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General discussion

3D glasses confusion

Nov 5, 2009 2:42PM PST

Hello. I am not very computer savy yet, so I needed to join here to learn about computers, and I consider a hdtv a computer. I am a huge 3D movie fan. Now I want to watch them on our 40" hdtv. I bought a couple of 3D movies. The first was haunted castle in blue ray. I watched it with a pair of anaglyph plastic glasses I purchased online. It did not work. I even increased the brightness, contrast, and the color, as instructed by someone. Still not working..too much ghosting and very blury.Someone told me that a 3D movie will not play on a hdtv because it doesn't accept interfacing ??...something...lol, I don't remember. I am not too good with tech talk either. Well I have learned there are 3 different types of glasses, anaglyph being the worst. Then there are shutters, and polar..something. Anyway, we are buying a bluray disc player tomarrow, and I think I need to change 3D glasses. I am so confused on which type I should buy, because there are certain types for certain movies, and this is what this is all about ..the movies, not so much games. ( haven't touched xbox in a year) We want to watch all the new 3D movies coming to blueray disc, and hope to buy a 3D hdtv next year, but I need to know which 3D glasses to buy to be compatable with most of the 3D movies coming out. Oh, I think the 3D tv will be a samsung plasma, or a samsung lcd..would these two different tvs take different types of 3D glasses? I told you I was glasses confused. lol. Please, any new info at all from what I have all ready written, or elaboration on this subject would be greatly appreciated. I am 50, and I taught myself the computer, but still have alot to learn. Thanks ahead. Faith

Discussion is locked

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Ahh, the pains of integrating your own solution.
Nov 5, 2009 10:45PM PST

Here's the lesson. Not everything works with everything else.

I strongly suggest you get a refund on stuff that does not work out.
Bob

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Duh.
Nov 6, 2009 1:40AM PST

Gee thanks!! I already new not everything works with everything else, ...but that is precisely what I do need to know...what works with what??? Anybody else care to help??

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That's not too hard.
Nov 6, 2009 2:18AM PST

Always watch for the setups in stores and take notes about what they are using. If we create a new combination then we'll likely suffer for it.

I can see why the home installation business is still booming.
Bob

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installation not problem
Nov 6, 2009 6:11AM PST

hi there. thanks for the advice. What i really need is someone to send me a list of what is compatable with what. glasses with tvs...glasses and tvs with movies, ect.. I donot drive or i would just go into a store and pretend to buy, just to get information..lol. really. noone else seems to know, and some of the salepeople on the phone didn't even know, and were vague. thanks anyway.

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What works with what
Nov 6, 2009 7:17AM PST

Really depends upon your setup and the type of 3D imagery you have.

The anaglyph glasses (and I did not know that name of them until I looked up that word) are the red/green glasses (I'll abbreviate then as R/G) and they are the very old style. Those R/G glasses work by having your two eyes see two different images at the same time. The red filter prevents you from seeing the red images, and the green filter prevents you from seeing the green images. It is your mind that combines the two slightly shifted, different images and images a 3 dimensional picture between your ears. That R/G method is very poor for modern full color movies because of the issue that reds or greens in the actual movie gets partially obscured in one eye or the other. It works OK for black and white movies, but the colors that your eyes see will not be black and white either.

Newer technologies might use polarized lenses, where the glasses that you have on your head pretty much just see one of the two images on the screen in front of you. Of course that requires two different projectors being illuminated with two different polarized lamps that are rotated by 90 degrees. That can be done in a movie house. It is not possible to do that on your regular home TV.

There is another method that uses glasses that have fast acting shutters over each eye. What one eye sees is a different image flashed before it than what the other eye see. That can be done with your home TV, if your home TV has the type of connection to signal to the plugged in glasses, so that it can get the two different image times in sync with the shutters of the glasses.

There are other methods that are coming around, and whichever method you have will probably depend upon what equipment you have. That is all that was meant by another person's earlier comment. we don't know what sort of gear you have. If you tell us, then that just might be your answer, anyway.

Some methods are very promising, and can get very expensive. Some are not too satisfying. For the moment, I would not waste my money on it.

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R/G Red/Green or R/B Red/Blue
Nov 6, 2009 7:26AM PST

Sorry, there seems to be another color pair available, and that is the Red/Blue combination. Same concept, just a different color pair.

So, what I said about the R/G (Red/Green) just substitute R/B (Red/Blue).

So, you must be sure you are using the correct color pair for the process your movie is colored with. that plus you must ensure that your two colors are over the correct left or right eye. The scenes intended for the right eye must be seen by the right eye, and the other scheme for the other eye. Having the glasses on backwards (possible with the cheap cardboard glasses usually freely available) will not make for a good 3D experience.

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gear
Nov 6, 2009 2:47PM PST

Thank you! You were very helpful. I knew some of what you said , but what I knew was vague, and your help really cleared up alot, especially about the polorized glasses. Anyway, you mentioned what gear I might have already. We have a Samsung LCD hdtv(not 3D ready). We have a Blu-ray disc player. We have anaglyph glasses; The red/blue are plastic, and the red/green are paper. The red/green paper seem to work better than the red/blue plastic. The movies were both blue-ray. They were "haunted Castle' and 'haunting of winchester house' ( both really cheesy..lol) So there you have it. We intend on buying a 3D samsung next year and the glasses that will be compatible with the tv. I was wondering if the wireless shutter glasses might work for the 3D movies they have out now, and that are coming out soon, Some of them really look good like..final destination 3', and 'the toy'. Anyone know about shutter glasses? I know one thing...they are expensive. About $99.00 a pair for wireless. Thanks again chuck.

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The shutter glasses
Nov 6, 2009 3:39PM PST

The shutter glasses are only going to work with 3D movies coded to signal to them. It is quite the timing trick to have alternate eyes "enabled" (where the shutter is essentially open) at the correct frame time. While the TV may be displaying a 60 fps (frames per second) picture, one eye is just seeing 30 frames, and the other eye is seeing 30 frames too, but alternating frames.

Not too long ago, TVs were just 30 fps pictures (and some still are) where the alternating images created an interlaced image (one frame was the odd scan lines, and the next frame was the even numbered scan lines), but thankfully we are pretty much away from that now, thank you HDTV. That old method (still displayed when your TV is selected to the SD (Standard Definition) source (non-HD channels or even the typical video recorder) blurs out just about 480 scan lines on your 720 or 1080 HDTV.

By the way, whether the shutter glasses are wired or wireless does not change the idea of how it is suppose to work. Having the wireless type is more convenient, since you don't have to drag a wire around your room.

Back in the days where LCD screens were relatively slow, the shuttering would not have worked since the residual LCD image from one frame to the next would be longer than 1/60 sec (about 16 ms). But now that the LCD panels are getting much faster, the specs on some more expensive panels are around 2 ms. That is why you can find some LCD TVs saying that they have 240 fps. There is even one company that says that their display rate is 600 fps! Of course the LCD panel is probably not going to change that fast (to fully take advantage of frames changing that quick would require LCD panels to transition under 1.6 ms!), and it doesn't have to, since the human eye is never going to see that fast anyway. But that doesn't stop the TV manufacturers to tout the speed of the electronics.

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types of 3D glasses and tech
Jan 10, 2011 11:57PM PST

i made a list of all active 3d glasses technologies:
* Xpand (cinemas)
* nvidia (PC)
* Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic (tele)
* DLP (projector)

but you can also find universal 3D glasses!
buy them here: www.bnext3d.com
the advantage is that one rules them all, the dis is that it can do some problems with specific types of Tele, should ask before purchase!
enjoy the movies

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nice 3D webshop
Jan 12, 2011 3:37AM PST

Hi,

Check www.3doptix.org They have a wide selection of 3D glasses and sell the XpanD universal glasses!

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thanks for the glasses types!
Jan 15, 2011 5:02AM PST

thanks for the bnext3d site, i dont care about buying 3d glasses there but it does contain explanation about all 3d types and i finally got the differences!