Panasonic makes a move for 3D Blu-ray

It is widely known that the future of Blu-ray is in 3D and a feasible idea for this was shown by Panasonic at the CEATEC show in Japan although it was pre-production.  However they have now made a bid to be king of this future market with a proposal to the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) regarding a way of producing two way (left and right eye) full High Definition discs.

The BDA hopes to begin discussions on this proposal by the end of this year with an aim of finalizing plans and commercializing by 2010.  This is an important and greatly beneficial step for Panasonic as it will allow them to avoid any format war, which will be good not just for the company but also for the general public who will be spared the worry of buying the wrong format.

This early start is a result of an increase in activity within companies trying to be the first to get a standard format, helped in part by the expansion of film studios with the aim of being ready to incorporate future 3D filming seamlessly.  Obviously, the film studios will see this as a great step forward, which will mean they do not have to pick sides and run the risk of losing millions of dollars in wasted equipment.

In fact, Hollywood is already starting to embrace 3D again (although obviously not Panasonic’s proposed standard) with James Cameron’s Avatar set to be released in 2009 and Disney/Pixar is currently in the process of implementing 3D technology.  Taking this into account, Panasonic has done incredibly well to get in there first.

Fortunately for current (or future) Blu-ray player owners, the format shouldn’t need any new players and should play perfectly fine on current TVs and Blu-ray players.  In fact, all you will need is a new HDMI cable (we can certainly anticipate that this will be an expensive cable) but still nothing in comparison to Blu-ray players.  You can also anticipate that the studios will try and get the most out of this as possible with prices being higher than current Blu-ray discs.

This will be a big push forward in this area of technology and the proposal has come surprisingly quick showing that companies can learn from past mistakes.  Hopefully it wont be long until we can have HD-3D (that sounds good doesn’t it?!) in our homes.

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