The much-anticipated Disney 3D movie “Tron Legacy,” the sequel to the 28-year-old groundbreaking film about a videogame developer (Jeff Bridges) who got zapped into his own machine by a controlling program, was back for the third year in a row to whet the appetite of fans once last time before the Dec. 17 release.

Cast and crew were holding press conferences, an opening day 90-minute panel in the famed Hall H of the convention center, and walking the red carpet. On the show floor was an eye-catching exhibit featuring brand new exclusive Tron merchandise and a full-scale light cycle as depicted in the movie.

(Story continues below the following video highlights of Comic-Con, including a prominent seat at the “Tron” press conference.)

When asked about Blu-ray plans for the original 1982 movie and the new film, Disney producer Sean Bailey said to look for a special edition of the original movie soon — no specific release dates yet — and that the studio will be anxious to release a home 3D version of “Legacy” as soon as more homes get 3D TVs.

During the “Tron” panel in Hall H, Disney took the opportunity to give the 6,500 in the room a surprise peek at the 3D fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and to introduce filmmaker Guillermo del Toro to announce work on another movie inspired by a Disneyland ride, “Haunted Mansion,” this one surely to be quite different than the previous flop comedy starring Eddie Murphy.

Probably the most heavily promoted 3D movie was “Green Hornet,” with interactive exhibits and the Green Hornet car parked near the front of the convention center. Also prominent on the floor were exhibits for the new 3D chapter of “Resident Evil” and the upcoming “Priest,” also in 3D.

As for Blu-ray, Fox had a huge exhibit with interactive pods for attendees to promote its upcoming “Alien Anthology” in October, Paramount was promoting its September release of “Iron Man 2″ with a producer showing clips of bonus features, a billboard of “Clash of the Titans” stood on the lawn between the Hilton and the convention center in front of a tent with a giant head of the Hydra, and Anchor Bay was touting its TV series “Spartacus” on Blu-ray with an exhibit and prominent ads on bicycle taxis outside.

Blu-ray producers at Bill Hunt’s annual Digital Bits panel revealed a few tidbits during the session and afterwards to HollywoodInHiDef.com/3DHollywood.net, including Charles de Lauzirika mentioning that he was already working on the Blu-ray and DVD versions of “Transformers 3,” just one of three 3D movies for which he is producing the disc version.

– By Scott Hettrick

John Gaudiosi of Gamerlive.tv, allowed 3DHollywood.net to publish his interview with David Glanzer, director of marketing, Comic Con International, about how Hollywood has literally changed the game.

Gamerlive.tv: Can you give us an estimate of how many people you expect to attend the show this year and how that compares to last year?

Glanzer: A few years ago we had to cap attendance, so this year we expect around 125,000 to 126,000 attendees.  Four-day passes to the event sold out in September of 2009, single day passes sold out in February of this year.

Gamerlive.tv: How many press attend Comic-Con?

Glanzer: We welcome over 2,500 members of the press from all over the country and world. This year we will have press visiting us from Peru, Malaysia, China, Denmark, Australia and Russia, to name a few.

Gamerlive.tv: How have you seen Hollywood’s interest in Comic-Con expand over the years?

Glanzer: In 1976 the people at Lucasfilm purchased a booth and sold posters promoting Star Wars a full year before its release. Since that time, Lucasfilm has had a presence in one manner or another at Comic-Con for each of the films they produced. One of the larger booths on the floor today is the Lucasfilm pavilion, which features the company and some of their licensees.  The rest of Hollywood took notice about 10 years ago and since that time interest has also expanded to include television networks.

Gamerlive.tv: This year I noticed a lot more 3D movies, can you talk about the role the Comic-Con audience plays when it comes to 3D?

Glanzer: Comic-Con attendees are typically early adopters. We know that our attendee base is among the first to hear about new technology and, in many instances, purchase that new technology.  With the advances of the 3D format, it isn’t surprising that studios would choose Comic-Con as a place to feature some of their new 3D properties.

Gamerlive.tv: This year a diverse line-up of TV shows, including “Glee” and “White Collar,” are at the Con. I How has your audience evolved over the years and how do TV networks capitalize on this?

Glanzer: We have always enjoyed contributions from a variety of popular arts at Comic-Con. Back in 1973 Frank Capra was a guest and one of the first films we screened was Orson Wells’ Othello. No one would claim that Capra or Othello were necessarily comics oriented, but as we’ve had film fans attending for years, it only seemed to make sense. I think that holds true today, as well. With cable television expanding the boundaries of  programming, we are beginning to notice an increased interest in shows that appear on non-network stations. So they too are welcome at Comic-Con.

Gamerlive.tv: Can you address what role videogames play with Comic Con today?

Glanzer: Videogames, like toys, television and movies, play an important part at Comic Con. While the main focus remains comics with every major comics publisher at the show, we have seen an enthusiastic reception by our attendees of videogame companies, and some choose to debut properties at Comic Con.

Gamerlive.tv: This year’s movie, Paul, marks the first time a feature film has incorporated Comic Con into its plotline. Can you address what that says about this show’s popularity?

Glanzer: Well, the people with Paul were very kind in asking us permission to feature the show and allowing us to read the script. It speaks to a Comic Con type sensibility that the filmmakers certainly seemed to get. One of the interesting things that I’ve notice more and more each year is that people who are in the decision-making level of any number of companies at one time or another may have attended Comic Con. Or if they didn’t attend Comic Con, they were aware of it. So I think it’s much easier for a writer, director, producer or executive to pitch Comic Con as a place to meet fans because they may have been fans at one time themselves. It’s nice that our little show has caught on with a larger audience. We’ve always known we were a fun event, and while it may have taken the rest of the world a little longer to figure that out, better late than never.

Gamerlive.tv: With no Avatar or Twilight or Iron Man 2 this year, what do you personally think will be the big drivers of this year’s show from Hollywood?

Glanzer: That’s so difficult to say. There is so much to see and do at the show that it really depends upon your interest. I know this year we have amazing comics creators on panels that are must-sees. I know that Danny Elfman will have a panel on his contribution to musical scores, and as an old fan of Oingo Boingo, I think that’s pretty cool. I have no doubt there will be any number of exciting panels that will leaves attendees very happy!

Gamerlive.tv: This is Comic Con, so can you give us a sense of how big actual comics are with this show?

Glanzer: Comic Con has more comics publishers than any other convention in the United States. We have more comics professionals, as well. And comics panels continue to make up a majority of our programming. So it’s still pretty darned big!

Gamerlive.tv: How committed are you to keeping Comic-Con in San Diego versus Las Vegas, where a lot of people say there are more hotel rooms?

Glanzer: We have reviewed proposals from the City of San Diego, Los Angeles and Anaheim. Currently those are the only cities in contention.

Actually, there were a couple of hits like that that caused everyone from the director inside ESPN’s production truck in the parking lot to those watching on the first 3D TVs at home to jerk their heads back to avoid the ball that was surely coming out of the screen. I’m certain that thousands of people from Anaheim to Annapolis simultaneously yelled “whoa!” Only upon reflection did any of us realize that ball could not have hit all of us in the face at the same time.

(Story continues below the following video highlights of ESPN’s 3D production from inside the truck to the field and insightful comments from four ESPN producers and executives.)

While the ballplayers were putting on a display of power, the guys at ESPN came prepared to put on quite a display of their own for the first 3D broadcast of the Home Run Derby and first national primetime 3D telecast of a Major League Baseball program. Two production trucks separate from the regular HiDef production trucks, the expertise of 3D guru consultant and producer Vince Pace, twelve 3D cameras — one to shoot super slow-motion at a whopping 1,000 frames per second — and the first or at least most elaborate 3D on-screen graphics. They also had a completely separate trio of announcers who wore glasses to watch a 3D monitor in their booth, same as the guys in the truck.

If you think all of that sounds like a lot of extra expense, it is. And that has not escaped ESPN executives. “We can’t do this for every game,” said Anthony Bailey, ESPN’s VP, emerging technology. In addition to the enormous extra cost, logistics are a bigger immediate concern. Most stadiums don’t have as big of a production compound as Angels stadium and therefore cannot accommodate four trucks just for ESPN.

Logistics and expense are big challenges and question marks for live 3DTV sports. When ESPN was making the transition to HiDef, it was basically only a matter of switching out the SD cameras for HD cameras and getting used to a wider image. Still just one director in the same truck. In the early stages of the consumer transition to HiDef TVs (and still to a certain extent, but less so every day), cameramen and directors were careful to keep primary action and graphics in that portion of the screen that could be seen by non-HD TVs.

But with 3D, everything must be separate. 3D cameras cannot double as HD cameras (for the most part, though sometimes a signal can be pulled from one of the two lenses to use for a standard HiDef feed), and 3D cameras almost always have to be positioned in unique locations in order to create the best perception of depth (in most cases, the lower and closer to the action, the better). An exhibition like the Home Run Derby is well suited to 3D because producers had the flexibility to position cameras in places they could never be placed during a game — that one on the pole by the pitcher and two more small ones right in front of the batter’s box above the ground (not in-ground “lipstick” cameras as Fox uses for 2D games).

But regular baseball games are more challenging, as are football games that require lots of high-angle and wide shots showing a large part of the field but which provide the least perception of depth.

While the camera angles are production challenges that will surely be worked out with time, the financial and logistical hurdles of producing two completely separate productions of the same live sporting event appear to be here to stay, at least for the next year or two, says Chris Calcinari, ESPN’s VP of event operations. Or until the vast majority of consumers convert to 3DTVs.

In the meantime, Phil Orlins, ESPN coordinating producer, says that 3D productions must not only deliver exceptional added value to sports fans through unique 3D camera angles and graphics, but must continue to deliver every production element the viewer currently enjoys in the 2D HiDef broadcast, and at the same high quality, including the separate announcers, a sports ticker, etc.

ESPN executives are still living through the conversion to HiDef since they broadcast their first game in HD seven years ago. But there is reason for optimism. In addition to strong positive response from consumers who have seen the few live sporting events in 3D so far, including recent broadcasts of The Masters and this month’s World Cup carried on ESPN 3D, programming is much more widely available and advertisers are jumping on board more quickly than at this stage of the HD development cycle, according to Sean Bailey, executive VP of Disney and ESPN Media Networks. While only a few regional cable systems carried ESPN’s first HiDef broadcast, ESPN 3D is already offered to nearly 50 million homes through DirecTV, Comcast, and AT&T U-verse. And Bailey noted that four advertisers created 3D spots specifically for the network’s World Cup and Home Run Derby broadcasts. Granted, one was ESPN’s own “SportsCenter” and one was from ESPN sister company Disney Studios for “Toy Story 3.”
ESPN VP, strategic business development, Bryan Burns, says advertisers understand the added value of a commercial in 3D because of the extra visual impact and increased attention the viewer is giving to the 3D spot. There are also unique opportunities for 3D ads that could draw premium prices — think about 3D versions of those ads that pop-up on the bottom of your screen and with graphics such as tickers.

All that’s needed are eyeballs. For that, Bratches says it’s critical that the entire industry work together to create as much 3D programming and as many networks and TV displays as soon as possible for the good of everyone involved. It will be impossible for ESPN to shoulder the entire cost of building the market, he says.

But ESPN has an important proponent in its camp, the president and CEO of ESPN parent The Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger, who told 3DHollywood.net while standing at his seat a few rows behind home plate moments before the All-Star game the following night, “Having seen a lot of ESPN 3D, I’m a believer.”

At least for one night, the network did its best to showcase what is possible with live 3DTV sports.

– By Scott Hettrick

You can experience some of the new King Kong 360 3D ride yourself in the following 3 1/2-minute video, though you can’t possibly sense the feeling of being enveloped in the environment without being on the tram car, wearing the 3D glasses, and feeling the wind, slobber, and jolts and swaying of the car as the beasts use the tram for stepping stones.
(Story continues below the video.)
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On the red carpet prior to the media presentation and preview, Universal Studios president and COO Ron Meyer said the company is just entering the 3D cinema arena with its first such release next week on July 9 with the animated family comedy “Despicable Me.” The studio, which has no specific plans yet for the home 3D Blu-ray market, will be selective about what movies it releases in 3D, working with its filmmakers to determine what productions warrant the process to enhance the story.

Even though the studio simultaneously announced the release of the “Back to the Future” trilogy on Blu-ray, Meyer said there were no plans to convert the movie or the popular BTF giant-screen ride-film attraction at Universal Studios parks to 3D. And that’s just fine with BTF star Christopher Lloyd, who told 3DHollywood.net while attending the event on Tuesday (June 29) that he felt the original movies are fine just the way they are, but then he admitted not being much of a fan of new technologies, including HiDef Blu-ray, etc.

Universal Parks and Resorts president and CEO Tom Williams says 3D has proven to be a valuable enhancement with park customers who feel it allows them to become more immersed and interactive in the experience.

– By Scott Hettrick

Meanwhile, passengers of the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic cruise ships in the Caribbean this week will be among the first to see the premiere of “Toy Story 3” in two theaters equipped with 3D aboard the ships when it premieres Friday (June 18).

The first to get a grand opening at the resort’s California Adventure is the 26-minute nighttime “World of Color” water fountain multimedia show that encompasses nearly an acre of space in Paradise Bay near the park’s signature rollercoaster. An array of close to 1,200 fountains and 28 HiDef projectors (14 of them submersible) are the performers on this stage that stretches 120-yards wide and features a medley of Disney songs and scenes from Disney and Pixar animated films displayed against the wall of rising and undulating water, almost all of which have been subliminally customized for the show.

(Story continues following the 3-minutes of video highlights below from the world premiere media and VIP event on June 10, plus comments from producers and executives the following morning.)
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It may seem a little anachronistic to base the theme park’s biggest show ever on a celebration of “The Wonder World of Color,” which was introduced nearly 50 years ago as the revised name of Walt Disney’s popular and long-running Sunday night TV program in 1961 to herald the arrival of color TV signals as opposed to black-and-white.

But there is nothing out-of-date or old-fashioned about the cutting-edge digital and mechanical technology that went into the show that has been in development for 5-years and under construction for more than two years. (Be prepared to get hit with mist blowing your way multiple times during the show.)

But it’s only the first of many new major transformations coming in the next two years to California Adventure, Disneyland, and even the iconic Disneyland Hotel (complete makeover inside and out, including new suites and a new water slide themed to the original monorail at Disneyland — great summertime offer this year for 5 nights at any Disneyland Resort Hotel for price of three; including same-day park hopper passes for the price of 3).

As announced at the D23 Expo last September, Star Tours will be closing this summer (July 26 at Disneyland, September 7 at Disney World) in order to revamp the presentation with an all-new 3D digital interactive movie storyline that takes place in the time between the two Star Wars trilogies and features familiar characters and locations. One of the highlights of the new show to open in 2011 will be a virtual pod race as featured in Episode One.

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts President Al Weiss said the company will be considering the growing appeal of 3D for any and all future plans. He would not dismiss the notion of an attraction based on “Tron,” which has a 3D sequel coming to theaters this December, but he also would not confirm any specific plans in the works other than what has been announced.

The biggest new attraction at California Adventure will be Cars Land in 2012. A new Little Mermaid ride will also open at California Adventure in 2011.

The following 3-minute video features highlights from the “What’s Next” media presentation Friday morning, including comments from the following invitation-only round-table interviews with executives about the new attractions, and a rousing performance by Little Mermaid voice actress/singer Jodi Benson.
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The newest three-minute diversion for riders of the park’s iconic 45-minute behind-the-scenes tram ride Studio Tour features two giant curved movie screens (40-feet tall by 187-feet wide) facing each side of the tram and depicting a battle through the world’s largest 3D projection system that promises to appear as if it is taking place alongside and on top of the tram, with riders to feel as if they are right in the midst of the Skull Island jungle environment action with sounds, smells, water sprays (”dino slobber lobbers”), and wind, not to mention Kong, T-Rex and raptors all around them.

The first media preview is set for June 29 but 3DHollywood.net was invited to do a walking tour Tuesday (June 8th) of the newest and biggest Soundstage 51 on the Universal lot that houses the attraction (370′ long x 100’ wide x 70′ tall) and chat with show producer Valerie Johnson-Redrow about the groundbreaking show, the latest first-of-its kind 3D attraction at the park that also features “Terminator 2: 3D” and “Shrek 4-D.”
(Story continues following the 78-second video below:)

The original King Kong attraction was one of the casualties of the massive four-acre fire of June 2008 that burned much of Universal Studios’ famous backlot. In a flash, the animatronic Kong with banana breath who terrorized New York’s skyline a few feet away from tram riders was gone.
But Johnson-Redrow, who previously developed theme park rides while at Walt Disney Imagineering, said that presented an opportunity to re-introduce King Kong in a much more technologically updated (digital) and immersive fashion, and one reflecting the most recent 2005 King Kong movie incarnation by filmmaker Peter Jackson.

In fact, Jackson was immediately on board to serve as creator of the theme park attraction that features all new film footage shot specifically for King Kong 360 3D for which effects were created by Jackson’s New Zealand-based Weta Digital. It’s the first Studio Tour stop that will require tram riders to put on polarized 3D glasses for a couple minutes, similar to the ones required to see a 3D movie in a theater.

“Our intention was to create an enormously spectacular and immersive 3-D experience and we’re pretty confident we’ve done that,” Jackson said in a statement, noting that the team believes the new attraction is “the largest, most intense 3-D experience on the planet.”

Jackson is the latest filmmaker to take a hands-on role in the creation of a theme park version of one of his movies, following in the footsteps of directors/producers such as James Cameron (”Terminator 2: 3D”), and George Lucas (”Star Tours” and “Indiana Jones Adventure”) and John Lassetter (”Cars Land,” etc.) at the Disney resorts.

Johnson-Redrow said Jackson was very engaged during the entire process on weekly phone calls and even choosing the scents of the jungle environment (but no bananas this time). The Universal production team even flew to New Zealand periodically to meet with Jackson in person.

“As a filmmaker, you’re hoping to have the audience step inside your movie and become part of the experience…to create the illusion of reality in a way that is much more tactile and profound than can be done in a cinema environment of a normal theatre. It’s only within a theme park attraction like this that you have the opportunity to do that,” said Jackson, who describes King Kong 360 3D as a kind of “mini-sequel or mini-continuation where King Kong and the dinosaur encounters another incident on Skull Island.”

In order to make the raptors and 35-foot tall creatures feel as real as possible, the digital production was shot at 60-frames per-second for more than double the visual clarity of typical 24 fps movies. That meant utilizing one terabyte of information and 90,000 frames of uncompressed media, roughly the equivalent of more than an hour of a 24-fps feature film film.

The movies are projected through 16 HiDef projectors, eight on each side, each emitting 30,000 lumens and simultaneously linked together with the image seamlessly connected.

In order to avoid having the light from the projector land on each of the opposing screens, producers positioned the banks of projectors above the screens so they project on a downward angle. The two seamless, compound curved screens are precisely curved—both in plan and in elevation—to maximize light return to the eye.

The nature of the 3D projection will allow every passenger to see essentially the same image, but each of the four tram cars that seat up to 48 passengers will get a slightly different experience thanks to the individualized compression systems underneath (as opposed to oil lubricated hydraulics are part of the effort to use “green” energy). For instance, when the 6,000 pound silverback gorilla and T-Rex appear to jump onto the canopy of one or two cars, those vehicles will be jostled separately from the others.

Bolstering the experience is a surround audio system consisting of 16 acoustic clusters, each equipped with 16 audio channels creating 108 decibels from 68 speakers, with audio effects by sound designer Brent Burge, who also created the voice of Kong in the Peter Jackson film.

While the giant new Soundstage 51 was being built over the past two years, a full-scale mock-up of the attraction had to be built and worked on in a giant soundstage 25-miles away in Playa Del Rey that was once a hangar used for the construction of Howard Hughes’ famous World War II-era Spruce Goose, according to Johnson-Redrow.

King Kong isn’t the only new element of the tram Studio Tour. An all-new four-acre backlot with New York building facades has been built to create new backdrops for TV producers and filmmakers, and each tram car has been updated with HiDef flat screens to allow the tour guide to show video clips pertaining to the ever-changing sets on the tour, including video comments by Jackson and other filmmakers.

– By Scott Hettrick

That means that more movies will offer the full 7.1 when they come to Blu-ray rather than 5.1 that is artificially sweetened.

Dolby technical marketing manager Stuart Bowling told a handful of journalists at a demo of the 7.1 Thursday at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theatre that producers until now have been limited to the six channels of sound that could be squeezed onto the soundtrack of celluloid film before bumping up against the sprocket holes.

(Story continues following the short video highlights below of the Dolby 7.1 “Toy Story 3″ demo.)

It’s the perfect timing for such an upgrade to enhance the expanded visual depth and perspective introduced with 3D, which Dolby also offers through its own proprietary system.

The additional sounds could be heard in several clips shown Thursday, including the first look at a scene from “Toy Story 3″ in which Ken sees Barbie for the first time. The most effective use of the new 7.1 was heard during the scene from a previous “Toy Story” movie in which the characters cross the street under orange red pylons, with the sounds of traffic and their own comments shifting perspective relative to their position on screen or as they are heard offscreen.

The same was true in a demo scene from “Up” where the dogs are chasing the old man in his balloon-flown gondola.

Pixar’s “Toy Story 3″ post-production supervisor Paul Cichocki said that the enhanced capabilities bring a new level of artistic challenges and opportunities to filmmakers. “TS3″ director Lee Unkrich was on stage at Skywalker Sound every day for six weeks of sound mixing to help determine where he wanted voices and sounds to come from, Cichocki said.

For studios, the new system will not be cheap during the transition process as they must spend an extra half-day in the recording studio creating a separate 5.1 soundtrack until all theaters are upgraded to 7.1, according to Disney’s senior vp of distribution, Gary Weaver. And that’s per language — Disney will multiply that cost 12x since they are releasing “TS3″ in 12 languages. But the superior quality of experience for the customer and the ancillary benefit to the Blu-ray experience make it worthwhile, he said.

Bowling said Walt Disney Pictures will also use Dolby’s 7.1 on upcoming 3D releases this year such as “Step Up 3″ in 3D and 2D.”

About 240 theaters have already converted to 7.1, according to Dolby vp worldwide production services David Gray, which is a minor and inexpensive upgrade for theaters already equipped with digital systems and Dolby’s Surround and EX systems. In fact, Dolby is offering a free upgrade

– By Scott Hettrick

In Taipei near Computex 2010 this week, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told an audience, “This is the beginning of the 3D PC revolution. It’s been 10 years since there’s been a revolutionary change in gaming graphics,” according to TG Daily.

The Santa Clara, Ca.-based company has recently been aligning with powerful players on all sides of the media such Panasonic (video) to promote playback of videogames on 3D TV displays, with Comcast and the PGA to provide live 3D streaming of the Masters Golf Tournament, and now an alignment with Microsoft’s Silverlight and Adobe to support 3D web streaming to PCs equipped with Nvidia 3D Vision, and with PC makers such as Asus which announced new two new 3D PCs at Computex this week– the GS1JX-EE notebook, and the all-in-one EeeTop PC (Acer, Dell, LG, Toshiba, and others also have 3D PCs with required 120Hz certified display, active shutter glasses and pre-installed drivers, which can be connected to a 3D TV via HDMI 1.4, starting at about $1,500), all to deliver 3D games, Blu-ray movies, photographs and more through Nvidia’s 3D Vision software (a $199 kit), as explained recently to 3DHollywood.net by Nvidia’s vp corporate marketing Rob Csongor in the following video:

There were so many differences of opinions in the Opening General Session and a few hours later at a 3D panel sponsored by iHollywood Forum that even top officials from the same company disagreed.

Story continues following first of two short video highlights below (this one of the show, exhibit floor, and Opening General Session):

Almost immediately after Warner Home Entertainment Group president Kevin Tsujihara finished painting a bright future for 3D movies on Video-On-Demand and Blu-ray, Time Warner Cable chairman, CEO, and president Glenn Britt pooh-poohed his optimism by suggesting that consumer electronics companies are pushing it on consumers when so far it has only been successful on “a couple of movies.”

Viacom president and CEO Phillipe Dauman endorsed Britt’s skepticism by saying consumers aren’t going to be ready to replace the HDTVs they only recently purchased with a new 3D TV for several years.

But Tsujihara challenged his fellow Time Warner exec and his competitor by noting that consumers are replacing their electronic devices much quicker these days than in years past.

Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav said all the programming on the family of Discovery networks looks far more realistic in HiDef, which is why seven of their domestic channels are now in HiDef, and will be even moreso in 3D. Discovery is also in preparations with partners IMAX and Sony to launch a 24/7 3D channel late this year or early 2011.

The opinions about 3D varied just as much at the evening iHollywood panel called “The Future of 3D for Cable and TV” at the Empress Pavillion in Chinatown packed with a couple hundred people.

Story continues below the following video highlight of the iHollywood Forum panel:

While DirecTV executive vp Steven Roberts and Panasonic CTO North America Eisuke Tsuyuzaki painted a rosy picture of a robust 3DTV future on the near-term horizon, Comcast Cable Senior Vice President & General Manager of Video and Entertainment Services Derek Harrar  said that 3DTV would only be successful in the near-term with big events, sports and movies. But he did note encouraging VOD test results of 3D even in old-school anaglyph format, reporting that 16% of the VOD customers ordered the 3D, which is not far off from the typical 20% or more who order programs in HiDef.

The iHollywood Group also debated the need for top quality 3D in full 1080p HiDef for both the left and right eye. Roberts said DirecTV will offer only one stream of full HiDef but he said current 3D conversion of 2D TV programming is not up to snuff and will not be delivered by DirecTV.
Harrar said Comcast will not hesitate to deliver lesser quality 3D since many viewers, specifically fans of slasher movies, he suggested, do not have high standards for video quality.

But Tsuyuzaki noted that Blu-ray Disc continues to set the bar for the highest quality of HiDef and soon 3D, and that videogamers will demand the highest-quality resolution so it will be important to a comparable standard of quality in all mediums.

In fact, the one thing most panelists seemed to agree on was that videogames will likely be a key driver of 3D TV sales in the near-term.

– By Scott Hettrick

TDV’s newly patented encoding technology creates far less eye strain for viewing 3D programming, especially in something as active as a video game, though the encoding process can be licensed and applied on any programming and is then ready to be delivered for any medium, from TV to Blu-ray to satellite to gaming platforms, etc.

Click below to play 2 1/2-minute video in which Schur describes TDV’s technology to 3DHollywood.net…
– By Scott Hettrick
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