Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 26, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
In the backward-compatible 3D method developed by the Max Planck researchers, binocular disparity, meaning the virtual eye separation, is smaller. As a result, the 3D images appear almost sharp even without glasses, although a slight double contour remains visible. At the same time, however, the disadvantage of this method is that the 3D effect with glasses is also significantly reduced.
Technology for Television
The Canadian company TandemLaunch, which publishes newly developed technologies for the media market as consumer-friendly technology, is said to have already licensed the 3D technology. The anaglyph method was used in the demo material on the Max Planck project page. However, the backward-compatible 3D method is also intended to work with the shutter and polarizing-filter methods of current televisions. In a press release, TandemLaunch’s Managing Director Helge Seetzen therefore speculates: "The technology will completely change television as we know it today.“
Practice
Since shutter methods for television require two images for broadcast that have not yet been interwoven, the new Max Planck 3D technology is better suited to the anaglyph method or polarizing-filter devices. Additional hardware devices are said to be required for a shutter television.
Since many people complain of headaches and double images after visiting the cinema with the conventional 3D method, this method could perhaps offer an alternative. Practical application will show what the reactions to it are.
Here is the presentation video from the Max Planck Institute:
Further image material and information can be found here.
