Team For Universal 3D Glasses Standard

FROM TWICE New York – Panasonic, Sony and Samsung announced they will team with Xpand 3D for a new technology standard for active-shutter glasses.

They have termed the partnership the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative, and plan to introduce universal 3D glasses to market by 2012.

According a joint release, the companies will work together on the development and licensing of RF-system 3D active glasses technology, “including RF system protocols between consumer 3D active glasses and 3D displays such as televisions, personal computers, projectors and 3D theaters with Xpand active-shutter glasses.”

The glasses will use Bluetooth technology.

“The standardization will also include multiple types of infrared system protocols between 3D active glasses and 3D displays, ranging from the protocols jointly developed by Panasonic and Xpand 3D, to the proprietary protocols of Samsung and Sony, respectively,” the group added.

The license is targeted to be released in September, at which time the development of new standardization-applied active 3D glasses will begin, and universal glasses with the new protocols will be available in 2012, the group said. The glasses “are targeted to be backward compatible with 2011 3D active TVs.”

“Panasonic has been working to standardize 3D glasses technologies, and in March, we announced a joint licensing of IR system protocols with Xpand, backed by several participant companies. We are very pleased that today’s latest collaboration will incorporate our previous concept into these new standardization efforts,” Masayuki Kozuka, general manager of media and content alliance office, corporate R&D division, Panasonic, said in a statement. “We hope the expanded collaboration on this 3D standardization initiative will make a significant contribution toward accelerating the growth of 3D-related products.”

This comes on the heels of a highly contended survey in which LG maintained that more consumers prefer passive 3DTV technology than active-shutter technology. When asked if he thought this new group would increase the sales of 3DTV, particularly active-shutter 3DTV, Ross Rubin, industry analysis director of The NPD Group, said that retailers are likely to benefit the most.

“It does address a concern, probably more on the retail end of things than on the consumer demand side of things. Creating compatibility for active-shutter glasses among the three leading brands in the marketplace simplifies stocking of aftermarket accessories for retailers, and moving to Bluetooth as the standard does help create a better customer experience vs. some of the IR products that we saw early on,” he said.

Rubin added that this could also help glasses sales. “NPD has seen research that the cost of the glasses is one of the concerns that consumers have. Particularly if you want to outfit an entire family, it can get relatively expensive when you’re looking at active shutter. The standardization should help with the availability of the glasses and bringing down of the prices.”

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