3D HTF Exclusive: First look at Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Coraline on 3D Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman

I agree about the glasses. I can deal with them for occasional use, but I wouldn't want to have to wear them for everything (and I'd be irritated by selecting 2D instead of 3D when both are available -- irrational, maybe, but there it is).

It would irritate you to have a choice? You hate the glasses and when they give you a choice not to wear them, you are irritated. I agree, it's irrational.


That brings up a question for 3D blu-rays...will they have both 2D and 3D or do we have to buy separate discs? I hope it's the former.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell
That brings up a question for 3D blu-rays...will they have both 2D and 3D or do we have to buy separate discs? I hope it's the former.

Part of the 3D spec is that ALL 3D Blu-Rays be backwards compatible with 2D. So both 2D and 3D versions will be availalble on ALL 3D Blus.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman
I haven't been following TV hardware technology recently, but I seem to recall hearing within the past few years that plasma was on the way out and would soon be replaced entirely with LCD/ LED. Is that the case?

No. LED/LCD have eaten away a good chunck of plasmas market share, and there are now only three complanies making plasma (LG, Samsung and Panasonic). While LCD has made a lot of advancements at the end of the day plasma is still faster, with better contrast ratios and better off axis viewing. Its a much better solution for 3D viewing.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Jason Charlton
Part of the 3D spec is that ALL 3D Blu-Rays be backwards compatible with 2D. So both 2D and 3D versions will be availalble on ALL 3D Blus.

Absolutely. If you put a 3D Blu-ray into a 2D player it will play it back just like a normal 2D Blu-ray. Put it into a 3D Blu-ray player and you have the option of playing it back in either 2D or 3D. The option can always be found in the Blu-ray or TV menu and in the case of Ice Age 3 in the disc menus.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman
I haven't been following TV hardware technology recently, but I seem to recall hearing within the past few years that plasma was on the way out and would soon be replaced entirely with LCD/ LED. Is that the case?

No. LED/LCD have eaten away a good chunk of plasma's market share, and there are now only three companies making plasma (LG, Samsung and Panasonic). While LCD has made a lot of advancements at the end of the day plasma is still faster, with better contrast ratios and better off axis viewing. Its a much better solution for 3D viewing.

 

[Kevin EK]

The thing about the muted colors on the anaglyph 3D (cardboard glasses) idea, is that it has been totally circumvented in this new iteration of 3D.


If you're watching a 3D movie like Ice Age 3 on these new plasmas, what happens is that you can either watch the film in 2D, where it looks absolutely fine as a 1080p HD presentation, with all the colors at their proper levels of intensity. If you select the 3D option, and look at the film without the glasses on, you'll see that the image has had the brightness pumped way up, to compensate for the dimming effect of the new shutter glasses. With the glasses on, you'll see that the colors are at the same level of brightness as you saw with the 2D version. It's essentially a workaround, in the same way that you set your TV to "stretch" or "full" for anamorphically encoded titles.


End result is that the image doesn't have the darkening problem people were fearing.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

It's good to hear that Panasonic has taken this extra step. On the anaglyph Coraline BD, I cranked the backlight all the way up on my Sony LCD to assist with the brightness loss. Because the filters in the glasses are so dark for this release, it helped some, but not much.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Stephen_J_H

It's good to hear that Panasonic has taken this extra step. On the anaglyph Coraline BD, I cranked the backlight all the way up on my Sony LCD to assist with the brightness loss. Because the filters in the glasses are so dark for this release, it helped some, but not much.

I didn't see any difference in brightness and color saturation between 2D and 3D on the Blu-rays we saw.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell

It would irritate you to have a choice? You hate the glasses and when they give you a choice not to wear them, you are irritated. I agree, it's irrational.

Not exactly. . .it wouldn't irritate me to *have* a choice; it would irritate me to *make* a choice. As in "I don't feel like wearing these stupid glasses. . .but I hate to watch this in 2D when I could be watching it in 3D." Come to think of it, I had a similar situation last weekend. We drove up to Disney, and I was grabbing some discs for my son to watch in the car. I thought about bringing Monsters, Inc. or Toy Story 2, but left them home because he hasn't seen them yet and I felt like it'd be better to first experience them in Blu. (Note to parents of preschoolers: test your portable DVD player to make sure it's working BEFORE setting out on your next 3 hour drive. )


As for irrational. . .really, that's nothing. I've got about 2000 unwatched DVDs staring my growing Blu-Ray collection in the face. . .

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Both Adam and I should be amongst the first to
own the new Panasonic P65VT25 3D display.


We hope to do some extensive coverage of

our experiences with the display over the next

few months.


We have been watching 3D indifferent various

prototype stages over the years and have been

extremely impressed. We are so excited that
this technology is finally reaching the consumers.


Stay tuned for a lot of exclusive coverage on

the displays and upcoming releases.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Party at Ron's house!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein /forum/thread/300691/htf-exclusive-...saurs-and-coraline-on-3d-blu-ray#post_3694366

 

[Brian Borst]

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich





Absolutely. If you put a 3D Blu-ray into a 2D player it will play it back just like a normal 2D Blu-ray. Put it into a 3D Blu-ray player and you have the option of playing it back in either 2D or 3D. The option can always be found in the Blu-ray or TV menu and in the case of Ice Age 3 in the disc menus.

If that's the case, why does A Christmas Carol have the 2D and 3D incarnations on separate discs? If they're really compatible does that mean Disney does this on purpose so they can raise the price?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst
If that's the case, why does A Christmas Carol have the 2D and 3D incarnations on separate discs? If they're really compatible does that mean Disney does this on purpose so they can raise the price?

Not sure. It could me to have more discs in the box for a higher price like you suggest, or it could be they want to create a distinction for people (don't use the 3D disc unless you have a 3D TV). The 3D disc might have some additional instructions on it explaining what they need for 3D; it might me movie only with all the extras on the 2D disc.


Regardless of the reason, if the 3D disc in the set is made to specs it will play fine in all 2D players.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst
If that's the case, why does A Christmas Carol have the 2D and 3D incarnations on separate discs? If they're really compatible does that mean Disney does this on purpose so they can raise the price?

Are you sure this is one of the new 3D space discs and not an older style anaglyph 3D presentation (with the colored glasses)? That would explain the two discs. Really, with the new Blu-Ray 3D spec, there's no reason they should put 2D and 3D on separate discs. One of the key "selling points" to the 3D encoding was how it was completely backwards compatible with 2D and only required about 50% more storage space to achieve, instead of the theoretical 100% storage increase most people expected.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Curses. The Samsung is our master bedroom is getting ready to fail and it's been repaired once already for the same problem about a year ago. Fortunately we got Samsung to extend the warranty and it was taken care of under warranty. It's not going to be worth fixing again.


If this was a year later with more 3D content available, a more mature technology, and better prices, I'd move the living room Samsung into the master and put in a 3D setup in my HT. I just think it's too soon and too expensive right now.

 

[Johnny Angell]

People have been writing about Avatar being the "killer app" that would bring consumers into 3D, and they are right. However I have some other "killer apps" that would entice me. Creature From the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space, Dial M for Murder, House of Wax. 3D from the 50's. All these would really get me enthused about 3D.


Ok, I admit it, I'm trying to relive my childhood.

 

[Brian Borst]

Originally Posted by Jason Charlton




Are you sure this is one of the new 3D space discs and not an older style anaglyph 3D presentation (with the colored glasses)? That would explain the two discs. Really, with the new Blu-Ray 3D spec, there's no reason they should put 2D and 3D on separate discs. One of the key "selling points" to the 3D encoding was how it was completely backwards compatible with 2D and only required about 50% more storage space to achieve, instead of the theoretical 100% storage increase most people expected.

Disney wouldn't write this in their press release if it was just the old anaglyph 3D, would they? That's why it struck me as odd.


Quote:

Disney will go down in Blu-ray history as the first studio to announce a true 3D title for general release (not tied to the purchase of certain 3D hardware).

 

[Adam Gregorich]

If they are billing it as a "True 3D" title then I am 99% sure its the new 3D Blu-ray standard as that is what they are calling it.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst

Disney wouldn't write this in their press release if it was just the old anaglyph 3D, would they? That's why it struck me as odd.

Sorry - I must have missed that there was a new press release, so hadn't heard anything about this release at all.