Royal Philips Electronics, Sharp Corporation, TCL Corporation and Toshiba Corporation are the latest electronics giants to get behind a standard for wireless active-shutter, full HD 3D glasses technology for 3DTVs and movie theaters that is being promoted by Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation and X6D Limited (XPAND 3D).
This leaves LG and Vizio (some say Vizio LCD displays are made by LG) as the only major brands not on board with universal active shutter glasses, which account for 70% of 3D glasses sales.
It was announced today (Tuesday, Aug. 30) that Philips, Sharp, TCL and Toshiba have expressed support for the initiative announced earlier this month for which competing titans Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and XPAND have agreed to work together on the development and licensing of Bluetooth-enabled radio frequency (RF) system 3D active-shutter glasses technology, including RF system protocols between consumer 3D active shutter glasses and 3D displays such as televisions, personal computers and projectors, as well as 3D theaters with XPAND active shutter glasses. The standardization will also include several types of infrared (IR) system protocols between 3D active shutter glasses and 3D displays, ranging from the protocols jointly developed by Panasonic and XPAND 3D to the proprietary protocols of Samsung and Sony.
In late September 2011, the license program for the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative is targeted to commence. With this, manufacturers of 3D displays, 3D synchronization emitters, 3D active shutter glasses or Bluetooth chip devices for such products can receive a license to begin developing and manufacturing products employing the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative technology.
Further, in late 2011, the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative plans to begin officially certifying products manufactured under the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative license. Upon a product’s certification, the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative will allow the usage of a distinct logo (above right), which will provide consumers an easy way to recognize interoperability among 3D active shutter products, such as 3D TVs and 3D glasses that each bear the logo.
The protocols jointly developed by Panasonic and XPAND were announced in March 2011 and supported by eight participating companies: Changhong Electric Co., Ltd.; FUNAI Electric Co., Ltd.; Hisense Electric Co., Ltd.; Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Seiko Epson Corporation; SIM2 Multimedia S.p.A. and ViewSonic Corporation.
— By Scott Hettrick
While there is some evidence that LG components are used in Vizio TVs, Vizio is not an LG brand as suggested by this article.