Panasonic: 3D en Full HD

Panasonic will provide products and services to complete the entire 3D signal chain. For now, it has presented the world's first Full HD 3D plasma home theater system.

Coinciding with IFA'09 in Berlin, Panasonic has unveiled the world's first Full HD 3D Home Theater system. Thanks to its multiple advances in image reproduction, it is possible to view highly realistic 3D Full HD images using a 103-inch Panasonic plasma HDTV and a Blu-ray Disc player, which allow Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) to be distributed to both eyes.

Thanks to technological advances in transmission bandwidth and storage media, 3D entertainment for consumers provides true high definition images. Using special active shutter glasses that work in sync with the plasma home theater's HDTV, the viewer will be able to experience 3D images created with twice the volume of information than normal Full HD images.

According to Panasonic, plasma is currently the best TV technology to achieve a Full HD 3D experience, thanks in large part to its ability to update at a speed that allows multiple images to be displayed without losing resolution. The performance of Panasonic plasma panels, whose self-illumination allows excellent video response, reaches its maximum expression in the development of a 3D transmission system that simultaneously displays the right and left images in Full HD without losing quality resolution.

Using optical disc technology developed by Panasonic over many years and content creation technology developed by the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL), it is possible to record 3D images (made up of the respective left and right 1080p Full HD images), onto a single standard Blu-ray disc. Panasonic has also developed a technology to decode and play the right and left Full HD image data recorded on the Blu-ray disc in real time.

Furthermore, the technological solution incorporated into the Panasonic Full HD 3D Plasma Home Theater system eliminates the problems previously present in 3D solutions. These problems included image quality degradation (caused by combining the amount of information needed for two images into one image), reduced brightness, and the need for special line-by-line encoding of the material (which eliminates the possibility of combining 2D and 3D material on one disc).

New 3D professional products and services

Panasonic is also developing professional products and services that can be used to create 3D content. While previously 3D content creators had to manually create their own 3D production systems by physically connecting multiple 2D production devices, Panasonic is currently developing a professional Full HD 3D production system. The system consists of a P2 professional dual-lens camera recorder and a 3D-capable high-definition plasma display. The P2 dual-lens camera recorder allows you to capture natural, high-quality live 3D images.

3D mastering services are available at Panasonic Hollywood Laboratories and the integrated Panasonic Hollywood Laboratories Advanced Authoring Center. In addition, Panasonic is the first company to offer products and services for the entire 3D signal chain. Professional Panasonic equipment can be used to record and master Full HD 3D content. Panasonic consumer products, such as Blu-ray Disc players and plasma TVs, will ensure high-quality playback and display of 3D material.

The technologies and experience gained through use in post-production have allowed Panasonic to advance the development of high-quality 3D display in its plasma technologies, which will help 3D content creators more quickly and easily evaluate the image quality of that content. “Our technology solution surpasses the conventional 3D technology currently available and at Panasonic we are fully committed to ensuring that our customers can enjoy it as soon as possible,” said Fabien Roth, Senior Marketing Director of Panasonic TV Group. "Full HD 3D technology will provide a totally immersive experience. We will no longer watch a movie, but instead experience the realism of Hollywood movies," concluded Roth.