[News]

News: emotionDV has upgraded to High Definition. Welcome to emotionHD!

[Kittihawk]

Well give them more depth!

Have a look at this 3D webcam - I saw a demo of it on Skype and it was great - only for PCs for now I think but surely Mac software available soon. Needs red green glasses though.


http://www.amazon.com/Minoru-3D-Webcam-Red-Chrome/dp/B001NXDGFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1265677821&sr=8-1-spell


The Fuji W1 digital stills 3D is an interesting new development  - no glasses required and I've seen it works well too. You need to be near the centre axis though and so not too good for cinema - might work well on the back of an aircraft seat where we currently each have a small LCD  (and we're sitting there on axis like chickens in a battery farm).

The W1's reviews are not so hot but if someone cracks the "3D without glasses" problem then we are into a whole new era and this forum could well be renamed Emotion3D. The W1 promises a hint of such technology.

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/3d/camera/finepix_real3dw1/


John

[FRANK]

I wish Fuji would show video demos. I always like Fuji. I tested there first Single8 movie film in this country. Still got the movie camera but no film.

[Martin]

Hit Google Frank. They're showing some great stuff. Here is a new 3D camera/video camera that is just released. It looks pretty cool.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/05/fujifilm-real-3d-camera-given-a-video-hands-on-by-fake-3d-journa/

[Tom Judd]

We're seeing a hyperactive advance in technology ladies and gentlemen.

Philip Bloom, the cinematographer from the UK whose videos and blogs I follow, has done three Hitler parody videos when new technology surrounding HD video DSLRs have been released... THREE in the last 12 months or so!

The latest is about the 550D (http://www.dpreview.com/previews/CanonEOS550D/) which basically does the same thing as my Canon 7D, but at half the price.

Now with the emergence of 3D video cameras in the consumer market... All I can see now is within 1-2 years, we will be viewing video content in 3D from our homes, and student films will embrace 3D as it did with HD a few years ago.

Video artists will love this as well.. imagine, not only being off your face on drugs, but the images actually appear real!

So where does this leave cinema in the next 10 years? Will consumers overtake the film industry because of access to these technologies? Nope... But the standard has been raised like when home video cameras were popularised in the 80's/90's.

What do I see happening?

The resolution of film has to continue to rise exponentially and we will be watching 4k movies at home in less than 5 years time. 3D will be as present as HD tv channels are now. Video cameras with the 3D ability will be everywhere, and while people will be dazzled by this feature at first, they will eventually go back to a focus on story-telling and characters. Tapes will be dead but eventually solid state cards will be replace with cards that are almost unlimited in storage (holographic).

I actually feel film will become synonymous with TV, and that serials will be streamed online and you can purchase downloads for movies to your TV (already happening, but at higher volume). Cinemas won't be dead, but people will often have friends over at their home theatres instead of going out.

Film distributors will consider releasing the latest films straight to home theatres for premieres, but there will be a backlash from cinemas, and they'll eventually come to a compromise by delaying home theatre released for about a month or two... before video stores get it, so they make more money between cinema - and - holodisc.

I should stop before my brain explodes. Oh and the world doesn't end in 2012, and the producers of the movie go into hiding, but not John Cusack because he's cool.

[Martin]

I'm going to go the other way and say that it will take much longer for 3D and 4K to come into homes. 3D will take 10-20 years to be in more than 10% of homes. 4K - nope, not unless it is incorporated in a 3D upgrade and if it is add another 10 years to the 3D. Keep in mind that the transition to HD is about mid stream here in the US, and we've been changing that for about 10 years. There will no always be cinema because we simply don't want people coming over that often. They said cinema wouldn't survive the VHS rental industry.

I hope you're right about the holographic storage though.

[Kittihawk]

Martin I think I'd agree with you but there are signs that the 'no hassle' 3D is about to come out where you don't have to wear glasses. The Fuju camera I mentioned already has it in a stills version. If such a system is made available for TV (at little extra cost) it will be in every home within five years (the average recycle time for TVs I believe). It is the age of "Killer Apps" as Bill Gates likes to say and it means that there can be sudden emerging trends at any time. This has always been true, as Alexander G. Bell might tell you if he was alive, only now these technological revolutions are much more frequent. By the way, as you can imagine, the first telephone was no use whatsoever!

Cinema is interesting because it reveals the need to just 'get out' (of the house) whatever domestic entertainment you have. We are social creatures.

I saw a T shirt today that said 'Internet Killed the Radio Star' - possibly, although it's a lingering death and it's probably more of a case of interbreeding rather than murder.

[Martin]

I saw a 3D system 2 years ago when I was at NAB. The difficulty inherent in these systems is eye fatigue. Because of how they do force your eyes to only see one image per eye there is just no getting away from it being fatiguing. In it's current technological formation I don't ever see it being used for anything over 30-45 minutes. I was quite strained after about 15 minutes, and that was not constant viewing and it was on a small screen. It was the most fascinating thing I saw there though.

[Kittihawk]

That's an interesting point I hadn't thought of and I certainly felt that at an IMAX 3D I went to after just a few minutes. Avatar and Alice are both released in 3D of course but maybe a passing fad.

[Martin]

Ok so I'm wrong.

Panasonic announced that it is going to have 3D TVs on sale tomorrow at Best buy.

So I only missed that one by a decade.

[FRANK]

I say bring it all on. As long as people have the cash all these companies with new equipment will benefit.
The day will come when we will have robot wife's. In Japan they have housecleaners and front of house butlers in that mode.
Just think we could have 3 to 4 robot wife's and only to pay electric bill or battery. 3D has been around a long time but we are now at the stage of us using it. As before it was only a gimmick toy for the big boys.

[Kittihawk]

And presumably robot wives would have robot husbands. Do you think they would argue with each other in the car over who reads the map (or who has the GPS control)?

Well I saw Avatar in 3D the other day and I thought:

1) My eyes are OK it's not hurting after all (I was in a panic after Martin's post). Actually people are researching the eye strain issue too so I think it looks folks as if we are going to be in the 3D for good. E.g. on eye strain see:  http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800599494_480700_NT_c46191eb.HTM or see also this:
2) It was the best immersive experience since sliced bread (which is not an immersive experience but you know what I mean)
3) The Pace/Cameron 3D system was pretty good - better than I expected but really the star was Weta Digital with their truly wonderful creatures and animations - the render technology has got so good. No wonder they got loads of Oscars for their craft.
4) I am glad however that Kath Bigalow got the best director award for Hurt Locker. That must have been truly sweet for her (and not for Cameron who was probably, I totally speculate, a robot husband).

[Martin]

I was speaking specifically of 3D images viewed without glasses. I didn't have any eye strain at all after 3 hours without blinking during Avatar.

I even commented on the way out of the theatre that I had became so accustomed to the 3D visual effect during the movie that I felt like I was still seeing in 3D even after I took the glasses off.

[Kittihawk]

Yes I've noticed that effect too - except when I talk with tax inspectors who seem strangely one dimensional.