Glasses-Free 3DTVs. Will there be a standard war? and does it matter?

There is an interesting debate going on in 3D Technology, which almost sounds like the start of a “format war”. This Wall Street Journal post summarizes many of the main points very well. Most notably: a comment by a Samsung spokesperson who said ““Attempts to put glasses-free 3-D TV to market within the next 10 years will be difficult.””

Now, this doesn´t sound very encouraging because glasses-free is the holy grail of the 3D experience. But allow me to quickly comment on this. Don´t forget: we have already seen glasses-free television sets at IFA and CES 2010. Let´s also not forget that small screens are already more advanced with the upcoming new LG phone and the Playstation device in the market. It seems to me that this will quickly move to the larger screens, too. As always speed of innovation and the decline of costs will surprise everybody.

Moreover, as a content producer, there are already standardized formats. These specs are side-by-side, 3D HD, mostly used in H.264 / MP4 “wrappers”. At least this is how most of the deals that we handle look like. So, the good news is that neither content producers nor 3D content buyers will have to “worry” about this standard war. Albeit, the sooner one manufacturer solves the glasses-free problem, this will greatly help the 3D industry as a whole. Just my 2 cents.

LATER: The Wall Street Journal on this standard war and the 3D capability becoming a “commodity”.

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