Professor Marty Banks of University of California at Berkeley, raised concerns and questions, giving the HPA audience a lot to think about in terms of the perceptual issues of 3D viewing.
Banks described his research in 3D, through which he examined factors such as fatigue, neck discomfort and vision.
His points included:
–Viewing distance is a key issue. The shorter the distance, the more problematic.
–Perceptual distortion can be due to incorrect viewing position. For instance, turning one’s head to the side while watching can cause discomfort.
–Blur is always 1/12 the diameter of disparity, meaning that there is a correct depth of field for every viewing situation. … Too much blur makes things look small. Too little blur makes things look larger.
–Banks suggested that 3D TVs should have a menu to allow settings for variables such as viewing distance.
–He is next researching temporal sampling. Most of the data is collected.
–He suggested that possibly a health or science organization might be interested in sponsoring further research.

As part of the HPA’s focus on 3D, Panasonic brought its travelling 3D demo truck to Palm Springs. Parked outside the resort, the truck houses a traveling demo of 3D in the home for consumers. Specifically, it uses a Panasonic 3D Blu-Ray player, NVidia active glasses and Panasonic’s 103-inch plasma display. The demo included the “Avatar” trailer and clips from the Beijing Olympics and MacGillivray Freeman’s “Grand Canyon Adventure.”