Titles Priced at $2 Premium Over HD /

Verizon launched its 3D video-on-demand offering Tuesday with a lineup of eight titles, delivered by Avail-TVN, letting subscribers rent movies for $2 more than FiOS TV’s regular HD VOD titles.

The 3D movies available starting Nov. 16 on FiOS TV are: Chicken Little, Bolt, Meet the Robinsons, Journey to the Center of the Earth and NASCAR: The Imax Experience, each available for $5.99; while Warner Bros.’ Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore is $7.99 and the unrated version of horror movie Scar is $8.99.

FiOS also currently is offering a free replay of the Nov. 13 college football matchup between Oregon and the University of California at Berkeley. In December, FiOS TV will add Walt Disney Co.’s A Christmas Carol and the dance movie Step Up 3D.

Avail-TVN is delivering all of the 3D movies available on-demand from Verizon. Other 3D titles Avail-TVN expects to deliver in the next few months to Verizon and other affiliates include The Last Airbender, Saw: The Final Chapter, Alpha and Omega, and Piranha.

“Over the last year, 3D movies in the theatre have created enormous excitement and we are pleased to bring the immersive 3D experience into the living room,” Avail-TVN chief strategy officer Doug Sylvester said in a statement. “Avail-TVN’s investment in its next generation platform is enabling us to commercialize a scalable service that allows our customers to meet growing consumer demand for 3D.”

In 2011, Avail-TVN expects to augment the 3D movies service with a pay-per-view events channel with movies, concerts, events and sports programming; and a free-to-consumer promotional 3D channel offering features, documentaries, music and specialty programming. The company had previously expected to launch the linear 3D services along with VOD in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The 3D VOD titles are available in both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Avail-TVN is using frame-compatible stereoscopic compression — along with the rest of the industry — to transmit 3D files at the same rate and with the same bandwidth requirements as 2D HD. Only a small software upgrade is needed on set-tops to allow them to pass through the 3D signals.

Verizon, for its, part, has dabbled with 3DTV over the last several months. For example, the telco produced and broadcast the first televised National Football League game in 3D, the On Sept. 2 preseason match-up between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

In the FiOS TV guide, the 3D movies are available in the “High Definition” VOD folder under “HD 3D,” as well as in the “Movies” VOD folder under “3D Movies.”

By Todd Spangler — Multichannel News, 11/17/2010 6:14:39 AM

source: http://www.multichannel.com/article/459991-FiOS_TV_Debuts_3D_VOD_With_Avail_TVN.php

licensed autostereo patents from Phillips, which abandoned its efforts /

Excited about 3D TV but skeptical about the glasses? You may want to check out a demo of the 3DFusion autostereo (glasses-free) 3D TV.

3DFusion unveiled its glasses-free flatscreen at the Paul Kagan 3D conference in Gotham in October, generating some buzz on tech websites. We saw it a week later and were impressed enough to invite them to the Variety offices for a demo. We also invited CEO James Carlton of HC 3D and his business partner Charlotte Huggins, producer of “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”

3DFusion prexy Stephen Blumenthal and CEO Ilya Sorokin came to Variety right off the plane without a chance to adjust their gear, and only got the picture to “75%,” according to Blumenthal. Even at that level, Huggins said: “Without a doubt it’s the first glasses-free 3D I’ve ever seen that completely worked for me,” adding that “I have never wanted my HDTV at home to be 3D until (seeing the 3DFusion).”

Carlton said, “I had the same feeling I had when I saw HD for the first time in 2003. If the technology is what it appears to be, it could be groundbreaking.”

3DFusion licensed autostereo patents from Phillips, which abandoned its efforts to market an autostereo TV in the economic downturn. They return to their Gotham HQ today.

L.A.-based Tao 3D has struck deal to become the exclusive West Coast partner of 3DFusion for 2D-to-3D conversion, events and advertising.

By DAVID S. COHEN

source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118027613?refCatId=1009

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EARLIER STORY

3DFusion Shows Off Glasses Free 3D Display

Throw out your 3D glasses you used for the Superbowl and Chuck, and say hello to the 3DFMax stereoscopic Glasses Free Television. Built upon the Philips 3D Solutions, 2D Plus Depth format, the 3DF IP enhances and augments the 3D advancements to the point of achieving the first 3D Broadcast Ready, picture perfect standard for stereoscopic Glasses Free 3D displays.

3DFusion a key Philips North American 3D Solutions Provider and Certified Blue Box Content Creator, has taken the newly released Philips 3D Solutions WOWvx Media Player to the next level. When 3DF coupled its 3DFMax optimizer technology with the latest Philips software upgrade, stated CEO Ilya Sorokin, the results were breathtaking. The Philips 3D Solutions WOWvx product is the undisputed 3D winner, having crossed the 3D finish line first. In our opinion, the 3DFusion No Glasses Stereoscopic 3D is the first and only ‘ready for Prime Time’ 3DTV.

Steve Blumenthal, President of 3DFusion remarked, Philips 3D Solutions deserves all the credit, they baked a great cake, we just added the icing. From my perspective, the new release of the Philips 3D Solutions WOWvx Media Player, makes the Philips ASD package the ‘go to’ market leader in stereoscopic No Glasses 3D. Philips 3D Solutions stands alone in providing the only complete end to end technology solution capable of finally delivering the Holy Grail of Auto stereoscopic 3D.

3DFusion has incorporated this historical first to market 3D solution into 3 products. They are the 3DFusion 3D Digital Signage, multi panel Kiosk for AOOH Ad Nets, the 3DF turnkey 3D in a Box platform for all non-network applications. The planned 3DFusion Artist Guild for 2D to 3D conversion is a membership-based Guild dedicated to developing advanced 3D content rendering and conversion tools designed to support the end user.

SOURCE: http://techfragments.com/news/486/Hardware/3DFusion_Shows_Off_Glasses_Free_3D_Display.html