8 Myths About 3D
By Stephen Hopkins
We debunk some old and modern misconceptions about 3D.

If there’s one thing new technology breeds, it’s misconceptions, incorrect facts, and myths. Rarely has an AV technology done so as thoroughly as 3D.

With help from the 3-D Film Preservation Fund and the 3D TV Buying Guide, we’re going to dispel some myths about 3D.

Some of these date back to the 1950s and some are as new as the latest LED lit LCD TV with fancy active-shutter glasses.

3D films of the ‘50s were viewed using anaglyph (red/blue or red/green) glasses - This is one that, until recently, had me fooled as well. An extremely small number of films from early 1953 were presented in anaglyph, while the vast majority were presented using polarized light and polarized glasses. Anaglyph was made memorable by 3D comics of the same era and has been mis-associated with 3D films of the era ever since.

2010 LCDs and plasmas are the first home 3DTV models - Mitsubishi has had “3D Ready” DLP displays available since 2007. While not immediately compatible with the new HDMI 1.4 and Blu-ray 3D specs, an adapter will be available soon. Some 2008 Samsung DLP displays use the same “3D Ready” technology.

3D films have to be shot separately in 2D - Since the 3D effect is created using a pair of 2D images spaced to simulate the distance between the left and right eyes, simply using one of the two image streams can create a “flat” 2D print or transfer.

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