PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
3D technology will not become widespread among home users until 3D glasses are universal, industry body the Consumer Electronics Association has said.
The CEA, which puts together the mammoth CES consumer electronics expo in Las Vegas, is currently working with manufacturers including Sony and Samsung to create a standard for infrared active shutter glasses, so they can be used interchangeably across all brands of 3D TV.
“The feeling is that to make a real market then you need replacement glasses, you need third-party glasses,” Brian Markwalter, the CEA’s vice president of research and standards, told PCR. “What you want is a situation where you can take your active glasses from your house to somebody else’s and have them work. The feeling is that 3D is going to be event-driven, with sports games and stuff, so if you have six people over to watch something in 3D you don’t want to have to buy six pairs of $150 glasses.”
The CEA hopes to have a first draft of the standard available in November, so that manufacturers can incorporate it into new televisions as early as 2011. Markwalter believes that the move could open up opportunities for third-party manufacturers, in turn lowering the cost for end users.
