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Four companies are fighting for bridge of the nose with three different technologies. Each of them is more advanced than the paper glasses worn to view “Bwana Devil,” regarded as the first of the commercial 3-D movies in the 1950s, but all work on the same general principle. Each eye sees a slightly different frame of the movie, but the brain puts them together and perceives depth.

About four million glasses made by RealD, the market leader, were worn during Avatar’s opening weekend in the United States. RealD’s glasses use polarized lenses and cost about 65 cents each. MasterImage 3D, another vendor, uses a similar technology.

Dolby Laboratories, the company behind theater sound systems, makes glasses that filter out different frequencies of red, green and blue. They cost about $28 each. The glasses of the third company, XpanD, use battery-powered LCD shutters that open and shut so each eye sees the appropriate frame of the movie. Those cost as much as $50 each.

Each company claims its glasses and projection-system technology is better. Because glasses using one technology are useless in a theater using a different digital projection system, the companies backing the three technologies are scrambling for the upper hand while the 3-D industry is still in its infancy.

James Cameron, the director of “Avatar,” is more often than not the main marketing tool. He has endorsed RealD, says the company, which has about 5,000 screens using its system. But he, his wife and his production partner were photographed at the premiere in Japan wearing XpanD glasses, which work on 2,000 screens worldwide. Dolby says its glasses work with 2,200 screens, but it has no Cameron connection. The company helpfully points out instead how a malfunction in the RealD system spoiled a press preview of “Avatar.”

The battle over what glasses patrons wear is a big deal because exhibitors are convinced that 3-D, while seeming like a gimmick now, will lure movie lovers away from their crisp high-definition widescreen TVs at home and back to the theater. But Maria Costeira, the chief executive of XpanD, believes the sky’s the limit: “Eventually, we’ll see 3-D movies on airplanes as well.”

The fight over the glasses may well intensify because TV makers are now pushing 3-D TVs for the home as a way to increase their sales of more expensive sets.

Despite the marketing effort, when it comes down to choosing a 3-D system, many exhibitors are making a decision based on one factor: Do they want to be in the cleaning as well as the movie business?

The expensive Dolby and XpanD glasses are going into a dishwasher after each use, not the trash. Both companies recommend that theater owners clean them in an industrial-grade machine. (To prevent pilfering, Dolby and XpanD glasses can also contain built-in antitheft tags that can be activated by exit-door sensors.)

XpanD offers its theater partners disposable wipes that it can distribute to customers along with their tickets to assure them the glasses are germ-free.

RealD, whose cheap throwaway glasses were being perceived as a liability, has addressed concerns of hygiene. Theater owners are now encouraged to ship back the used glasses to the company, which will clean, repair and repackage them for other theaters.

But in all the hubbub about each product’s advantages and which system Mr. Cameron really, truly loves, the most important question remains unanswered: does one system create a better looking 3-D picture than another?

“I don’t think the consumer can tell the difference,” said Joe Miraglia, the director of design, construction, and facilities for ArcLight Cinemas, a chain of luxury theaters based in Hollywood. The movie chain uses each system in one or more of its theaters, and finds the cost of operation to be roughly the same for all.

While Mr. Miraglia uses RealD in several theaters, he chose XpanD’s LCD glasses for the large curved screen in the company’s flagship Cinerama Dome theater on Sunset Boulevard. This is similar to the technology that will be used by Panasonic, Sony and others as they bring 3-D HDTV to market next year. Recently, electronics makers set standards for creating 3-D Blu-ray discs and players.

But in order to make the wearing of 3-D glasses as routine as ordering popcorn, the makers need some help in the design department. Many of the glasses resemble the “fitover,” or wraparound sunglasses favored by senior citizens in the Sun Belt, a look that is not appealing to young moviegoers.

RealD and XpanD hope that 3-D will soon become a fashion statement. In addition to its standard movie glasses, RealD is introducing child-size versions, as well as high-style 3-D specs that people can wear without embarrassment out in the three-dimensional world as sunglasses or prescription lenses.

Ms. Costeira of XpanD thinks personalized designs that can be used with 3-D HDTVs and video games could turn into something big. “Stylish, thin and light, 3-D glasses will become your new iPod,” she said.

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But Maria Costeira, the chief executive of XpanD, believes the sky’s the limit: “Eventually, we’ll see 3-D movies on airplanes as well.”

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Whew, just in time to receive the bonehead quote of 2009 award.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-28-2009, 02:55 PM:
 
And the other, most stupidest statement of the year just ahead of it:

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will lure movie lovers away from their crisp high-definition widescreen TVs at home and back to the theater.

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RealD and XpanD hope that 3-D will soon become a fashion statement. In addition to its standard movie glasses, RealD is introducing child-size versions, as well as high-style 3-D specs that people can wear without embarrassment out in the three-dimensional world as sunglasses or prescription lenses.

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What planet are these tossers on? They think that wearing 3D glasses "in the three-dimensional world" is going to be cool? So on one hand they are concerned with pilfering then they say that 3D glasses can be used in the real world? Sorry guys but you've been sniffing to much low quality coke.

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will lure movie lovers away from their crisp high-definition widescreen TVs at home and back to the theater.

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will lure movie lovers away from their crisp high-definition widescreen TVs at home and back to the theater's crisp high-definition widescreen TV.

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Fixed.
 

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Posted by Alex Edwards (Member # 5413) on 12-28-2009, 06:01 PM:
 
On a tangent, do certain studios back certain 3D companies? On our new cardboard standee for "How to train your dragon" it says it will be shown in IMAX 3D and RealD technology. It also includes their logos. Is that just a promotional thing? That doesn't mean they won't be releasing the movie to Dolby screens will it?
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 12-28-2009, 06:44 PM:
 
Mark.

Im still laughing!


 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-28-2009, 06:48 PM:
 

quote: Alex Edwards

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On our new cardboard standee for "How to train your dragon" it says it will be shown in IMAX 3D and RealD technology. It also includes their logos. Is that just a promotional thing? That doesn't mean they won't be releasing the movie to Dolby screens will it?

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It's just a promotional thing.

AFAIK no digital 3D movie has been specifically distributed to play exclusively only in one digital 3D format.

I'm not even sure it's possible to rig the JPEG2000 based 3D movies to where they can't play on a certain system. The video stream is merely alternating left eye, right eye still images made to play at 48fps (with each eye seeing 24fps).
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-29-2009, 09:41 AM:
 
Ian:


 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-29-2009, 09:56 PM:
 
On the side hint (hey "fat cats", need to listen to this very carefully): Get tix pricing down to a reasonable level and get the quality of each film's stories on a higher level and you JUST might drag those people away from their home HDTV's to the cinema's much larger HDTV's.

-Monte
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 12-30-2009, 12:14 AM:
 
Monte has a very good point here.

I personally know 9 couples who wont got to the cinema because they think why should they pay X dollars to watch what is in effect a large video presentation which they can do at home for far less cost.

I have no answer to that, except that I hope that the quality of product, and the "occasion-ness" of going out to a movie will win out over the convenience of home theatre setups.

I do believe that 35/70mm has a subliminal effect that cant be reproduced at home and this is an advantage that is currently seen and promoted as a liability.

Ramblings of a celluloid-sniffer? Maybe, but I hope that the Technicolor Film based system works not only for them but for exhibitors as well.
 

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Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 12-30-2009, 06:38 AM:
 

quote: Ian Parfrey

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I personally know 9 couples who wont got to the cinema because they think why should they pay X dollars to watch what is in effect a large video presentation which they can do at home for far less cost.

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That's exactly how John and I feel. When all cinemas convert to digital, that's when we're staying home. With one exception: 3-D. No fan of horror, I've gone to see a couple primarily because they were in 3-D. And as adamant as John is about not paying to watch I've dragged him to a few "deepies" and he had a great time (especially with "UP").

Admittedly, I'm a nut for 3-D, but even when(ever) I get the perfect 3-D capable home screen, I would still go to the cinema for the big screen 3-D experience.

If I get the choice between RealD and Technicolor 3-D, we'll go see the film.

YMMV of course.
 

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Posted by Julio Roberto (Member # 4976) on 12-30-2009, 07:29 AM:
 
Well, home technology has been developing so fast that you can now buy very large flat TV's, perfected from last years's models thanks to advancements in LCD response, LED and optical film illuminations, with very nice contrast and color reproduction.

Now that specs for blu-rays in 3D are out the door, you'll be able to buy those same TV's+a pair of glasses with 3D capabilities. By the end of next year, it's foreseeable that extremely good, even better and cheaper 3D TV's will be everywhere. New top-of-the-line blu-ray players will be right beside them to reproduce the stuff.

BUT, and here comes the "home revolution", some TV channels, in Japan, Europe and North America, are planning on starting a "3D channel" which, of course, will flood the market with 3D content.

http://hdguru.com/directv-to-launch-a-3d-channel-hd-guru-exclusive/1201/

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(December 28, 2009) DirecTV intends to launch the first US 3D HDTV channel early next year. The satellite TV provider plans to make the announcement at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 7th.

Tonight, DirecTV is scheduled to blast its latest satellite into orbit. The new bird gives DirecTV the capacity to add an all HD 3D channel, along with additional HD channels, though the technical specs of the broadcast are not yet clear. The new satellite goes fully operational in March 2010. The new DirecTV 3D channel will feature an assortment of movies, sports and programs in 3D. All programs are in HD 3D and meet the new 3D standards the major TV manufacturers support, according to sources.

Sources tell HD Guru DirecTV’s current HDTV boxes will receive a firmware upgrade to allow its existing subscriber base to receive HD 3D programming. The shows will then be compatible with the new 3D capable HDTVs expected to debut at CES by Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, LG and other TV makers, as well as existing Mitsubishi DLP models that are accompanied by a forthcoming 3D converter box. Viewers will need one of these new 3D HDTVs to view DirecTV 3D programming, along with compatible 3D glasses.

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