3D Geek Alert: RED Has A Laser 3D Projector Coming - For Both Theater AND The Home!

Yes, those same crazy guys who have released the 5K Red Epics now have RED Laser Projectors on their roadmap! Now that means it is still might be quite some time from having them ship (Jannard says "sooner rather than later"), but still - judging by the comments that Jim Jannard posted on his RedUser forums - we will be in for a treat when they do hit the market.

I will go on to describe what I know about laser tech later on in the post, but to whet your appetities, here are the quotes:

Stephen Pizzo- Co-Founder of Element Technica and now partner of 3ality Technica: "After watching a demo of RED's laser projector I've been struggling to find a way to describe it. Comparing it to traditional professional systems is completely inadequate. I have never witnessed 3D that was as bright or brighter as the best 2D projections until now. It generated the best color, best dynamic range and best images I have ever seen in 3D or even 2D. When I learned we were watching at 1/4 of its total resolution I was speechless. It was so clean and so vibrant the only thing I can compare it to is Cibachrome. That's it, a giant moving Cibachrome!"

Mark L. Pederson- OffHollywood: "Aldey & I got treated to a sneak peak yesterday and we could not stop watching. You have to see it to believe it. I have NEVER seen better projection - from any projector - at any price point. I can't stop thinking about it. It was beyond stunning."

And Jannard went further to say: "We have a very narrow target.... shoot 5K, post to 4K, deliver with REDray and display with the new RED projector, 2D and 3D. Easy stuff to understand."

Moreover it is as I suspected - these projectors will be PASSIVE. So I am assuming the polarization is being done at the light source. Laser's are perfect for doing that. Laser TVs will use a similar approach to 3D. No heavy glasses any more at home and you can rest assured you will have a full HD experience at a minimum.

Further, when images are projected with conventional systems they also project the color black which actually does not turn out as such of course, more like a dark grey. With this new type of scanning laser system, the blacks ARE black because there is simply no color at all sent to the screen! And to the best of my knowledge there are no lenses in these systems whatsoever so no degradation of the image and amazing contrast.

And finally, a true solution to not projecting 3D bright enough. We can all assume that the pricepoint will be significantly lower than the competition I would wager - especially since we are talking about a home theater version too. Man I hope this all comes to fruition - AND SOON! More when I get it.

To check out all of our 3D Laser technology stories, click here.

Thanks for the heads up Mark!!

The Future Of 3D Home Theater: LaserTV! Mitsubishi's 75-LT1 Being Released In Japan This Month

As far as I am concerned, Laser TV is the future of 3D home entertainment - and the price will get lower as time goes by. The Mitsubishi 75-LT1 is being released on August 21 in Japan for the rather hefty price tag of $8500.

So what makes it so great? Other than it's impressive size which is 75 inches and resolution (1920x1080), it utilizes the company's Laser TV technology. The lasers DOUBLE the color range of what is found on a normal HDTV and at the same time using about a quarter of what current TVs use in power consumption. LCDs and Plasmas can only reproduce about 40% of the colors a human eye can see, while a Laser TV can reproduce 90%. Further, that color intensity lasts for the life of the TV while others technologies don't. Laser TVs are typically about half the weight of LCDs and Plasmas too.

Two pairs of active shutter 3D glasses are included in the price.

The 75-LT1 also comes with a built-in BS.110/CS digital TV Tuner, 5x HDMI inputs and 1x HDMI output, 1x D-Sub port, built-in 2x 10Watts speakers and 3x S-Video ports.

Sounds stunning to me! Would love to try out one of these things... Mitsubishi, send me an email will you? I want to review!! :-) Will let you know about North American availability ASAP.

HDI Shows Off 100 Inch Laser 3DTV

Michael here. I had the opportunity to visit HDI 3D's offices in Los Gatos, CA this past week to see their recently unveiled 100 inch Laser 3DTV.

I saw a medley of 3D footage that included a reel from PACE, lots of 3D CG animation, and some medical imaging. The polarized 3D glasses were comfortable, the 3D seamless and the colors vibrant. The quality of 3D imagery from HDI's laser rig was at the very least comparable to that of Panasonic's amazing 103 inch plasma 3DTV system.

Interestingly, HDI's display employs a polarization system and glasses rather than the active shutter technology used by Panasonic and Sony. The light is polarized at the source rather than by a screen overlaying the display, so the dual 1080P images maintain full resolution when they reach your eyes instead of being cut in half by the screen (as has occured with other polarized 3DTV's).

The TV displays images at 360 frames per second per color, producing incredibly smooth 3D. In 2D mode, it can create an approximately 3K image by slightly overlaying the two pixel arrays. And if all this is not enough, the TV is very eco-friendly, requiring less than 200 watts to power a 100 -inch image (as opposed to a comparable plasma display, which would require around 1000 watts).

HDI is targeting screen sizes of 80 inches and above, and is seeking business partners to whom it will license its technology. It is also considering producing its own displays. It will be able to sell its rear-projection sets at prices more than three times cheaper than plasmas of similar sizes.

HDI has very impressive tech that produces beautifuly 3D images. I am happy that they are providing a more affordable system for large screen 3D. It will be very interesting to watch how the 3DTV market shapes up in the months ahead.

Mitsubishi Set To Produce A Lineup of Eight 3D Ready HDTVs

Jim here. Mitsubishi may not the only one producing 3D ready HDTVs, but they sure are cutting to the chase. They will be running with no less than eight different 3D ready HDTVs this year and one of them will be a mammoth 82-inch DLP Model WD-82737 says Dealerscope.

And Mitsubishi has 67- and 75-inch screen sizes in its second-generation LaserVue laser TV series in the planning stages, while already shipping the 65-inch model (pictured).

Laser TVs are the next generation of flat screens that make Plasma and LED blush in comparison - and they are VERY 3D friendly allowing potential polarization right at the light source. Make sure Santa knows you want this on your list...

Thanks for the tip Kyle!

List of New 3D Flat Screen Televisions Coming From CES 2008!

UPDATED: Jan 9th - Look for green font.

There have been quite a few announcements coming from the CES this year regarding 3D television and hardware. I will keep this list updated until the show is over so bookmark it and check back often!

Keep hearing about Panasonic's "Life Wall" from James Cameron and his camp! Cameron dropped by the Panasonic booth to applaud their technology that he is using for Avatar and mentioned the Life Wall - as did John Landau, a co-creator of "Avatar" during his speech segment. Perhaps the Life Wall has a place in the movie?? Or are they using it for the production of it? Time will tell. The Life Wall is similar to Microsoft's coffee table technology only it is for an entire wall. Panasonic has unveiled a 150" Plasma TV if you're interested - its resolution is 4k by 2k... sayyyyy, those new RED Ones would work nicely with that! Hmmm...

EXPECTED 3D ANNOUNCEMENTS:

- Mitsubishi is expected to announce their Laser TV product(s)
- Sony may have a Laser TV announcement.
- Novalux may have a Laser TV announcement.
- Philips may have a new 3D TV announcement. Here is a diagram of how their 3D TV technology works:

3D TELEVISION ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Big Trend This Year? Internet connectivity for your TV - watch YouTube videos directly. Look to Panasonic, Samsung & Sharp.

- Samsung Plasma 3D capable HDTV Series 4
(42" & 50"); Due March 2008; Will require a 3D accessory kit but apparently NO glasses will be required.
Company Site.

- Samsung Plasma 3D capable HDTV Series 5
(50" & 58"); Due March 2008; Will require a 3D accessory kit but apparently NO glasses will be required.
Company Site.

- Philips 3D HDTVs have not had a new announcement at this year's CES, but their offering is excellent - check out their 3D WOW Zone. Using the technology explained in the graphic above, they have linked together nine flat screens to make this new video wall come to life with 3D. Note that until there are consumer products to buy and view on these sets, they will remain commerical endeavours (digital signage). Current price of a 27" 3D HDTV? $10,000++ (I trust these will come down a tad...)

3D MONITOR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

- Pavonine Korea 3D Display "Miracube"
(Can switch from 2D to 3D) Company Site. They also have a 3D camera system for live/recorded 3D viewing.
Company Site.

(UPDATE: Jan 8th) - iZ3D + Unigine + Meant To Be Seen (Press Release / Demo Available) First Natively Supported 3D Game Engine + Monitor Stereoscopic 3D (S-3D) technologies refer to volumetric 3D and not just 3D graphics (so things are "comin' at ya"!) and even though you don't need native support to run 3D games, this gaming engine and monitor tandem can eliminate artifacts, ghosting etc. If you are at CES check them out at the Microsoft Booth #7144 In the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Thanks to David Chechelashvili, VP of Marketing at iZ3D for keeping me updated.

Company Sites: iZ3D / Unigine / Meant To Be Seen.

NOTE THAT in February representatives from Sony, Mitsubishi, Philips and Dreamworks are meeting to discuss 3D Home Video strategies. Can you say "Format War"? I knew you could.

On a CES side note, Texas Instruments has something called a "DualView" which actually USES 3D TECHNOLOGY, but rather than flip quickly between two images - "one for each eye", it flips between two images - "one for each game player"! Simply ingenious! Now you can throw out those damned split screens and the cheating glances at what your competitor is doing and relish in full screen gaming! Each player sees a full screen of their viewpoint through their own uniquely tuned glasses. Awesome. Caveats: You WILL need a DLP HDTV. Both Samsung and Mitsubishi have TVs that will support this tech. Also, until such time as the gaming companies build DualView into their systems, you will need two consoles to accomplish this.

Oh, and even though it may not be 3D compatible yet, here is a CURVED Alienware gamer display that I think you will enjoy:

3D Home Theater - How the heck are we gonna do that? LASER TV.

We are staying on top of not only 3D theaters, but what technology is being developed to bring 3D movies into your home. After all, with these 3D movies coming soon - the industry is going to what to sell you the movie to own too.

Not only do the new Laser TVs have twice the range of colors than what's currently available, and are thinner, lighter and use less electricity - but they also SUPPORT 3D.

While the smaller screens will still use LCD, Plasma is going to be kicked out in favor of the Laser TV for the 40"+ sizes. Its a brand new category of TVs folks.

Unfortunately Mitsubishi is going to miss its planned Christmas 2007 launch - HOWEVER, they are set to make a huge announcement at the CES show in Vegas in January, 2008. Mitsubishi along with Sony and Novalux have already shown 'prototypes' at this year's CES. They have already had very lucrative offers to buy their prototypes for private individual's home theaters - but they have to demo to the various outsourced manufacturing facilities too.

You will still need glasses until such time as Ed Meyer's and/or Steven Spielberg's Glass-less systems are available (see my recent exclusive interview discussing these details).

I will have complete reviews and images of 3D compliant home theaters options whenever they come available. Perhaps we can get a spy shot or concept image of one like we managed for Avatar's Ney'tiri... :-)