It’s been talked about for some time, but the Blu-ray Disc Association has finally announced its official specification for Blu-ray 3D. The announcement means that all hardware produced next year will need to meet the spec to be officially classed as a ‘Blu-ray 3D’ product.
The BDA’s specifications include Full HD 1080p resolution for each eye and the ability to will work with any compatible 3D display. There’s also a stipulation that Blu-ray 3D discs must be back-compatible with existing Blu-ray players, LCD and plasma screens as well as any 3D-compatble display technologies.
This includes both 3D methods which involve the use of glasses, and also those future types which don’t, some of which have already been demoed by manufacturers.
The BDA says the new specification is “display agnostic”, offering as wide an assimilation range as possible, and points out that that it will also be compatible with PlayStation 3 games consoles. Existing 2D discs will also need to be compatible with upcoming 3D players and future Blu-ray 3D discs will need to be viewable in 2D on existing Blu-ray players.
To quote the tech specs: The Blu-ray 3D specification calls for encoding 3D video using the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec, an extension to the ITU-T H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) codec currently supported by all Blu-ray Disc players. MPEG4-MVC compresses both left and right eye views with a typical 50% overhead compared to equivalent 2D content, and can provide full 1080p resolution backward compatibility with current 2D Blu-ray Disc players.
The specification also incorporates enhanced graphic features for 3D. These features provide a new experience for users, enabling navigation using 3D graphic menus and displaying 3D subtitles positioned in 3D video.
Victor Matsuda, chairman of the BDA’s Global Promotions Committee, said: “We think the broad and rapid acceptance Blu-ray Disc already enjoys with consumers will be a factor in accelerating the uptake of 3D in the home. In the meantime, existing players and libraries can continue to be fully enjoyed as consumers consider extending into 3D home entertainment.”