DVD Player Displays 2D Movies in 3D

Anonymous Writer writes "A company called Dynamic Digital Depth that wants to bring 3D television and movies to the mainstream claims to have developed a system that allows you to watch current 2D DVDs in 3D. They claim the TriDef DVD Player uses image analysis methods, developed by the company for their 3D content conversion service, to convert 2D video to 3D in real-time based on 3D depth cues in the original movie. It is the same company that produced the TriDef Movie Player software for the Sharp Actius R3D3 autostereo display notebook. "

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[Overt Coward]

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Choice quote:

But the result isn't quite like viewing something truly filmed in 3D. Most of the 3D effects are "from the screen backwards, (with) no off-the-screen effects," Harman says. This could be a disappointment to aficionados of 1950s guilty-pleasure flicks, who know that the whole point of watching a 3D movie is to see various objects (mostly monsters) popping out of the screen.

Lots of Research on this

[Roger_Wilco]

Binocular disparity only works out to a few metres distance. Beyond that you use different cues. Consider some papers by my supervisor, for example: A laminar cortical model of monocular and binocular interactions in depth perception, Neural Dynamics Of 3-D Surface Perception: Figure-Ground Separation And Lightness Perception

Re:Dubious

[Mwongozi]

That type of 3D exploits an optical illusion. With the glasses on, one eye sees a darker image than the other eye, although both eyes are receiving a full colour image.

Because one eye is receiving less light, it takes longer for your brain to process the information coming from it. By the time it has, it is combined with the information being processed from the other eye. Because of the disparity in processing times, the two images combined are a short amount of time apart.

Thus can be exploited by rotating the camera around an object. By the time one eye has processed it's image, the camera has moved slightly, and the other eye processes its image quicker. This, the disparity in angles created a 3D image.

It only works when the camera is moving around an object in the right direction. As soon as it stops, the scene will look flat again, although you may think you are still perceiving depth because you brain remembers the previous depth information.

I've Done It

[ChrisMaple]

No, not 3D films, but I've made single stereoscopic images from multiple frames from television. A scene in which the camera has transverse motion is best; two frames can easily have the same vantage point spacing as a person's eyes. Motion of the actors works also (if everybody is moving in the same direction.) Good stereoscopic effects can even be achieved when the actor is rotating. The key is to get two different viewpoints for the same object. The effect is dramatically more vivid than anything my brain can devive from 2D television.