960p 3-D

21st Century 3D (www.21stcentury3d.com) has developed a 3-D video system dubbed "960p," which uses two standard definition 480p cameras. The system has already been used for one high-end corporate project.

Other video-based 3-D systems use a process called field sequential encoding. Basically, electronic LCD glasses have built-in shutters that alternate between each eye 60 times per second. The advantage is that the viewing material can be played from a single source on a regular television. The problem is that each eye only sees one of the two interlaced fields, which reduces the resolution of the image. In addition, the left and right eye never view the screen at the same time, and this process creates a temporal artifact that can be disturbing to viewers.

In contrast, the 960p system allows each eye to see 60 full fields per second: 30 frames from the "left eye" camera footage and 30 from the "right eye" camera footage. Both image channels are synced and projected together onto one screen. Viewers use clear polarizing glasses (like the ones used in 3-D motion rides at many theme parks) that have the same polarizing characteristics as the filters placed in front of the projectors. The result is 3-D imagery without the limitations of electronic shuttered glasses or the red and blue glasses many people associate with early 3-D.