By: Edward Jackson (Senior Editor)

Well as you know that back in February 8, 2010 we covered Panasonic with their new 3D TV the TC-PVT25 Series, and now Panasonic has kicked the bar into the stratosphere with the NEW TH-152UX1.

Panasonic Launches Full Suite of Large Format Full HD 3D Plasma Displays

85″, 103″ and 152” World’s Largest Plasma All Available by January 2011!

Panasonic Solutions Company, provider of collaboration, information-sharing and decision-support solutions for government and commercial enterprises, today marked the formal introduction of the highly anticipated Panasonic TH-152UX1 152-inch, 4K x 2K (4096 x 2160 OMG!) resolution Full HD 3D plasma display, the world’s largest, at InfoComm. Equivalent to nine 50-inch screens, this stunning 17:9 display will immerse spectators in life-like, three-dimensional images and can illustrate even oversized products with life-size views. Panasonic Solutions Company is also announcing the TH-103VX200U and TH-85VX200U, 3D versions of its premium 103-inch and 85-inch plasma displays. These products will ship in December 2010, at suggested list prices of $65,000 and $45,000, respectively. The TH-152UX1 is targeted to be available in January 2011.

Ideal for a broad spectrum of cutting-edge applications, the three new Full HD 3D large-format plasmas are designed for utilization in corporate environments (e.g., for 3D CAD proposals, where life-sized 3D simulations could improve design accuracy and flexibility) in commercial applications (e.g., car showrooms or real estate offices for virtual-reality customer demos) healthcare (where the ultra-large panels and Full-HD display performance could be used to supply high-level medical solutions in advanced healthcare environments and teaching hospitals) in home theatres and screening rooms, for digital signage in public facilities, in education and in entertainment staging.

Several breakthrough technologies enable the 3D displays Full-HD images and even improve 2D performance. Panasonic’s 3D ultra high-speed drive technology and new motion prediction technology eliminate crosstalk (ghosting) between left and right images to produce super fine crisp images, and facilitate an overwhelming, near-infinite contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, around twice the tone gradation of conventional models, as well as excellent color reproduction. A 30-bit Color Processing Engine provides super-accurate color reproduction and a color management system that features high-precision pixel conversion and color signal-processing technology, high definition broadcast-compliant color reproduction, and professional picture quality adjustment that allows the displays to be set up to suit their viewing environments perfectly. The result is studio monitor-like performance with reproduction of the detail and texture of the original images with near perfection.

The three displays also incorporate video processing technology to allow for the crisp, smooth playback of images originally recorded in 24p, such as movies recorded on film. This raises the video reproduction performance of the plasma display panels allowing for true-to-life reproduction of colorful, high-precision content in either 3D or 2D. Addressing diverse customer needs, the displays have been outfitted with a SLOT 2.0 function whereby different terminal boards may be inserted, providing compatibility with interfaces such as DVI and HD-SDI, and facilitating use in a wide array of professional operating environments.

Panasonic Leadership in 3D

At the forefront of 3D technology, Panasonic markets Full HD 3D plasma televisions, Blu-ray 3D players, and is also contributing to the production and spread of 3D content. The company has launched a twin-lens professional 3D camcorder which will be available in September, and has already opened the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory Advanced Authoring Center for the authoring and recording of 3D movies onto Blu-ray Discs. On June 3, Panasonic established the Panasonic 3D Innovation Center, a contact point for customers working in the 3D business. The professional 3D business has seen growing demand for a wide range of 3D system solutions to meet the needs of the customers as fully as possible. Panasonic will use this Center to develop closer relationships with customers, and will offer total solutions with even more compelling 3D technologies and services.

Panasonic aims to accelerate 3D-based innovation within global professional markets, so that the company may lead a 3D industry revolution by creating new home viewing environments and a new video industry based around 3D plasma displays. For more information on Panasonic professional plasma displays, please visit http://www.panasonic.com/proplasma/

The Details Behind 3D TV

Far be it from us to stay away from the latest juicy new idea in home theater technology, 3D.  It’s been all over the news and the blogs for a while, recently culminating with a huge display at CES.  Whether or not the technology actually catches on is a discussion for a different day.  Today we’re going to talk about the technology behind it.

The human eye is an amazing thing.  Put two of them working together and things really come into focus (pardon the pun).  The truth is that your brain uses the fact that each eye sees the world from a slightly different angle to create depth perception.  This whole “two images at once from slightly different angles” concept is the basis behind 3D technology.

There are many different approaches to 3D.  We’ll do our best to cover the big 4.

Anaglyphic 3D

Everyone remembers stopping by 7-11 to pick up your red and blue cardboard glasses so you could watch Elvira Mistress of the Dark in 3D.  Be honest, you watched it.  In the red and blue system, two images are displayed on the screen simultaneously, one in red and the other in blue.

The glasses filter the image so that each eye only sees one of them.  Your brain fills in the gaps and creates a 3D image.  Viola, Elvira in your living room!  This method sacrifices allot of quality in the image because it’s actually using color to create the separation.  But the benefit is that any color display can use it to create a 3D experience.

More information on Anaglyphic 3D

Polarized 3D

This is the technology that has become all the rage.  Every demo we saw at CES from the major manufactures was a polarized 3D implementation.  It comes in two main flavors, active glasses and passive glasses.

Passive Polarized 3D

If you’ve seen a movie in RealD, sometimes simply marketed as Digital 3D, you’ve seen a Passive Polarized 3D movie.  In these glasses, the lenses have a reverse polarization, one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.  Alternating frames of the movie also alternate polarization, so that each frame is only seen by one eye.  The frames change so quickly your brain can convert them into a 3D image.

This method provides really cheap glasses, but in addition to a new 3D capable projector, it also requires a special screen.  The screen must be able to preserve the polarization of the light source.  For home viewing on a flat panel, this shouldn’t be an issue.  But if you want to build your own 3D front projection theater, you’ll need to keep it in mind.

More info on Polarized 3D (RealD 3D)

Active Polarized 3D

Dolby 3D, and most of the demos we saw at CES, use an active polarized 3D technology.  In this version, the glasses do all the work.  They work like shutters, opening and closing alternating lenses in sync with the refresh rate of the screen.  Of course this requires the screen refresh at least twice as fast as normal (120 Hz) so that each eye gets the full progressive video (60 fps).

The glasses are based on LCD technology and open and close when voltage is applied just like the pixels on an LCD TV.  They require power (batteries) and must run in perfect sync with the display.  That’s what makes them so darn expensive.  And what will probably make them difficult to interchange should you and a friend have 3D TVs from different manufacturers.

More info on Active shutter glasses

Lenticular 3D

This is the technology that many think will need to be perfected before 3D TV will really take off.  It doesn’t require any glasses.  Instead, the TV itself incorporates a special lens that can send different information to each eye.  The obvious problem with current implementations is that you have to be in just the right spot, the sweet spot, to see the 3D effect.  Wander anywhere off angle and the 3D either disappears or the screen gets really blurry and distorted.

Big Thanks to our friends over at dMworks for the usage of this stunning ad.