Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics, Sony Corporation and X6D Limited (Xpand 3D) have announced their intent to collaborate on the development of a new technology standard for consumer 3D active glasses, under the name Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative.
With this new agreement, the companies intend to work together on the development and licensing of radio frequency (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 theatres with Xpand active shutter glasses.
The standardisation will also include multiple types of infrared (IR) 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 licence for the newly announced Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative is targeted to be released in September 2011, at which time the development of new standardisation-applied active 3D glasses will begin. Universal glasses with the new IR/RF protocols will be made available in 2012, and are targeted to be backward compatible with 2011 3D active TVs.
Through this initiative, the four companies aim to widely introduce universal active 3D glasses to the market.
It is our take that this initiative comes at the right time, when consumer reaction to 3D television seems to remain lukewarm amid worries about the availability of content and the absence of a common standard for active 3D glasses. So far, market research shows that people are indeed buying 3D sets, but not in the large numbers initially expected by the manufacturers. The new initiative will at least solve the compability issue of the 3D glasses.
