliance to change the standard to include this. No idea if that will really fly. Pana said they were targeting 2010 to release the tech, but I wonder if that’s an optimistic timeline.

    Plus they did the demonstration on a 103-inch plasma screen, which is, y’know, pretty hi-end. James Dolan, head honcho at Cablevision, was sitting behind me in the demo, which makes it even more hi-end.

  • Adam

    Bill, I have the same problem with normal 3D images because I have a lazy eye. But I went to see Bolt in 3D with glasses like those in the video and I saw it fine. Blocking my “active” eye forces me to look out of my other eye, so I saw the 3D images.

    I can’t wait to get this in my house.

  • John Lockwood

    These guys claim to be able to deliver 3D movies on an XBOX 360 NOW…

    http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2009/01/ces-2009-next3d-offers-free-in-home-3d.html

    http://www.next3d.com

  • http://www.bestlcdtvs.org/ LCD TV Buff

    Hello. Great job. This is a great post. Thanks!

  • http://www.plasma-tv-cheap.com Breanna

    Before you go buy an HDTV, do yourself a favor, look at this TV, and do some research. Read other reviews. It turned me around to plasma and to this 2009 model plasma from Panasonic in particular. I knew plasmas simply have a superior picture, but I thought the price and issues with plasmas were a detriment.

  • http://plasma-tv-cheap.blogspot.com Eliana

    Before you go buy an HDTV, do yourself a favor, look at this TV, and do some research. Read other reviews. It turned me around to plasma and to this 2009 model plasma from Panasonic in particular. I knew plasmas simply have a superior picture, but I thought the price and issues with plasmas were a detriment.

  • http://tv42inchlcd.com/ 42 inch lcd tv

    Great article. I really enjoy share for my friends and post on my blog.

  • Meryemshn

    I agree “Bill, I have the same problem with normal 3D images because I have a lazy eye. But I went to see Bolt in 3D with glasses like those in the video and I saw it fine. Blocking my “active” eye forces me to look out of my other eye, so I saw the 3D images.” http://www.iddaalive.net/





    • About the Blog

      Discoblog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's written by Veronique Greenwood and Valerie Ross. Email tips and suggestions to vgreenwood [at] discovermagazine [dot] com.

      Discoblog also includes the daily feature NCBI ROFL, in which two prone-to-distraction grad students post real scientific articles with funny subjects. Email your tips to ncbirofl [at] gmail.com. Follow the ROFL feed here.

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