P3D Re: The Bubble DVD

[Tony Alderson <aifxtony@xxxxxxx>]

Roland Lataille wrote:
>I don't know why Rhino and other companies come out with 3-D movies on >video tape, laser disc or DVD using anaglyph. Well, I do know why - >anyone can watch them with the glasses provided. But, the 3-D is bad >and it just gives 3-D a bad name. Don't they know that the Field >Sequentiel method is the only way to see the best 3-D on TV? <

Until shutter glasses get under about $40 each (less would be better),
you won't see much acceptance of this format. Not enough people will be
willing to spend that much for 3D. Maybe they "ought" but they won't.
Until there is the potential for deep market pentration, capitalists
won't be interested. I'm not say profits can't be made now, just the
potential profits are too small and the real risks too great. As for
giving 3D a bad name, almost no marketeers care about that at all.
They're in it for the money, not the art or humanity. That's almost like
saying porno gives sex a bad name, or cancer gives tobacco a bad name.
Don't matter at all. Yeah, I know, this means one of us will have to
take the risk, prove the concept, and then get ripped off by some mega
corporation. It's a dang shame too.

Steve Carter wrote: (about watching "the Bubble" on anaglyph DVD):
>I saw it on my 17" Radius computer monitor set at 1280X1025, 85Hz. >Apple DVD player. I am not able to watch it on my TV so I can't >compare.<

This is not encouraging news.

Steve continues:
>I wonder why the anaglyphs that I make, (thanks to Tony's instructions >on his web page) as well those of others I've seen on the web, look >pretty good on my computer screen, yet so much of this movie was bad.<

Well, I don't know yet, but I'm gonna figure it out. Maybe it's the
color space. If DVD is NTSC TV, we have a serious problem. If the format
is more flexible than that, there is still hope. Maybe it's the degree
of MPEG compression, which may be a serious problem, if that degree of
compression is necessary to acheive the data rate.

It's not easy to convert a stereo image created for one format into
another--the parameters of stereography are determined by the way the
image is viewed. "The Bubble" was well photographed for its intended
display of polarized theatrical film projection--I've seen it more than
once, and I have one of the Stereovision over/under VHS tapes (There was
a misguided effort: You wear polarized prismatic glasses AND you have to
mount a polarizer on your TV! But the release was aimed at 3D nuts...)
But if DVD anaglyph is marginal, then some scenes will be very difficult
to compromise into the new format. I gotta see some of these DVDs.
Hopefully someone in the SCSC Movie Division will spring for 'em and
treat me to a screening; I can't afford it right now.

We just had an interesting discussion on the reasons for bad anaglyph on
NTSC broadcast and VHS in the SCSC list. I'll try to rewrite and
summarize the discussion for this list. But I gotta do the dishes and
vacuum first...

Tony Alderson