3D television is one of the latest technologies in home viewing. 3D televisions are becoming more and more popular but a lot of people still have no idea how they work. In this article, I will introduce you to the different types of 3D television technologies and how they work.
First, you have anaglyphic 3D. To use anaglyphic 3D, you need to red and blue polarized 3D glasses in order to view the images. These lenses are equipped with active shutters that alternate with the frames emitted by the TV. The technology used in the fabrication of these lenses is very advanced, so they can be really expensive.
3D polarization is based on the principle of binocular vision. The projector will transmit two different set of images projected at different polarities. The lenses will be designed in such a way that each lens can only capture one polarity. The two polarities combined will cause the 3D effect.
Another technology used in the fabrication of 3D televisions is autostereoscopic 3D. To use autostereoscopic 3D, you do not need to use glasses. There are actually two main technologies associated with autostereoscopic 3D: multiple view transmission and head-tracking technology.
Head-tracking technology tracks the location of the viewer and in which direction his eyes are pointing to determine how to project the image. Multiple view transmission, on the other hand, can project 3D images in all directions without having to position the viewer.
This is why multiple view technology is viewed as more commercially viable than head-tracking technology. Head-tracking is a lot less convenient than multiple view technology since it only allows one person at a time to properly view the 3D images. Multiple view technology allows as many viewers as possible to enjoy 3D images from any direction.
However, you’ll have a hard time finding affordable autostereoscopic 3D TVs on the market. The most widespread and affordable type of 3D TVs remains anaglyphic 3D sets. There are new developments in autostereoscopic 3D technology everyday, so we should see more affordable autostereoscopic 3D TVs on the market pretty soon.
The market for 3D TV is ever increasing and many major electronic companies have already announced that 3D TVs will represent about 50% of their revenues by the year 2012. That means that more and more movies will be produced with this fact in mind. So if you still want to enjoy the full cinematic experience, you might want to invest in a good 3D TV as soon as possible.