CEA to Consider Standards for 3D Video

The US Consumer Electronics Association is forming a discussion group to look at standards for the delivery and presentation of 3D video to the home. The first meeting of the '3D Video Discovery Group' will take place at the association's Technology & Standards Fall Forum held in conjunction with the CEA Industry Forum, Oct. 22 at the Mandalay Bay and Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, from 10 a.m. to noon.

CEA's announcement comes on the heels of a similar announcement from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, who plan to hold a confab on Aug. 19 in Los Angeles to develop a standard in the production of 3D video. The organization, which is a standards setting body for audio-video production, plans to announce its strategy within six months.

An industry standard for the delivery and presentation of 3D video to the home could help accelerate the market for 3D video use and prevent potential interoperability problems, according to CEA.

"Currently movies are being produced and shown in 3D in cinemas with advances in digital cinema improving the experience," said Brian Markwalter, CEA vice president, Technology & Standards. "Pre-packaged content and games have the storage and processing power to deliver 3D video and televisions are available today that can render 3D content. Standards ensuring 3D content is usable to the maximum extent by consumers will benefit the industry."

Samsung and Mitsubishi are selling "3D-ready" HDTV sets using DLP technology from Texas Instruments. IBM, Philips and LG Electronics are also involved in developing the technology.