3D Please help clarify "3D' glasses (2 Viewers)

Hello All:

I know that there are your standard "old school" 3d glasses (blue & red lenses) as well as variations on a theme for colours, and that there are "Real D" and now "Active 3D" (the ones with the batteries). And I know about the refresh rate and all of the other technical stuff. What I don't know (and can't seem to find anywhere) is...will the different glasses work (with less than optimum results) with the various technologies, or will they just not work at all.

I see that Sony has finally released the update to the PS3 to make it 3D Blue Ray compatible, but they only refer to their own 3D televisions; stating that you need their Active 3D glasses. At $179 a pop, it gets pretty expensive for the family to sit down and watch a movie. I will be playing my 3D Blue Ray movies through my 3D ready BenQ. I have 20 pairs of the Real D glasses. Are these just garbage or will the work at all?



Thanks (in advance) for any enlightenment


Ben

Those Real 3D glasses won't work on home systems. The way theatrical 3D in the US is designed, there is something on the front of the PJ that determines if a left eye or right eye frame is being transmitted. 3D BD currently requires active shutter glasses, where the glasses are determining what eye image you see. Xpand 3D makes some universal glasses that are a lot cheaper than the Sony ones: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/products/xpand-universal-x103-3d-glasses-compatible-with-active-3d-tvs-black


Keep in mind that your 3D ready PJ requires an emitter to sync with the glasses. If that isn't built in you will need that as well.

Of course, if you have an extra $50K lying around, you could always get one of these: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/304274/press-release-runco-unveils-the-future-of-3d-at-home

The funny thing is outside of the US, most theaters use the the active shutter glasses....

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich

The funny thing is outside of the US, most theaters use the the active shutter glasses....

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In Germany I believe health issues were raised with the shutter glasses. Since the glasses cost around $50+ bucks a pair they are loaned out at the entrance and returned after the show is over. The theatre is supposed to sanitize them through a washer system and it was found out that the theatres were not doing that.

Right now the only shutter glasses in the US Theatres are used with IMAX 3D and Dolby 3D Digital.

No doubt you are having trouble understanding the various kinds of glasses.

First, let's review Cinema. The are four modes currently being used, three of which used passive glasses (RealD, IMAX, Dolby) and a small percentage of theaters which use active shutter glasses. RealD uses circularly polarized light and requires the glasses be circular polarizers. IMAX uses linearly polarized light and as such needs linear polarizers for glasses. Dolby (which licensed its technology from Infitec) uses 6-color interference filters. Dolby should not be confused with the red/cyan anaglyphs that are still used with low end systems. There are advantages to each mode, and it would take many pages here to describe them all. Perhaps the primary reason that RealD is so popular in the US is that the cost OF THE GLASSES to the cinema owner is so low, where patrons seem to prefer DISPOSABILITY. Elsewhere around the world, disposable glasses is not necessarily valued to the same degree as in the US and as such Dolby has the lead in market share. Blogs suggest that many of the professional studios (where viewing performance is desired) favor the Dolby 6-color interference approach.


Now for TV. In general, there are two general approaches: the first uses glasses (active shutter glasses -wait, they are not all alilke, passive polarized glasses, red/cyan anaglyphs) and the second does not use glasses (autostereoscopic, lenticular and parallax barrier). The latter technology generally directs light to each eye. Autostereoscopic is blogged to be the best of this group, although there is a sweet spot location for seeing 3D, and as such is currently best restricted to smaller displays. Lenticular is used on larger sets, but most who see it are not particularly impressed - that said, progress is being made each day and improvements are evident at every new trade show. Parallax barrier has advantages especially for notebook size displays, but I am personally not aware of any TV's using this approach.


Now back to glasses approach to 3DTV. You are probably well acquainted with red cyan anaglyphs. The glasses are dirt cheap and any TV can show 3D using this technology. The challenge of course is that the viewing experience is pretty cheesey, and no TV manufacturer has decided that it is appropriate for their sets. A small percentage of market share belongs to micro-retarder/micro-polarizer approach, which I believe is being worked on by LG. These sets use circular polarized glasses, and your RealD may work for these sets. Blogs have not been particularly excited about this approach - not that they don't want to get rid of shutter glasses, - but that the viewing experience is not always superior. Again, development continues and improvements are being made everyday. Finally shutter glasses....


Not all shutter glasses are alike. Perhaps the biggest difference is between those for plasma vs. LCD / LED TVs. And even amongst LCD & LED TVs, there are differences. The big deal is in the synchronization between the set and the glasses. Not all timing sequences are the same and not all IR signals (what communicates between the set and the glasses) are compatible. So some shutter glass manufacturers have come out with generic shutter glasses that work on most, if not all, 3DTV systems. These tend to be pretty expensive (about $150/pair).

So, amongst all of these technologies, your question is which are compatible with which? Really, only the RealD cinema glasses may be compatible with only the micro-retarder 3DTVs. And that is a may, because the systems need to be coded correctly so that you don't see zoom back when you are supposed to see zoom in. Some generic TV shutter glasses may be compatible with a very small percentage of movie theaters that use active glasses.

But in general, RealD/IMAX/Dolby glasses are NOT compatible with the lion's share of the shutter glasses used by most 3DTV manufacturers. Sorry.

Samsung 3D glasses for Samsung LED 3D TVs also work with Mitsubishi 3D DLP TVs and vice/versa. You can save money by buying these glasses - http://www.ultimate3dheaven.com/dlp3dwiglfis.html

Hmmm, I have a question.


I have a PS3. If I get a Samsung 3D LCD do I get Samsung 3D glasses or Sony 3D Glasses?

Originally Posted by Rolando

Hmmm, I have a question.


I have a PS3. If I get a Samsung 3D LCD do I get Samsung 3D glasses or Sony 3D Glasses?

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Sony 3D glasses will not work the Samsung 3D LED. All 3D TV sets are LED or Plasma, none are just LCD.

You get glasses that match your 3D set, not the 3D player. The glasses must sync up with the signal from the TV.

Is it true that the glasses have to be recharged after 2 hours? How would that work for a movie like Avatar?

I don't know what's going on with HTF - 5th try posting....

Originally Posted by RolandL

Hmmm, I have a question.


I have a PS3. If I get a Samsung 3D LCD do I get Samsung 3D glasses or Sony 3D Glasses?

Click to expand...

Sony 3D glasses will not work the Samsung 3D LED. All 3D TV sets are LED or Plasma, none are just LCD.

[/QUOTE]

LED displays ARE LCD displays. "LED" LCD displays simply replace the older CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps) with LEDs to light the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).


Also, there are "3D Ready" DLP televisions and front projectors (3D is not solely the realm of plasma and LCD). However, current DLP technology limitations prevent the display of full 1080p images to each eye in a 3D DLP display.


OK< what's up with HTF? This is the fourth time I've tried posting this....

Originally Posted by Jason Charlton

Hmmm, I have a question.


I have a PS3. If I get a Samsung 3D LCD do I get Samsung 3D glasses or Sony 3D Glasses?

Click to expand...

Sony 3D glasses will not work the Samsung 3D LED. All 3D TV sets are LED or Plasma, none are just LCD.

[/QUOTE]

LED displays ARE LCD displays. "LED" LCD displays simply replace the older CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps) with LEDs to light the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).


Also, there are "3D Ready" DLP televisions and front projectors (3D is not solely the realm of plasma and LCD). However, current DLP technology limitations prevent the display of full 1080p images to each eye in a 3D DLP display.


OK< what's up with HTF? This is the fourth time I've tried posting this....

Um, that's what I said. There are LCD's that "are just LCD" and none of them are 3D ready. There are LED LCD's that are 3D ready.

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard

Is it true that the glasses have to be recharged after 2 hours? How would that work for a movie like Avatar?

Click to expand...

No. Its going to depend of the exact model, but non-rechargable glasses last 40-100 hours before you replace the battery (watch style). My Panasonic rechargables last about 30 hours and recharge in about 2.