If holographic television were available today, would you go right out and buy it?
We’re more than four years into the widespread availability of affordable consumer 3D television and the viewing public hasn’t embraced it yet. My best guess is simply because they haven’t seen it yet, or they are basing their lack of interest on a poor viewing experience with 3D in a public theater. At borg.com, we’ve got no skin in the game–we don’t work for or with the studios–we’re just after the best viewing experience possible. And we’re completely sold on both 3D Blu-ray and the lesser discussed 2D/3D “upconversion” technology.
Distributors have been relatively slow at releasing 3D Blu-rays, the current standard for 3D home viewing. Many films actually produced in 3D, like Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit series, are very quickly released now in a 3D Blu-ray. Other films are converted to 3D in post-production, like Star Trek Into Darkness, and they are also released on 3D Blu-ray. Both films look far superior to standard films–you can’t even compare the quality. The distinctions between a true 3D film and a conversion are probably not all that noticeable to the average moviegoer with normal vision. But what we’re focusing on today is something different.
A different category of conversion, called 2D/3D conversion, is available on certain affordable 3D televisions today. This is a technology available to anyone with a 3D television that includes the upconvert technology and compatible 3D glasses. For films, TV series, or even real-time live or pre-recorded television, this technology manipulates the images to create a real 3D experience for the viewer. Sounds like a gimmick? It’s not. To test it, we tried 2D/3D upconverting on an episode of each of Star Trek, the original series, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. The result? We were blown away. We think if you try it, you too will ask: Why don’t we watch everything now in 3D, and why isn’t everyone talking about it?
If you’re waiting around for holographic TV, that’s pretty much what you’re getting here, too. You can even get up and walk around without the 3D image going away. The only thing you can’t do is walk completely around a floating object, which is what a true holographic TV experience should be. But this is the next best thing. We watched two acclaimed, classic Star Trek episodes, the original series episode “The Naked Time” and the NextGen series episode “Darmok” using a 3D television
, a Blu-ray/DVD player
and, for “The Naked Time” a remastered DVD
version, and for “Darmok,” a remastered Blu-ray
version. We then applied the 3D television’s upconvert and easily adjusted the various 3D settings, such as “Standard” or “Cinema” or “Extreme,” tint, and brightness/backlighting, to create the best picture possible for the room lighting.
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