Panasonic Develops World's First 3-D HD Plasma Theatre System Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsus**ta Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, has developed the world's first 3-D full HD Plasma Theater System, which enables the viewing of true-to-life 3-D images by using a 103-inch plasma television and a Blu-ray Disc player, distributing full high-definition (1920 x 1080 pixels) images to left eye and right eye. Panasonic will present this system at CEATEC JAPAN 2008, at Makuhari Messe from September 30 to Oct. 4, 2008.
Human beings feel the 3-D impression because each of the left and right eyes recognizes different images. Panasonic's system comprises a 103-inch plasma television and a Blu-ray Disc player that plays back Blu-ray Disc onto which 3-D images, consisting of left and right-sided 1080p full HD images, are recorded. By wearing active shutter glasses that work in synchronization with the plasma television, the viewer is able to experience 3-D images formed with twice the volume of information as regular full HD images, and enjoy them together with high quality surround sound. This system enables full HD signal processing on each of the left and right images in every process -- recording, playback and display.
Previous consumer 3-D display systems have encountered many different problems, including reduced vertical resolution caused by a 3-D display method that divides the scanning lines between the left and right eyes, and picture quality degradation caused by pixel skipping that results from the squeezing of two (left and right) screens' worth of full HD images into one screen's worth of data capacity for image storage and transmission. Until now, there has not been a system capable of displaying the equivalent quality to original master of Hollywood 3-D movies.
Panasonic has developed the following technologies for realizing the new system.
1.Plasma display: The performance of Panasonic's plasma panels, whose self-illumination allows for excellent video response, has been brought out to the fullest extent in the development of a 3-D driving system that displays the left and right images together as full HD images.
2.Blu-ray Disc: Using the optical disc technology cultivated by Panasonic over many years, and the authoring technology developed by Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory, it has been possible to record 3-D images, consisting of respective left and right 1080p full HD images, onto a single, standard Blu-ray Disc.
3.Blu-ray Disc player: Panasonic has developed a technology to decode and play back the left and right full HD image data recorded to the Blu-ray Disc in real time.
4.3-D images: Panasonic has produced 3-D contents that allow the viewers to experience fascinating 3-D images, including dynamic images of athletes at the Olympic Games and animated movies by Hollywood. These contents will be shown in a special theatre set up in the Panasonic booth in Hall 3 at CEATEC JAPAN 2008.
Panasonic will work to promote the 3-D system by standardization of 3-D format at Blu-ray Disc Association, with the cooperation of the Hollywood studios and consumer electric companies which are members of the Blu-ray Disc Association, in order to allow consumers to enjoy 3-D images in the comfort of their own homes.
http://www.rollanet.org/~vbeydler/van/3dreview/
