Kids Web Japan

TVs and Blu-ray Disc recorders promise to turn your home into a 3D theater

A new generation of home electronics products is attracting attention, products which present TV audiences with 3D images!—images that seem to pop right out of their screens. Japanese electronics companies are scrambling to deploy their respective technologies to develop a variety of new devices and systems that make the 3D experience possible.

Panasonic Corporation, for example, whose AV products were used in the production of the mega-hit film Avatar, launched a plasma TV with a 3D screening capability in March, 2010 in the U.S., and will launch it in Japan in April, 2010. Panasonic's 3D reproduction technology presents images to your left and right eyes alternately through special shutter-equipped eyeglasses. Your brain then uses the differences between the images you see with your left and right eyes to create a perception of depth that results in 3D images. Panasonic plans to market a 3D-enabled Blu-ray Disc recorder in conjunction with the TV, and consumers are beginning to talk eagerly about how easily they will be able to watch 3D TV programs at home.

The system achieves realistic 3D images by means of high-precision active shutter glasses which alternately turn on and off at high speed in sync with left and right eye images.

Plans for 3D PCs and game machines also in the works

Sony Corporation is also planning to launch a 3D LCD TV, the 3D "BRAVIA" in June, 2010. In addition, Sony is planning on commercializing a 3D compatible Blu-ray disc player and recorder sometime between summer and autumn in Japan, and a 3D "VAIO" personal computer and a digital still camera during the year 2010. The company is even planning to provide a firmware update for all PlayStation 3 units so that they can play games in 3D stereoscopy, a new technology that achieves astonishing realism.

The era of enjoying 3D entertainment at home is just around the corner.
*The picture is a graphic image.

Sony is involved in 3D movie creation with Sony Pictures. And it also possesses a business for marketing cameras for 3D content shooting (Sony's cameras were used for shooting the movie Avatar), as well as equipment for editing. Thus Sony is totally involved in 3D content creation, and the company is putting all of its experience and technological expertise into the development of new 3D compatible products and content.

The 3D digital camera is already making waves

The world's first 3D digital camera, the FinePix REAL 3D W1, has already hit the market, eliciting an enthusiastic response from both consumers and the mass media. Developed by Fujifilm, the camera employs the same principle as the Panasonic and Sony TV equipment—using differences between images viewed with the left and right eye to create a 3D impression. The camera, however, requires no special eyeglasses to shoot or view the images. Instead, two lenses and two CCDs mounted on the right and left sides of the aperture enable users to shoot 3D images simply by pressing the shutter button.

Sales of the FinePix REAL 3D W1 have exceeded their monthly target by 300% in the first two months—a telling indication of consumers' interest in 3D imaging equipment.

(Updated in March 2010)