3D Technology

View-Master images go digital 3-D!

For over 65 years, the View-Master has been an amazing part of childhoods! It was one of the first ways many of us were introduced to 3D images.

Later this year,  Fisher-Price will be releasing digital 3-D images from it’s View-Master image archive! The images will be able to be viewed on a wide variety of hand-held devices and 3D TVs, and will cost $1.99 USD per set. No word on a digital View-Master yet, but that would be great!

Hasbro has already released a device called My3D, which works by displaying images from an iPod touch or iPhone. It sells for about $30 USD.

Toshiba’s new 3D TV: no glasses required

The new REGZA 553X 3D TV from Toshiba has a display resolution of 4000 x 3000 and can offer a 3D experience from up to 9 angles, all without glasses. The resolution of this TV is about 4 times that of regular HD TVs, which makes finding content for it a problem! Currently, the only movie that will be able to take advantage of the REGZA’s resolution is The Hobbit, due to be completed about a year from now, in December 2012.

The REGZA TV is now out, and currently only available in Japan. It costs a reported $12,000.

China is quickly going to 3DTV

One of the first trial broadcasts is set to be the Olympic Games to be held in London in 2012. Many manufactures are offering deep discounts, as much as half-off for 3D sets.

Glasses-free 3D laptop: the Toshiba Qosmio F755-3D290

The world’s first glasses-free 3D laptop has arrived…but it may not be ready for prime-time. Reviews of the laptop have been mixed, citing that the 3D capabilities didn’t work well, if at all.

The laptop boasts an auto-stereoscopic display of only 15 inches! Still, it allows playback of 3D Blu-ray movies and playing of 3D games with its Nvidia’s 3D Vision feature. Harman-Kardon speakers supply better than average laptop sound.

The weight of the laptop is an issue. It weights in at about 9 pounds.

The cost is about $1700.

7th China International 3D World Forum (C3D World Forum)

Coming up soon is the 7th China International 3D World Forum (C3D World Forum), scheduled for April 8-10, 2011 in Shenzhen, China.

The forum has three main areas of interest:

• C3D World FORUM:  a 2-day conference that explores China’s 3D governmental policies, 3D display development, content creation, post-production and more
• 3D Forum 2011: a workshop of on 3D theme park interactive displays
• Exhibition: a trade show of 3D technologies and products. Last year’s show had over 1500 exhibitors.

Attendance at last year’s C3D was over 40,000. Expect this year to be even bigger than last time.

The site for the forum is http://www.c3dworld.org/english.html

3D Sunglasses are here!

Now you don’t have to take off your sunglasses to watch a 3D movie!

Several designers of high-end sunglasses have begun to make models that will work with 3D movies, TV and video games!

Gucci, Oakley and Moshka lead the pack with 3D models of their sunglasses.

Gucci 3d sunglasses

Now Calvin Klein now joins the market with their RealD-certified lenses:

Calvin Klein 3D sunglasses - RealD Certified - "The Safari"

The Calvin Klein models come with what are called M3D lenses. They are dually 3D and RealD certified, providing 100-percent UV protection for when you step out of the theatre. They are due to be available this month (January 2011) and will come in three styles.

Samsung 3D TV – LED 7000 models

Samsung's 3D LED HDTV

Samsung’s new series of LED HDTV TVs are here and they are 3D ready! These gorgeous looking TVs are equipped for regular HD TV viewing, or you can buy an optional pair of 3D glasses to experience 3D viewing.

These TVs are LED based, so they use a low amount of power and also run cool. An added bonus of using the LED technology is that these TVs are incredibly thin – only 2.5 thick!

Only 2.5cm thick!

You’ll spend about $2,199.99 (CND) for the 40 inch screen model, about $2,899.99 (CND) for the 46 inch screen model and for the 55 inch screen model you are looking at spending about $3,399.99 (CND). 

The TVs feature:

• Full 1920 x 1080 HD resolution
• 240Hz refresh rate
• 4 HDMI inputs
• 2 USB ports
• 1 Ethernet port
• Wi-Fi capability

These TVs are now available in Canada at Best Buy if you want to go in and have a look at them.

Samsung.com has a nifty interactive page where you can enter data on what sort of TV you are looking for and it will return results for you to choose from. Check it out here: http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/tv-video/televisions/led-tv/index.idx?pagetype=subtype

If you have one of these TVs, please leave a comment and let our readers know how you like it.

iBuyPower Battalion 101 W860CU 3D gaming laptop released

iBuyPower has released a 3D gaming laptop called the Battalion 101 W860CU

iBuyPower throws their hat into the ring of 3D laptops with the release of the Battalion 101 W860CU. On board is an Intel Core i5-520M processor, 4GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive, 15.6-inch HD LCD display, Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M graphics card, fingerprint reader, Bluetooth 2.1 and active-shutter 3D glasses.

It’s going for $1,749 for the stock model and there are many options you can add to the base configuration.

Comes with a free deluxe carrying case and lifetime technical support.

You can buy this laptop online and configure it to your heart’s content at http://www.ibuypower.com

Sony upgrades the PS3 to 3D

PlayStation 3 / PS3 is now 3D capable

During the E3 Expo last week, Sony announced that its popular PlayStation 3 is now 3D game capable, via a new firmware upgrade. The upgrade is available for download from playstation.com. Here is the US download link.

There are no 3D games currently available for the PS3, but that is set to change soon, when Sony unveils it’s new Bravia 3D TVs (because the fist set of games will only be initially available to Bravia TV buyers). First titles will likely include Motorstorm Pacific Rift, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Wipeout HD, Super Stardust HD, and PAIN (note: these 3D games are probably going to be “patched” versions of 2D games. No word yet on 3D games being made from the ground-up for the PS3, yet).

A firmware update to allow the PS3 to play 3D Blu-rays was not announced.

The PS3 has sold over 35 million units so far.

Nintendo 3DS – Kid Icarus Uprising Trailer from the E3 Expo

Here is the trailer for the new Kid Icarus Uprising game at the 3E Expo, for the just released Nintendo 3DS.