M+E Daily
Blu-ray Disc Association Finalizes 3D Spec, Eyes 2010 Release
Story Highlights
Consumers could be watching Blu-ray movies in 3D next year with the Blu-ray Disc Association’s completion of 3D specifications for the format, announced today.
The Blu-ray 3D specification purports to maintain the format’s high-definition 1080p resolution, and is compatible with the range of 3D displays expected to hit the market beginning next year. The spec is also designed to work with PlayStation 3 game consoles, for which Sony Computer Entertainment plans to release a 3D firmware upgrade next year.
Additionally, the specification supports playback of 2D discs in forthcoming 3D players, and can enable 2D playback of Blu-ray 3D discs on the current installed base of Blu-ray Disc players.
Authoring facilities will use the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec, an extension of the ITU-T H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) codec currently supported by all Blu-ray Disc players, to encode the 3D video. The specification also incorporates enhanced graphic features for 3D, enabling navigation using 3D graphic menus and displaying 3D subtitles positioned in 3D video.
