Big deal, big deal, big deal . . . Nov. 9, 2005, in San Francisco . . . IBM demos low-cost 3D TV tech. It is a passive polarization technology similar to what you see currently in IMAX theatres. Flicker is evidently not an issue. Images are sharp with full color spectrum. The system is cheap, comparatively. Current DLP sets could be converted for US$1000 (much cheaper than what other current systems cost). IBM is looking for partners to develop it further and expect that the system could be built into manufacturing new sets for a cost of US$20. Yep, that’s right. for an additional US$20, manufacturers could build televisions with digital 3D ready capability. IBM also says that the technology is fully compliant with OpenGL and Direct3D applications, including video games being released with those technologies . . . think about it, that could mean adaptations to console systems to play PS3 and X-Box 360 in full stereoscopic glory (this is not out of line as the folks at Splitfish already have a way to play PS2 in stereoscopic 3D on a CRT monitor so flickerless DLP won’t be that far off and playing computer based 3D games will be even sooner) . . .

Just because the television is flat doesn’t mean the content has to be. At the 22nd annual Flat Information Displays conference sponsored by iSuppli here, IBM’s display laboratories demonstrated a low-cost way to get high-resolution 3D images from a large-screen television or home-cinema projector that’s already on the market. The company showed a 50-inch, flat-screen Texas Instruments rear-projection digital television with Digital Light Processing, or DLP, technology. IBM configured the set with its own hardware and software, which takes 3D content and splits it into two images that are later translated as a stereophonic image with the help of “passive” glasses like those one would find in an IMAX theater. “This was on the drawing board for about two years and now we’re at the conceptual proof-of-concept stage. We are here to look for a manufacturing partner to bring the technology to market,” said Jim Santoro, a technology license program manager from IBM’s office in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Santoro wouldn’t release all the specifics of the IBM technology, which does not yet have an official name, but he did say the software is compatible with all OpenGL and Direct3D applications, which are widely used in PC video games. The converter box can be retrofitted onto existing projectors for a little more than $1,000, Santoro said. That’s a fraction of the cost of competing products such as the ZScreen monitor, which retails starting at $1,895. IBM’s hardware is compatible with current VESA three-pin stereo interfaces. Viewing traditional 3D content in the theater or on a television screen required two projectors. The new generation of digital projectors, such as the one IBM demonstrated, translates 3D content with just one machine, alternating rapidly between images meant to be seen by the right and left eyes. The technology used in the “Chicken Little” film shows 144 frames per second, for example. In one example, Santoro showed amateur footage of a high school basketball game that was shot in 3D. “This is just in the testing phase now, but many sports broadcasters have expressed an interest in showing games in 3D,” Santoro said. “Imagine ‘Monday Night Football’ in 3D. I’m a big football fan, so for me that would be great.”

The sports and gaming applications individually would be enough to push the technology forward. However, the classroom, science, and technology sectors can put this stuff into immediate use. Of course, business presentations will evolve and we may actually see more 3D digital photography options coming out as well. The entertainment media will most likely begin pushing it even further . . . cetainly, the home adult entertainment industry will likely begin going full throttle with it as the technology begins to penetrate the marketplace more deeply. For me, since I am a 3D nut, I can imagine all sorts of uses . . . I would love to reconvert all those stereographic images I have of the American Civil War back into a format for passive polarized display rather than the anaglyphs I currently use for my immersive presentation on the novel The Red Badge of Courage. Of course, I look forward to a lot of 3D and this is very very encouraging news.

Be sure to go to the original article here and be sure to click on the link to the video of the demonstration. Big deal, big happy deal.