3D on Apple TV

It ain't gonna happen. The current AppleTV is barely fast enough to display 2D 720p movies. If they're serious about 3D, they need a 3D Blu-ray player or a PS3.

-Aaron-

Um, it's not that your inputs are 'non-traditional,' but you don't have 3d at all. The video feed has to sync with the shutter glasses (red and blue glasses are still technically stereoscopic, just not a great form of it). Any fake 3d done by the TV or a receiver is supposed to be decent at best, awkward at worst. The Apple TV doesn't support 3d content, and probably wont. You'll need a ps3 if you're serious about 3d, which of course would make me as whhhyyyy??

Or you can get a Nintendo 3DS for a fraction of the price when it comes out, and watch 3d without glasses...

You first need to have a 3D Television. Without that, it doesn't matter what your computer can output.

Then you have the issue of content. There are very few 3D movies right now, so the computer world at large hasn't really adopted it.

Lastly, the new Mac mini (and probably old mac minis with an adapter) only support HDMI 1.3 Specs. In order to enjoy full 1080p 3D Blu-ray movies, you need HDMI 1.4 support. HOWEVER, with 1.3 it will just downgrade the movie and still allow 3D output.

In a nutshell, if you like 3D movies, you can probably do it with a mini. Just not in full 1080p and just not right now.

Software update?

Wouldn't this also require a software update to the Apple TV? I know Sony had to do a similar update to get the PS3 to output the video for 3D Blu-ray movies and games... wouldn't Apple have to do the same?

mox358 said:

Wouldn't this also require a software update to the Apple TV? I know Sony had to do a similar update to get the PS3 to output the video for 3D Blu-ray movies and games... wouldn't Apple have to do the same?

Click to expand...

Yeah but the Apple TV struggles with 720p content. It isn't the most powerful of devices. The PS3 on the other hand..

It is therefore logical that a new version of the Apple TV should be in tune with 3D. The basic hardware requirement for TV 3D is an HDMI connection, something not very difficult to implement. There are already devices like the Samsung BD-C6900, which can play discs 3D, and also access movie download services like Netflix or Love Film.

I would imagine they could do it with the next version of AppleTV.

same boat ....but

not going to happen until both you AND Apple upgrade equipment. The current AppleTV technically cannot handle outputting 3d content even if you could get it on there. Apple will need to build in support.

Firmware updater could do this, as with what xbox will do. Except unlike xbox the hardware wont support it. Hopefully Apple will build it into the next version. Then of course like anything else, TV, Cables, content, etc...

I am was not a believe in 3D, thought was all hype and useless, until i checked it out at Best Buy. WOW. Yes, not much content yet, yes expensive, yes perhaps it's delivery will change, but it is here to stay in some form or another. Anyone that doesnt think so has not experienced it yet (much like the iPad boohoo'ers when it first came out. All that poopoo'd it hadnt tried it...

Unfortunately the hardware requirement is significantly more to do 3D than what the AppleTV is capable of currently.

Neither of these iPod-related patents are as cool as an automatically adjusted 3D display, to be sure, but they show us that Apple is always looking for better ways to do things—even if it's as simple as picking your favorite song out of a list.

The 3d file only needs to be 720p Half Side by side left eye on the left mp4 and
is totally already compatable with any Apple TV and any 3dtv can
switch that format in to to 3d viewing with shutterglasses. It can look good
as is. The 720p file is no bigger than any other 720p file and Appletv handles it perfectly.
That is the facts.

macpro2000 said:

Unfortunately the hardware requirement is significantly more to do 3D than what the AppleTV is capable of currently.

Click to expand...

The current appletv SHOULD be capable of displaying 3D content, it would require a firmware update though.

Do any of you know how the current iterations of 3D TV are broadcast? If you did then you would know that it takes about the same amount of processing power (and bandwidth when broadcasting) to display the pictures. One method that is used currently is where the images are captured by stereoscopic cameras, and then make their way through the broadcast infrastructure where they are anamorphically compressed and positioned side by side, in a split screen fashion, before being encoded into as a normal HD stream.

The 3D TV processes the split screen image and stretches the left image across the odd lines and the right image across the even lines. The illusion is finally complete when the viewer puts on a pair of circular polarised glasses, with the left lens extinguishing the light emitted on the even lines and the right lens extinguishing the light emitted from the odd lines.

This is how it is done for broadcast suggesting that the full image (both left and right sides) is sent in a single frame, thus saving bandwidth, and a substantial amount of processing power.

If the appletv were to be updated to handle 3D content in this way and you had a 3D tv capable of decoding it (moving alot of the processing to the tv) then i see no reason why the current appletv could not handle 720 3D films...