14 DAY TRIAL // 3D is already well on the way toward becoming the next standard in graphics and display. Already, 3D monitors have begun to sprout up, even monitors capable of a full-HD resolution and Sony even started working on setting up suitable conditions for the shooting of the FIFA World Cup South Africa in 3D. The technology has come a long way since its early days when it was confined to cinemas and depended on the bulky square glasses and, to demonstrate just how much the technology has progressed, NVIDIA demonstrated consumer-aimed 3D solutions and will do so again at CES 2010.
“3D Blu-ray will be the leading format for watching 3D movies in the home,” Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink, said. “PCs with Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra and NVIDIA 3D Vision will provide movie lovers the perfect platform for experiencing 3D the way it was meant to be seen.”
NVIDIA used a GeForce-powered PC, along with proprietary 3D Vision active-stutter 3D glasses and a 3D LCD monitor developed by Acer. The 3D content that NVIDIA demonstrated was encoded using the AVC Multi-View Codec (or AVC-MVC), which is expected to become the foundation for encoding 3D content onto Blu-ray disks. This demonstration came as a preview of the official announcement that the Blu-ray Disk Association is set to make at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Apparently, NVIDIA has already devised several select GPUs capable of real-time decoding of 3D Blu-ray content. Two of these are already shipping, namely the GeForce GT 240 and GeForce GT 220, and the other one is the upcoming GF100 GPU, which was pictured not too long ago. NVIDIA achieved this feat thanks to its collaboration with movie-playback software developers such as ArcSoft, Corel, Cyberlink, and Sonic. As such, NVIDIA's products will fully support the 3D media products set to be released in 2010.
“We are excited to be working with NVIDIA to offer support for 3D Blu-ray titles which can be viewed with NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses,” George Tang, ArcSoft vice president and general manager of Video and Home Entertainment Group, said. “This special version of TotalMedia Theatre will offer consumers a compelling software solution for viewing 3D Blu-ray titles, with an experience that is comparable or better than what you can get in a theater today.”
The CES will see NVIDIA demonstrating the 3D Blu-ray playback from January 7 through 11. The presentation has already been shown to more than 300 editors and display manufacturers have already begun to place extra effort into developing 3D-Vision-ready, 1920x1080, 120Hz 1080p LCDs, also set for launch in 2010, with Acer's GD245HQ and GD235HZ likely to be the first such products.
“2010 is poised to be a pivotal year for 3D entertainment,” Joe Roberts, executive vice president, Products for Corel, added. “Hollywood is ramping up production of 3D content, while hardware manufacturers are working to bring new 3D display technologies to market. Corel's WinDVD brand is a recognized leader in video playback technology and we're pleased to be working with NVIDIA to help drive this initiative. Our 3D Blu-ray playback prototype is a critical piece in offering a complete solution for 3D Blu-ray playback on the PC.”
The actual demonstration at the CES will take place in booth # 35912 in the South Hall 4.
