(Phil Lelyveld comment: this game uses the iphone motion sensors to allow game play in a virtual sphere.  It does NOT display in stereoscopic 3D.)

SKY SIEGE 3D in HD – Pushing the boundaries of AR/VR Mobile Gaming! A state of the art update with Gyro, Retina HD, Stereoscopic 3D, RC mode + lots more!

Experience a full on Aerial Assault in Stereoscopic 3D as virtual helicopters come at you from all angles. Choose a spectacular 360 degree Virtual Environment or your own office! Fly a virtual RC helicopter around the room in Augmented Reality!

Feature packed Sky Siege 3D brings an amazing mix of groundbreaking stereoscopic Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to your iPhone 4 or 3GS, iPod Touch 4 or iPad!

With ultra smooth Gyroscope support and High Definition Sky Siege 3D gives you a state of the art AR / VR experience yet also continues to support the original Magnetic based tracking algorithm for iPhone 3GS and iPads

This massive update includes all kinds of improvements and features to the original including the world’s first « Throne Mode » so you can play anywhere!

Watch the YouTube video of the game in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsqKDhGVo0

Original post here: http://appiphone4.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/sky-siege-3d-v2-1/

Debut Projects Include The Green Hornet, Chronicles of Narnia:  The Voyage of the Dawn Trader and FIFA World Cup

LOS ANGELES – January 26, 2011 – Following years of operating in stealth mode,  Venture 3D, a leader in the burgeoning 3D conversion market, celebrated its official launch with the announcement of contributions to a variety of recent Hollywood blockbusters including the successful completion of the 3D conversion for the recently opened Sony Pictures’ The Green Hornet, directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and starring Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz. Venture 3D also worked on 20th Century Fox’s and Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the 2010 FIFA World Cup 3D trailer. Recent projects also include 3D conversion work for Warner Bros., Screen Gems and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai.

Venture 3D’s unique proprietary, worldwide patented software-based technology enables the company to deliver superior quality 3D conversion to the production and significantly reduce the time and cost involved in 3D conversion.

Established to convert new as well as library films, TV programming, documentaries and commercials, Venture 3D was founded in 2008 by three entertainment industry veterans, Marcus Englefield, George Lee and Paul Ottosson, who enjoy an in-depth knowledge and long experience in both production and post-production. Englefield has produced several films and numerous commercials and music videos. Lee has a background in co-production, financing, foreign distribution and licensing of major Hollywood studio films in Asia. Ottosson, a two time Oscar® winner as well as a BAFTA and Emmy® winner, is an established and respected entertainment industry veteran with 20 years in the business. He was a producer of the 2007 Oscars as well as a few independent films and has worked on movies, including highly popular motion pictures such as 2012, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3 and acclaimed Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker.

In order to cost-effectively convert large scale and technically intricate film projects such as The Green Hornet, Venture 3D also employs a highly-skilled and dedicated team of stereographers and artists in Los Angeles and Korea to convert shots into high-quality 3D. Todd Cogan, Venture 3D’s senior vice president of operations and one of the most sought-after and experienced 3D producers within the industry, is overseeing the company’s 3D stereoscopic production. His extensive experience includes such major A-list stereoscopic production A-list projects as Michael Jackson’s This Is It Concert Experience, U2 3D, Disney’s Jonas Brothers 3D Experience and Hannah Montana. Cogan worked with James Cameron for 8 years on productions including Aliens of the Deep 3D and The Ghost of The Abyss 3D, both 3D for IMAX. Prior to joining Venture 3D Cogan was the VP of business relations with PACE. Working with Cameron and PACE, Cogan developed a solid understanding of 3D through the eye of the camera that enables Venture 3D to deliver the best 3D to the movie screen.

About Venture 3D

Venture 3D is a Los Angeles-based company with a studio in Seoul, Korea, that provides high-quality, cost-effective and time-sensitive solutions for the creation of stereoscopic 3-D content, including feature films, TV shows and commercials. The company is leading the fast-growing market of 3D conversion by offering cutting-edge worldwide patented technology specially designed for 2D-to-3D conversion.

Original post here: http://www.vizworld.com/2011/01/3d-conversion-studio-block-venture-3d/

Charts Are Part of DSC Labs’ New Product Lineup at NAB 2011

DSC Labs, eco-friendly developer of innovative products for image quality improvement, has announced that it will exhibit at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, held in Las Vegas, NV from April 11-14, 2011 (booth number C10215). The Fuji Gold Medal winner has been showcasing state-of-the-art precision test charts at the NAB show since the early 90’s, and this year will be announcing significant breakthroughs in 3D chart technology. DSC Labs President David Corley comments, “In the past year, there have been major advances in 3D. We are grateful to the leaders in this technology for their suggestions and features, many of which are included in DSC’s 2011 3D charts.”

NEW – The Dashwood 3D Chart

Driving DSC Labs’ Dashwood 3D Chart initiative is none other than Dashwood Cinema Solutions Founder, Tim Dashwood – seasoned 3D stereographer, cinematographer, director, and editor. The Dashwood 3D Chart is a brand new stereoscopic chart that automates the display of accurate 3D rig calibration at unheard of speeds. When integrated with Dashwood Cinema Solutions’ new calibration software or the new Stereo3D Toolbox v3, the chart’s unique visual code trackers work alongside the applications to automatically track to 1/1,000 of a pixel for unprecedented stereo alignment. The chart also offers live feedback to assist in automating camera alignment, sync testing and slating, and color and gamma calibration. For those aligning manually, the Dashwood 3D Chart offers manual alignment with the DSC Labs’ patented FiddleHead spirals for corner-to-corner focus.

Dashwood says, “Dashwood Cinema Solutions chose a partnership with DSC Labs because they manufacture the most accurate, versatile and rugged calibration charts in the world. The new Dashwood 3D Chart will make the geometric and colorimetric calibration of stereoscopic rigs faster than ever. We intend to speed up the recalibration after a lens change by 1000%. There is now no need to hesitate when changing a lens.”

NEW – The Pilot 3D Chart

In addition to the Dashwood 3D Chart, DSC Labs will unveil the Pilot 3D Chart, named for its runway-like extension and corner LED lights. Incorporating a wide range of feedback from 3D experts, The Pilot promises to be an extremely comprehensive tool for the proper balance and alignment of 3D rigs. In addition to DSC’s patented neutral grayscales, accurate color bar patches and zone plates, the Pilot’s features include camera synchronization, multiple scales, geometric webs and 18% gray patches, ensuring critical precision.

The Hawk QCC and RoliChart Make Their NAB Debut

In addition to breakthrough 3D technology, DSC Labs will be featuring its recent Hawk QCC and CamAlign RoliChart chart releases. Ideal for single- or multi-camera shoots, the Hawk QCC uses critical information from an original scene set-up using a DSC primary chart, and then provides relevant data for quick camera evaluation and scene matching. Similar to the Hawk QCC in compactness, the CamAlign RoliChart is designed for use in the field, and remains protected when rolled up into its sturdy anodized casing.

For more information about DSC Labs, please go to www.dsclabs.com or visit them at booth C10215 at NAB. Attendees can also learn more about 3D chart technology by visiting Dashwood Cinema Solutions at booth C10514D3 in the 3D Pavilion.

DSC Labs has been dedicated to image integrity in visual communications for more than 48 years. The company’s pioneering engineering achievements include patented image processes and the development of standardized industry-wide test patterns, earning DSC the Fuji Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to television. Using ground source heat/cool technology at the lab, DSC is known for its environmentally friendly production processes and materials, and whenever possible, for designing recyclable products. “Better Images through Research” articulates the company’s continuing commitment to making innovative products for image quality improvement.

Original post here: http://www.studiodaily.com/main/news/prc/DSC-Labs-Gives-Sneak-Peek-of-its-3D-Precision-Test-Charts_12897.html

(Philip Lelyveld comment:  Companies manufacturing passive polarized 3D include LG, Philips and Toshiba.  Article positions this as a format war.)

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The heat is on in the debate between two 3-D TV formats.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels, announced yesterday that it formed “3-D TV alliances” in Beijing over the weekend with five other TV makers: Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Haier and Changhong.

The six companies, which accounted for 90 percent of the Chinese 3-D TV market last year, agreed that the active shutter glasses format is the best technology for a full high-definition, 3-D experience, while vowing to expand their presence with the format, Samsung said.

There are two kinds of 3-D technology in use: active shutter glasses and passive polarized glasses. The key difference is that while the former creates a sense of depth by sending visual information to each eye sequentially, the latter does so by sending visual information to both eyes simultaneously.

For viewers, the active format offers clear and high resolution images but it could cause dizziness and the glasses are heavier and pricier. In contrast, the passive format is less likely to cause dizziness and the glasses are lighter and cheaper but offers a relatively less-clear 3-D experience.

As opposed to Samsung’s alliance, companies like LG Display, the world’s No. 2 manufacturer of flat-screen TVs, Phillips and Toshiba are betting on passive polarized glasses.

At the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas earlier this month, LG Display touted Film Patterned Retarder (FPR) technology, which uses polarized glasses, as the next big technology in 3-D TVs.

“FPR televisions provide full, high-definition quality pictures without image overlaps and flickering, which dramatically reduces the health worries related to 3-D viewing,” LG Display Chief Executive Officer Kwon Young-soo told reporters, adding that 70 percent of all 3-D TVs sold this year will feature FPR technology.

But the debate on who will dominant will likely go on.

Samsung said yesterday that the passive type fails to achieve the resolution level required to be full HD, while LG Display said that the passive format “does obtain the resolution level required to be full HD, just in a different way.”

Original post here: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2931676

Winter X Games will be televised in more than 172 countries and territories with coverage that will include 18 hours of 3D viewing.

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Super Bowl XLV may be next Sunday but for action sports junkies their gala is already here this weekend with Winter X Games 15 taking over Aspen for four days of jaw-dropping, gravity-defying competition.

Once as welcome as swine flu, snowboarders and extreme skiers now rule over the mountains they were chased from — embraced by sponsors, television and a massive legion of fans.

Even Aspen, a posh ski resort once the exclusive winter playground for the rich, famous and powerful, has welcomed the party-hard daredevils with open arms staging the Winter X Games for a 10th successive year.

Forget Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers or Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, they are marketing minor leaguers compared to the X Games’ headliner Shaun White, a snowboarding genius and double-Olympic gold medalist who will command the spotlight at the four-day event.

White knows no rivals on the halfpipe and very few in the marketing arena, taking second spot in BusinessWeek’s annual Power 100 list, which measures athletes’ influence on and off the field.

Only Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning finished ahead of White, who flashed his marketing muscle beating out golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Drew Brees, Lance Armstrong, LeBron James, Michael Phelps and David Beckham.

White, who signed his first promotional deal when he was just seven, has grown into a marketing titan with his own clothing line, video games and a line-up of endorsements that would leave Roger Federer envious.

On the Marketing Arm’s Davie Brown Index (DBI), that quantifies consumer perceptions of more than 2,700 celebrities, White’s scores are nearly as remarkable as those he receives in competition.

BIG LEAGUE

His trendsetter score of 12 puts him in the same league as Oprah, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp while his endorsement attribute scores are comparable to George Clooney.

“Based on his deal with BF Goodrich, it appears as though his marketability is expanding, which is extending his reach to hit a more mainstream target,” Bill Glenn, senior vice-president of the Marketing Arm told Reuters. “He’s already the LeBron James or Peyton Manning of extreme sports.

“But his influence is broadening.”

While the mop-topped White may be the standard bearer for action sports, the X Games are about a lifestyle more than a single personality.

A made for television event, the X Games have provided a stage for extreme sport athletes to showcase their skills.

The inaugural Winter X Games were held in Big Bear Lake, California in 1997 and have exploded into a worldwide phenomenon.

Winter X Games 14 was televised in 172 countries and territories and those numbers are expected to increase this year with coverage that will include 18 hours of 3D viewing.

For the competitors, the X Games are as important as the Olympics and in many cases the pinnacle of their sport.

The entire medal podiums in both the men’s and women’s halfpipe at the Vancouver Winter Games will be competing at Aspen, including White, winner of a record 15 X Games medals including 10 gold and women’s halfpipe winner, Australian Torah Bright.

MAINSTREAM APPEAL

While snowboarders fiercely cling to their counter-culture roots, there is no denying a decade of growth and three Olympic Games have brought the sport mainstream appeal — and respectability.

In return, the Olympics have received a badly needed jolt of energy that has helped keep the Games relevant with the younger generation.

Despite a shift toward the mainstream, the X Games have tried to remain true to their core values.

Innovation reigns supreme at the X Games, the only limits being a competitor’s own imagination and gravity.

X Games organizers have tried to keep their finger on the pulse of the constantly evolving world of extreme sports adding new events and tweaking others as kids find new ways to express and challenge themselves on the slopes.

Snowboard, skiing and snowmobiling are the three main disciplines in the X Games but each includes a number of different events.

Snowboarding and skiing events this year include superpipe, big air and slopestyle (outrageous tricks off a jump), which could be the next event to find its way onto the Olympic lineup.

“It (slopestyle) is a discipline that I think needs the recognition because the tricks are just as hard, just as impressive and there’s a whole group of riders out there you don’t hear much about,” said White.

“With the Olympics possibly getting slopestyle I would love to do it.

“It would be great.”

Original post here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/29/us-games-extreme-idUSTRE70S07820110129

HP Envy 17 3D

Editors’ rating: 3.5 out of 5

The good: Slim, attractive design; full HD 1080p display; includes active-shutter 3D glasses.

The bad: Clunky 3D software; using 3D kills video game frame rates.

The bottom line: HP’s upscale-feeling Envy 17 3D offers great hardware at a decent price, but its 3D implementation isn’t as good as that of laptops with Nvidia’s 3D Vision.

Read CNET’s full review here

Prices start at $1,599.99

original post here: http://news.cnet.com/2300-1041_3-10006461-8.html?tag=mncol

2011 is set to be a highly competitive year with vendors looking to use new technology, such as dual-core processors, NFC (near-field communication), and 3D displays, to differentiate their products and maintain value.”

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Android has now surged past Symbian to become the world’s top smartphone platform, says a report out today from research firm Canalys.

Global shipments of Android-based phones hit 32.9 million in the final quarter of 2010, pushing Nokia’s Symbian down to second place with 31 million smartphones shipped.

The beneficiaries of the demand for Google’s mobile operating system were the vendors themselves. Respectively, LG, Samsung, Acer, and HTC watched their sales volumes jump 4,127 percent, 1,474 percent, 709 percent, and 371 percent from the last quarter of 2009, according to Canalys. Together, HTC and Samsung accounted for almost 45 percent of all the Android phones shipped in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Looking at the other smartphone systems, third-place Apple nearly doubled its fourth-quarter iPhone shipments to 16.2 million from only 8.7 million a year ago, though its market share dipped a bit to 16 percent from 16.3 percent. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion saw its shipments rise to 14.6 million from 10.7 million the prior year, but its slice of the market dropped to 14.4 percent from 20 percent.

Shipments of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile phones inched down to 3.1 million from 3.9 million, while the company’s market share fell to 3.1 percent from 7.2 percent a year ago.

Across the global market, U.S. consumers accounted for the highest number of smartphones shipped, more than double the number shipped in China.

Android proved the hottest platform in the United States with shipments of 12.1 million units, almost three times the number for RIM’s BlackBerry devices. Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 mobile platform launched too late in the fourth quarter to enjoy the surge in holiday shopping, says Canalys, leaving the company with a 5 percent share of the U.S. market, down from 8 percent in the year-ago quarter.

How might the new Verizon iPhone shake up the mobile market? Canalys offered its view.

“The U.S. landscape will shift dramatically this coming year, as a result of the Verizon-Apple agreement,” Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd said in a statement. “Verizon will move its focus away from the Droid range, but the overall market impact will mean less carrier-exclusive deals, while increasing the AT&T opportunity for Android vendors, such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung.”

The smartphone industry as a whole shipped 101.2 million units in the fourth quarter, a jump of 89 percent from a year ago. That helped boost shipments for all of 2010 to slightly under 300 million, a rise in the annual growth rate of 80 percent from 2009.

“2010 has been a fantastic year for the smart phone market,” Canalys vice president and principal analyst Chris Jones said in a statement. “After a difficult 2009, the speed with which the market has recovered has required real commitment and innovation from vendors and they have risen to the challenge.”

Looking ahead, though, competition in the smartphone market will continue to be hot and heavy.

“Vendors cannot afford to be complacent,” Jones added. “2011 is set to be a highly competitive year with vendors looking to use new technology, such as dual-core processors, NFC (near-field communication), and 3D displays, to differentiate their products and maintain value.”

Original post here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20030029-94.html?tag=mncol;1n

Derek Hough, three-time winner of “Dancing with the Stars,” and Korean pop star BoA have been cast in dance film “COBU 3D.”

The pair play members of rival New York families – the owners of underground night clubs — who compete in a dance contest and fall in love.

Pic is helmed by Duane Adler, who penned “Save the Last Dance” and “Step Up,” and their sequels. Robert Cort, who exec produced the “Save the Last Dance” pics, produces, with Korea’s CJ Ent. and BoA’s agency SM Ent. on board.

Lionsgate Intl. has taken sales rights for all territories except Korea, China and Japan, which are being handled by CJ Ent.

Shooting starts in New York and Toronto in the spring. Pic is set to be released in early 2012.

Original post here: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118031123

After TNT offered a NASCAR race in 3D last summer that aired on DirecTV, the satellite operator will carry two racing specials in 3D focusing on a different racing series. The hour-long shows will start Feb. 4 on DirecTV’s dedicated 3D channel, n3D, which has Panasonic as a sponsor.

In lieu of carrying a race live, DirecTV will offer some coverage, but also behind-the-scenes footage and interviews of the final race on the Formula DRIFT circuit in 2010.

DirecTV and the racing circuit are co-producers. Indicating an edited format may allow producers to better capitalize on 3D, DirecTV executive Chris Long stated that the emerging format on TV will “make every counter steer, plume of smoke and wreck feel like it is happening in the middle of your living room.”

The n3D network has offered the MLB All-Star Game and U.S. Open tennis event, as well as entertainment such as “Guitar Center Sessions.”

TNT carried a NASCAR race from the Daytona track last July that aired on DirecTV and several cable operators’ systems and in an online version. ESPN will launch a 24/7 3D network in February and will likely offer some NASCAR car races this season. Also possible is the 100th Indianapolis 500 in May. The race will already be shot in 3D as an IMAX documentary is being made about this year’s version that is scheduled to be released in the fall.

Original post here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143838

Several stories emerged this week that TV fans may want to read up on… from a scientific bashing of 3D by two non-scientists to sub-$40 Blu-ray players.

This is the kind of week it’s been in the world of TV and video, with stories not necessarily in chronological order…

First up: The 3D debate got hotter and well, weirder, when Roger Ebert – who has maligned the technology openly in the past – declared the format “inferior and inherently brain-confusing.” To prop up his thesis, he quotes liberally from fellow 3D-denier and award-winning editor, Walter Murch – whose work you are familiar with if you’ve ever watched Apocalypse Now, Ghost or The English Patient.

Now there’s no question that Murch’s credentials as far as the art form of cinematic editing is beyond reproach. But in a recent letter to Ebert, he goes way beyond a critique of 3D from the perspective of editing, citing biological arguments against the format such as:

[...] the “CPU” of our perceptual brain has to work extra hard, which is why after 20 minutes or so many people get headaches. They are doing something that 600 million years of evolution never prepared them for.

He’s referring to the process by which our eyes must try to converge on two different focal lengths in rapid succession. Now he may very well be right that this is the component of 3D that has caused undesirable effects amongst some viewers, but to claim that our very biology isn’t up to the task because of how we’ve evolved strikes me as a reach.

I get that Ebert hates 3D – heck I even agree with some of the points he’s made in the past – and I get that Murch isn’t impressed by it either, but I’m not buying the so-called scientific explanation as to why it sucks. Read the full post and see if you’re on-board or not.

Next: A new report suggests that this is the year we will see Blu-ray players for as little as $40 and 42″ LCD HDTVs coming in at under $300. Despite the fact that these devices will likely not support advanced features such as 3D, Wi-Fi or streaming, those are nonetheless stunning price points. It looks like 2011 will be the year that fantastic picture quality will be within reach of nearly every economic group in the West.

Finally, Pioneer and Sharp have announced that they will be creating a new line of LCD HTDVs that will bear the “Elite” badge – a marque that hasn’t graced a TV display since Pioneer discontinued its production of plasma panels last year. But this new venture, rather than being a rebirth of the TVs that earned CNET’s highest rating of any HDTV, appears to be at best a new line of LCD’s from Sharp with Pioneer’s Elite designation and at worst, nothing more than a re-badging of Sharp’s existing line-up of high-end models.

At first it might seem that this is a dig at Sharp. It isn’t. I’ve had the chance to audition their latest line-up of Quattron 3D TVs and I was duly impressed by their image quality and feature set. They’re good TVs. But they aren’t plasma and they aren’t Pioneer units – in short, they aren’t “Elite”. Now I realize I should withhold final judgement until I see the new Elites in the flesh, but I am (as you can tell)  highly skeptical. I’m also a little stunned that Pioneer – a company that put plasma on the map – has decided to back LCD as a display technology after all this time. I would have much preferred that they partner with Panasonic, a company that has stayed the course on plasma and has inherited Pioneer’s HDTV crown as a result. Perhaps Pioneer believed that LCD will eventually eclipse plasma as the best display technology, or maybe they’re just looking for a more cost-effective way to re-enter the TV business without having to actually make their own glass. Either way, I worry that the Elite marque – so long a pinnacle of quality in the A/V space – will be diminished by this move.

Original post here: http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2011/01/a-strange-week-for-3d-and-tv.html