How 3D TV and movies work

Shutter bugs
Other 3D televisions being developed work by simply showing the left eye and right eye images alternately and flickering between them. This is relatively simple for the television, but special glasses with LCD lenses are needed to provide a ‘shutter’ effects so the images to the right eye are blocked from reaching the left and vice-versa. These ‘shutters’ must also be synchronised with the TV.

Not all 3D systems require special glasses. Companies such as Samsung already produces 3D screens designed for advertising. These use a lenticular system: the screen displays the two images spliced together in alternating vertical lines, with prisms ensuring the left-hand lines reach the left eye and right-hand ones the right eye.

We were impressed with the effect created when we tried one out earlier this year but lenticular technology does rely on the viewer being at a certain distance from the TV.

Yours to reason why
Some people say that 3D provides a more immersive experience, making it more realistic and drawing the viewer into the drama, and this is possibly why filmmakers are prepared to spend more on shooting in 3D.

Others, however, take a more cynical view, arguing that 3D films are designed to allow cinemas to charge more money for tickets.

There is also the ever-present problem of piracy – 3D movies are certainly harder for counterfeiters to reproduce. If 3D television takes off in future, of course, it’s likely that piracy will adapt to include 3D films.

Our Verdict
So will 3D TVs be here soon? We’re not so sure. The technology for 3D has been around for ages and is now relatively cheap but there is no standard way to broadcast the images and depth information so that all screens can show 3D movies.

It is also of little interest to many viewers who are still only now getting to grips with high-definition television. For the moment, most people seem quite happy with screens of the old-fashioned flat variety.

Would you buy a 3D television? Let us know at letters@computeractive.co.uk.