3D@Home Consortium Releases Requirements for Digital 3D to the Home

Creates Common Terminology and Databases to Ease Industry Communication and Cooperation

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The 3D@Home Consortium announced today the completion and transmittal of key documents to be used in the creation of digital 3D standards by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) working groups. The document ST2-01 3D Digital Interface Requirements enables the standards committees to have input from the wide cross-section of the industry which 3D@Home represents. The documents ST4-03 3D Active Shutter Glasses Database” and ST4-04 3D Passive Glasses Database assist the standards committees in understanding the range of products that will be interacting with the 3D systems. Both documents were requested by CEA working groups as part of their discovery process before working on the technical details of the standards.

3D@Home maintains liaison with the CEA working groups as part of its charter to speed the commercialization of 3D technology for the home. As such, 3D@Home provides its members, representing a diverse group of companies involved in 3D, a forum for discussing technological and market developments. 3D@Home has four primary Steering Teams that address specific parts of the supply chain.

“CEA welcomes the submission of the documents from the 3D@Home Consortium. Having digital interface requirements and a glasses database will help CEA as it considers extension of its CEA-861 interface standard and creation of new standards and recommended practices for stereoscopic eyeware interface & control”, remarks Mark Stockfisch, chair of 3D Task Force and co-chair of the 3D Technologies & Uncompressed A/V Digital Interface work groups at CEA.

The document 3D Digital Interface Requirements, created by Steering Team 2 – 3D Distribution, Storage and Transmission, contains requirements for functions and features of the digital interface for 3D video data between source devices such as set-top boxes, media players, portable computers, desktop computers, and sink devices such as 3D TVs and monitors. The document is focused on non-anaglyph 3D content as 2D interfaces are sufficient for anaglyph 3D.

“3D@Home is in a unique position to influence the development of industry standards,” noted Jae-Seung Kim, Samsung Electronics and chair of ST2. “The members of 3D@Home will be directly impacted by the creation of the CEA Working Group standards. By getting this requirements document at this point in the process, it will help CEA to recognize the needs of a broad spectrum of the industry.”

The members of Steering Team 4-3D Display Technology began developing a database of 3D active and passive glasses at the request of CEA. As an important peripheral in 3D viewing, the glasses must be taken into consideration when defining standards for interoperability and interface between devices. Through a careful vetting process of a confusing landscape of rebranded and obsolete products, a database of the primary manufacturers was developed along with key specs and pricing data where available.

“This was a team effort that resulted in a good first step in CEA’s efforts to understand how 3D glasses may be used in the home,” noted Chris Chinnock, Chairman of ST4. “Developing a standard for 3D glasses will be challenging, but something that is desirable to help with compatibility issues. We will continue to work with CEA to support their standardization effort by providing information and recommendations from the experts who are members of the 3D@Home Consortium.”