The following entertainment article was written for Spreety TV Online by professional journalist Carolyn Giardina.

CubicVue Takes 3D to Mobile Phones and Portable Media Players

By Carolyn Giardina

Randal Kleiser — the director behind films such as the musical Grease — believes that consumers will be soon be watching content on portable devices including mobile phones, tablets, gaming consoles and netbooks in stereoscopic 3D.

In addition to working as a director, Kleiser is a partner in startup CubicVue, which has developed a color filter that allows a viewer to see 3D without glasses. The filter could be installed in a consumer device or layered over a portable screen.

“The tremendous advantage of the CubicVue filter is that is extremely inexpensive and requires no new software or hardware,” said Kleiser, who got his start in 3D when he directed Disney’s 70 mm 3D theme park film Honey I Shrunk the Audience. “Any flat screen with 3D content that has simply been encoded into this magenta/green format will work. It can be used on existing devices, instead of having to go buy costly new equipment.”

The CubicVue technology uses magenta and green as the two colors in the system, though CubicVue partner and chief technology officer Michael Mehrle said the technology could be developed to support other colors. Mehrle, who invented the technology, added that the currently-supported format is available in a range of existing content on the Internet, meaning that it could be viewed in 3D using the CubicVue system. Additionally, Mehrle said that a free open source code would be available for companies or consumers who wish to encode their own 3D content. This could include short films, video games, or even 3D content from new consumer 3D camcorders that are coming to market.

“Available 3D content is growing by the day,” Mehrle said.

Suggested CublicVue partner and chief development officer Robert Auten, who is a video game industry veteran: “Movies will likely be first to the party. It’s easier to provide a better passive experience, but the level of excitement people will have from stereo gaming will in a sense mean the killer app for mobile 3D will be games.”

CubicVue aims to identify partners to bring the technology to market before the end of the year.

The following entertainment article was written for Spreety TV Online by professional journalist Carolyn Giardina.

Consumer Electronics Association Offers “Mid Year” Report

By Carolyn Giardina

During a “Mid-Year Reality Check,” the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) suggested that televisions, computing and gaming are positively impacting consumer electronics growth.

Still while speaking at a recent CEA Line Shows in New York, Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and director of research at CEA, warned: “We’re at this very delicate handoff as we move into Q3 and Q4 from a stimulus economy to one that needs to be driven by the private sector.”

CEA–which hosts the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas–also identified some key areas for the industry. This included green technologies, digital publishing and eReaders, IPTV, tablets and smartphones, online retailing, social networks and 3D HDTV.

3D is actually entering homes through streaming over the Internet, as well as via cable television. “From the creation and production of 3D content to distribution via satellite, cable, Blu-ray Disc and streaming to playback on specially equipped 3DTVs, there are many pieces and moving parts that need to work together seamlessly,” said Rick Dean, THX senior vice president and chairman of the 3D@Home Consortium. “Hollywood studios, content production firms and companies from all corners of the electronics industry are working to make that happen.

“The success of Avatar and, more recently, Toy Story 3, has greatly raised the public’s awareness of 3D,” he added. “Now the challenge is to translate that theatrical success into a wonderful home entertainment experience.”

Also during the CEA event in New York: ThinkEco’s modlet, a device that allows consumers to plug a consumer electronics technology into an existing electric outlet and use a web browser to wirelessly manage their power consumption, won the CEA Line Shows Best in Show award via attendees’ text vote.

StickyBits, a new mobile app that lets consumers scan any barcode and attach a message to that physical object, won the NY Tech Start-Up Classic, produced by NY Tech Meet Up.

The 2011 CES will be held January 6-9 in Las Vegas.

UK Broadcaster Takes Lead In Bringing 3D Home

By Carolyn Giardina

The popularity of stereoscopic 3D movies – including recent hits “Up”, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “G-Force” – has prompted a lot of interest in bringing the format home to TVs, computer screens, gaming platforms, mobile phones and other handheld devices.

But while the US has led 3D activity in movie theaters, UK broadcaster Sky has taken an aggressive role in getting the format into homes with a newly announced plan to launch a 3D TV channel in 2010.
The UK channel is being created to offer a broad selection of 3D programming, including movies and sports. The service will be broadcast across Sky’s existing HD infrastructure and be available via its current generation of set-top boxes.

To watch 3D, customers will also require a new ‘3D Ready’ TV, which are expected to be on sale in the UK next year. In the U.S., 3D Ready TVs have already come on the market, and 3D computer screens are on the way.

Among the challenges in the US has been the need for a steady stream of available 3D content for these devices.

Meanwhile, global standards setting body the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has been working on 3D technical standards that would enable 3D feature films and other programming to be played on all fixed devices in the home, no matter the delivery channel. The intent is to complete the standards by next summer.

Sky will be using a delivery method that is has already tested. Last April, Sky broadcast a performance by Keane live from Abbey Road Studios via the company’s satellite network to a Sky set-top box and domestic 3D Ready TV.

Said Brian Sullivan, managing director of Sky’s Customer Group: “3D is a genuinely ‘seeing is believing’ experience, making TV come to life as never before.”

3D: Coming Soon to a Computer Screen Near You?
By Carolyn Giardina

A brilliant cockroach, giant woman and blob of goo are among the out-of-this-world creatures that will soon jump off movie screens, as Dreamworks Animation opens its first digital 3D movie “Monsters versus Aliens” on March 27.

Digital Technology—if used properly–has enabled 3D movies to be made and shown with more precision than in the past. Many in Hollywood believe that by removing elements that have created discomfort and eye fatigue, this new medium will bring audiences back to theaters in record numbers.

Stakeholders also believe 3D will come to the audiences’ home—and hand.

On the way are a range of consumer electronics that support 3D, including computer monitors and TVs, video game displays, smart phones and other handheld devices. Some promising technologies can be viewed without special glasses.
Others gadgets coming to market include a 3D webcam, as well as a head-mounted 3D display that when hooked up to a portable content player such as an iPod allows 3D viewing on the go.

The technology can work—the author of this article has seen and tried many of these devices—but more needs to be done.
There are a lot of moving parts in the effort to bring 3D to the home. Business models and technical standards are for instance still being developed, and naturally content is key for consumers.
In Hollywood, the release of “Monsters versus Aliens” is a benchmark in the digital 3D movement, as DreamWorks Animation made a commitment that with this movie, all of its titles going forward will be made in 3D.

Disney has made the same commitment for its animated slate, which includes Pixar Animation Studios’ titles such as this year’s “Up” and a rerelease in 3D of its classic “Toy Story.”
And arguably the most anticipated movie of the year is James Carmeron’s 3D title “Avatar”—his first major motion picture since “Titanic”—which opens on Dec. 9.