Dolby 3D logo

At NAB 2012 exhibition Dolby showed TV prototype with Dolby 3D technology – result of its joint development project with Philips.

At NAB 2013 exhibition in Las Vegas on April 9, 2013 Dolby Laboratories and Royal Philips Electronics in association with Cameron-Pace Group (CPG) announced its partnership for using Dolby 3D format that includes video content production, encoding, broadcasting or OTT delivering (Vudu) and decoding and playback of glasses-free 3D content on TVs, tablets or smartphones. Dolby 3D technology allows watching 3D without glasses regardless viewer’s location. The technology is based on R&D originally done by Philips and combines an optical layer on the screen and sophisticated signal processing. In addition, it requires extra information beyond the left and right views, primarily a “depth map,” which is needed to generate multiple views.

Dolby 3D components are:

  • Content tool plug-in
  • Real-time metadata preprocessor
  • Dolby 3D format encoder
  • Dolby 3D format decoder
  • Real-time depth extraction and enhancement engine
  • Multiview rendering engine

Dolby 3D can be implemented using several different approaches, including lenticular and parallax-barrier optical layers, and the performance of the optical layer is up to each manufacturer. In order to carry the Dolby 3D logo, the panel must be at least UHD resolution, and transitions between viewing zones must be smooth. With a UHD panel, the effective resolution for each eye is 1080p.

Sharp and Changhong presented LCD TVs with Dolby 3D technology at CES 2014.

Sharp 85” 8K (7680×4320 pix) LCD TV with UV2A panel, 10 bits per each RGB and 300 cd/m2 luminance showed Life of Pi movie.

SHARP 85-inch 8K LED TV with Dolby 3D

SHARP 85-inch 8K LED TV with Dolby 3D

Sharp panel uses a lenticular optical layer.

Changhong 65-inch Glasses Free UHD 3D TV

Changhong 65-inch Glasses Free UHD 3D TV

Changhong Glasses-Free 65” UHD 3D TV has BOE Technology Group panel inside. BOE panel uses a parallax-barrier optical layer. 2D mode is full UHD while 3D mode is HD.