Most common 3D TV Formats explained

The picture presented here depicts the main 3D TV formats in use today. We
discuss each of these formats in detail below.

This diagram depicts how these different 3D TV formats store the left and right subframe images; these are then processed so that irrespective of the way the information
is stored in the 3D content frame, the final presentation would be a full size image for
the left eye and a full size image for the right eye.
Picture credit: Cineramax Next Gen 4-D Cinema Systems

Side-by-Side 3D
We have already noted that DirecTV and PlayStation 3D TV formats are not full
resolution 3D formats. DirecTV uses a 3D TV format referred to as Side-by-Side
3D where the horizontal resolution of the HD image is reduced by half in order to
store the left eye and right eye images on a single frame. This means that the
left-eye sub-frame and the right eye sub-frame are stacked side by side, as
implied by this format name itself.

To display Side-by-Side 3D, a 3D TV will have to split the frame into its left and
right sub-frames; these sub-frames are then up-scaled to the set native screen
resolution and displayed in a Frame Sequential manner - a process also referred
to as page flipping - to achieve the 3D effect.
The most common Side-by-Side 3D TV format is the Side-by-Side Half where
each sub-frame occupies just half the horizontal resolution of a full HD frame,
resulting in a 3D image with 960pixels by 1080 lines instead of the 19201080
required for full 1080p content. This simplifies the electronics while making it
compatible with HDMI 1.3 devices.
It is interesting to note that Side-by-Side 3D may also be used to stack two full
1080p frames in a side-by-side fashion, thus delivering full HD 3D; this requires
HDMI 1.4. However, it is not a mandatory for HDMI 1.4 devices to carry full
1080p HD sub-frames in Side-by-Side 3D format.

Top-Bottom 3D
Another reduced resolution 3D TV format is the Top-Bottom 3D used by Sony's
PlayStation 3; this format is also at times referred to as Over-Under 3D format.
In concept, this is very similar to the Side-by-Side 3D but with the Top-Bottom 3D
format, it is the vertical resolution that is reduced by half as the images for the
left and right eye are stored on top of each other in a single frame, hence this
format name.
As with the Side-by-Side 3D, it is the 3D processor inside the 3D TV that will
expand the corresponding half frame image into a full-size image for each eye
in accordance with the native resolution of the HDTV.
How the actual half frame in both the Side-by-Side and in the Top-Bottom 3DTV
formats is expanded into a full size image to cover the entire screen area, may
differ between different TV makers. But systems may either work out the missing
pixel data, like when upscaling image resolution to display a lower resolution
image at the HDTV native screen resolution, or simply fill in adjacent blank lines
in the case of top/bottom 3D systems and alternative pixels in the case of sideby-side 3D images.
In other words, with these formats, the displayed images will still be field
sequential but the 3D enjoyed in this manner will be of a lower resolution than
that possible with Full HD 3D TV. Again, this is practically the same as with
passive 3D glasses TV systems. Despite the lower resolution, the resultant 3D
image will still look great on the average size screen, though some image
softness will start to become noticeable as one moves towards 55-inch screen
sizes and above.
Reduced resolution Top-Bottom 3D is compatible with HDMI 1.3 and is supported
under the HDMI 1.4 specifications. It is a popular choice for displaying sports in
3D at 720p 60fps.

As with Side-by-Side, lossless Full HD 1080p 3D using Top-Bottom frame stacking

requires HDMI 1.4. This Top-Bottom stacking is also the standard format of
stacking the Full HD high definition 3D standard for 3D-enabled Blu-ray players.

Blu-ray 3D, also known as Full High Definition 3D (FHD3D Format)

As indicated above, Blu ray 3D, or FHD3D, supports full 1080p content at
source. This means that the images intended for the left and right eye are already
at 1920x1080 pixel resolution at source. These images are then displayed in the
usual field sequential order to render the effect of a 3-dimensional image.
This is the only loss-less 3D TV format that provides true HD. Each full HD subframe for each eye is stacked using the Top-and-Bottom 3D format. This format
requires HDMI 1.4 and is incompatible with HDMI 1.3 devices since these cannot
handle the extra bandwidth required to support a 3D frame containing two
stacked full 1080p HD sub-frames.
One important difference between this Blu-ray 3D format and the lower resolution
3D formats is that FHD3D uses a process referred to as 'Frame Packing' to build
up the combined loss-less single 3D frame from the two full HD sub-frames. This
means that Frame Packing is used only with full resolution Top-Bottom and Sideby-Side 3D formats without any halving of the vertical or horizontal
resolution of individual sub-frames in each format respectively.
Instead, lower resolution 3D TV formats use a process known as 'Frame
Compatible' to build the 3D frame from the two lower resolution sub-frames. In
the case of Frame Compatible 3D content, the net resolution and size of a given
3D frame is the same as a single frame of regular 2D HD content, thus making it
compatible with regular 2D HD. This compatibility is achieved by halving the net
resolution for each sub-frame, either by halving the pixels in each horizontal line
or by halving the number of vertical lines.

Checkerboard 3D Format
One 3D TV format we did not refer to above is the checkerboard format used in
DLP HDTVs. Some may think that DLP rear projection TV technology is dead, but
if you were thinking so, you are in for a surprise! Just check our latest rear
projection TV review update for 2012 to see why.

3D DLP Checkerboard Format Explained

Video clip Courtesy: Mitsubishi Electric

3D DLP TVs and 3D Digital cinema systems use a format based on checkerboard
technology, which in itself is a by-product of the wobulation process used by DLP
HDTVs to build up the 1080p image from the 960x1080 pixel Texas Instrument
Digital Micro-Mirror Device (DMD). This uses a small optical actuator to offset
(wobulate) the 960x1080 pixel image by pixel 120 times a second, generating
120 sub-frames/s to create a full 1080p 60Hz image.
This half-pixel displacement not only helps soften the pixel edges for a seamless
more film-like image with no visible pixel structure as instead is the case with
large plasma and LCD TVs, but also renders itself ideal for the implementation of
high quality 3D imaging on DLP RPTVs through the use of the 3D checkerboard
format.
This 3D TV format is used to pack the left and right images into one frame, with
one sub-frame of the DLP image containing the right image and the other subframe containing the left image. Unlike other 3D formats, this is a 'static' format implying there is no need for page-flipping. Instead, the two views are overlaid
and appear as a left and right checkerboard pattern to form a single 3D image as
further explained in the short video clip above.
The resultant 3D image is at half the resolution supported by the 1080p HDTV
format in a similar manner to 1080p 3D TVs using passive 3D glasses technology.
However, the use of wobulation/checkerboard technologies to implement 3D in
DLP displays helps render superior 3D images that are virtually free from 3D
image crosstalk and closer to what one enjoys in 3D movie theaters.
The checkerboard DLP 3D TV format requires active shutter glasses, with the
shutter glasses using a special synchronization protocol called DLP Link,
developed by Texas Instruments.

3D TV Formats and 3D Glasses

The three 3D TV formats referred to above are not the only 3D TV imaging
formats in use today. It is interesting however that all 3D TV systems in the home
use some form of 3D glasses for the viewer to be able to see the two 2D images

displayed by the 3D TV as a single 3D image. The type of 3D glasses to use

depends on the 3D technology itself.
For example, in the past, we have seen two-color Anaglyphic 3Dviewed
using anaglyph 3D glasses; these have two differently tinted lenses, often one in
red and the other in cyan, though other anaglyphic 3D system come in either
green and magenta, or yellow and blue. These 2-colored 3D glasses are used to
combine two color-modified images - which when seen through the color
correcting glasses, would supposedly produce a 3D image in the correct color.
The result is inevitably a somewhat discolored 3D image than that supported by
the latest 3D TV technology using the field-sequential 3D TV formats.

The latest 3D formats use either active or passive 3D glasses technology. Active
3D glasses technology makes use of the more expensive active 3D shutter LCD
glasses; these work by synchronizing the LCD 'shutter' on the 3D glasses with
the image displayed on the screen - thus allowing each eye to see only the image
it is intended to see. Active glasses 3D systems support the full 1080p 3D
resolution but the glasses are somewhat less comfortable in use than passive
glasses systems.
Passive 3D glasses systems use circular-polarized glasses to separate the two
sub-frames being shown on the TV screen at the same time; another polarized
filter is placed in front of the TV screen. The screen filter is invisible to the viewer
but when you look at the screen through the polarized 3D glasses, the screen
filter ensures that each eye sees alternate lines on the displayed image, thus
creating a separate image (sub-frame) for each eye. This means these systems
do not rely on field sequential as active shutter glasses 3D technology; in
addition, displaying the two sub-frames at the same time on the screen means
that passive glasses 3D systems have to cut the Full HD 3D resolution by half.
However, passive 3D glasses are more comfortable and much less expensive than
active shutter 3D glasses.

What about no-glasses 3D TV Technology?

We said that all present 3D TV formats use glasses; currently, there is no mass
market technology for 3D in the home that lets a TV displays 3D content without
glasses. However, we have been seeing no-glasses 3D TV prototypes since
CES2009. In particular, the prototype presented by Toshiba during CES2012 did
achieve impressive results even though work is still necessary to perfect this
technology.
These systems use an autostereoscopic display, where the image is doubled up so
each eye perceives a slightly different view, and you get an illusion of depth
perception without the need of 3D glasses.
These displays are extremely expensive to produce and have their downside as
well. To view these displays, viewers have to stand at one of several points in the
viewing areaotherwise the image will look doubled up and blurred. The Toshiba

no-glasses 3D HDTV presented during this year CES did support up to nine such
different viewers positions.
This is a major limitation with 3D TV viewing at home even though the larger
number of viewing positions with the latest prototypes significantly reduces the
problem. As with most autostereoscopic displays, the Toshiba 3D prototype
incorporates a camera in the display to track the viewer's head and adjust the
image parallax accordingly so that the viewer can sit anywhere. But once it locks
on a viewer, the other persons in the room will have to stay at specific positions
within the viewing area to be able to see the 3D image.
These systems are still not ready for the mass market but it is encouraging to see
TV makers working to eliminate one of the biggest hurdles 3D TV has to
overcomethe 3D glasses.