Passive Glasses for 3DTVs

Oakley recently announced their circular polarized “passive” 3D glasses called 3D Gascans, which can be used to watch movies in the RealD (polarized) format (now available in movie theaters). Soon you may be able to use passive glasses to watch movies and TV shows on passive 3D-capable LG or Vizio HDTVs.3D Glasses Format WarCompanies are beginning to take sides: active shutter or passive glasses. Samsung, Sony and Nvidia have all settled on active shutter glasses while LG and Vizio are about to introduce 3DTVs that use passive glasses. Different 3D ExperienceActive shutter glasses require batteries and use an IR beam from the TV to synchronize LCD shutters in the glasses to create one 3D image from two alternating frames. Passive glasses don’t need batteries. The ones from RealD, commonly used in movie theaters, use circular polarizing filters to send different images to each eye.Typically, 3DTVs using active shutter glasses take half-resolution frames and add the missing pixels, displaying Full HD resolution frames (when available). Passive TVs add the missing horizontal pixels if necessary but will only display half the vertical pixels. Whenever you remove half of the original pixels you're going to lose some image quality. To be fair, some experts maintain that your brain will compensate for the missing pixels and you'll never notice any difference. The Cost FactorDespite the fact that Oakley is charging over $100 for their Gascan glasses, passive glasses will most likely cost below $50. You should even be able to clean them in a dishwasher. Cheaper glasses mean less cost to equip a family or group of viewers and it would be less costly when someone accidentally sits on a pair. Passive 3DTV sets like those coming from Vizio and LG require a micro-polarizing filter precisely embedded in the screen, which could add cost to the LCD or Plasma HDTV, at least at first.Read the full article here.