Aviewer slips on her special-effects glasses, settles back on the sofa and begins watching blue-skinned warriors doing battle on her big-screen television. Suddenly, she finds herself ducking as one of the warriors’ spears seems to shoot right out of the screen at her.
Welcome to the world of three dimensional (3-D) entertainment, one of the hottest trends in consumer electronics. Although 3-D movies have been released in various forms since the 1950s, the technology only reached maturity in the 2009 blockbuster Avatar, for which audiences were willing to pay a premium to enjoy breathtaking 3-D effects on the big screen. Avatar went on to become the first film to earn more than US$2 billion worldwide, with the higher ticket prices of the 3-D version contributing significantly to that bottom line. Now Taiwanese companies and research institutes are doing their best to deliver similar thrills to viewers at home and even on the go.
Thanks to Avatar’s rekindling of the 3-D craze around the world, sales of 3-D projectors have been climbing, says Sherry Huang (黃敘諮), project manager for local projector maker Optoma Corp. Optoma’s projectors are designed to make the 3-D experience easy, Huang says, as setup is as simple as connecting the DVD player or laptop to the projector, which will project onto a wall or screen a large 3-D image that is viewable with special glasses. Select Optoma projector models even have the ability to simulate 3-D effects from DVDs filmed in conventional 2-D format, she says, which is a boon for movie lovers who want to experience older films in a new way.
Optoma began its effort to replicate the big-screen 3-D multimedia experience in households by delivering 3-D projectors in Taiwan and around the world in the first quarter of 2010, Huang says. The company expects this year’s overall projector shipments to double last year’s shipments of more than 600,000 units. Eyeing the potential demand for 3-D in sectors such as education, business and home theaters, most of Optoma’s latest models come equipped with 3-D as a standard feature, she says.
Projectors made by Taiwan’s Optoma Corp. are bringing the big-screen 3-D experience to households around the world. (Photo Courtesy of Optoma Corp.)
The technology is also beginning to show up in household televisions, with some manufacturers enabling 3-D viewing with dedicated glasses, while others are turning to video processing and display technology that enables viewing with the naked eye. Market analysts have predicted that over the next two to three years, television sets that require special glasses for 3-D viewing are likely to take off faster than those touting naked-eye technology, as the latter still confronts technical problems such as lower video resolution and the requirement that users sit at a certain angle and distance from the screen to see a crisp 3-D image.
AmTRAN Technology Co. Ltd., a Taiwanese original design manufacturer of LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions, expects overall shipments to grow 14 percent this year to 5 million units, fueled by next-generation models such as those offering 3-D. The company unveiled its first 3-D television series in Taiwan in June this year and expects 10 percent, or about 500,000 units, of its total television shipments for the year to be 3-D televisions, according to chairman Alpha Wu (吳春發). “The high price tag was the main factor behind the slow uptake of 3-D televisions in the past,” Wu says, but quickly adds that 3-D televisions from the Vizio brand are likely to win over consumers with their affordable prices, which can be up to 50 percent less expensive than premium brands. AmTRAN produces televisions for and is an investor in Vizio Inc., the biggest television brand in North America. Vizio has rapidly gained market share by selling televisions at cheaper prices than established rivals including Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Corp.
Figures from US-based market researcher IHS iSuppli reveal why Taiwanese television makers like AmTRAN are jumping on the 3-D bandwagon. Worldwide shipments of 3-D televisions were poised to soar 463 percent to total 23.4 million units this year over the 4.2 million units that were shipped in 2010, according to a report iSuppli released in May this year. The research firm expects more triple-digit growth in 2012, with shipments predicted to soar by 132 percent over this year’s level to reach 54.2 million units. Global shipments of 3-D televisions will surpass the 100-million-unit mark by 2014 and then hit nearly 160 million in 2015, iSuppli predicts.
In terms of market share, iSuppli forecasts 3-D televisions to account for 11 percent of global flat-panel television shipments this year, up from 2 percent last year, with the figure likely to double to 22 percent in 2012. By 2015, 3-D televisions will account for more than half of all flat-panel television shipments, the research company says.
Aiptek International Inc.’s pocket-sized i2 camcorder can record video in both 2-D and 3-D. (Photo Courtesy of Aiptek International Inc.)
The advent of 3-D comes at a good time for manufacturers, as global demand for conventional LCD televisions has slumped a bit this year, especially as more consumers switch to viewing video on tablet PCs and smartphones instead of television sets. The case of AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), a Taiwanese maker of LCD panels used in televisions, PCs and smartphones, is illustrative of 3-D’s effect on the slow overall television market. The fall in global flat-panel television demand prompted AUO to slash its capital expenditure by 30 percent to less than NT$70 billion (US$2.3 billion) this year. However, AUO executive vice president Paul Peng (彭雙浪) says that the company’s reduction in capital expenditure does not mean it is shelving ongoing research and development (R&D) for newer technologies such as 3-D, which may spur consumers to replace their older televisions. Peng says that 3-D panels are likely to pick up steam to account for 10 percent of AUO’s total shipments this year.
Passively Polarized
Increased sales of special glasses have gone hand-in-hand with the market growth of 3-D televisions. Actif Polarizers Ltd., for example, is a Taiwanese-owned company that has major production facilities in Xiamen, Fujian province, mainland China. Actif has been making sunglasses for years and recently devoted part of its production capacity to churning out passive polarized glasses for viewing 3-D television. “Our major competitors in Japan produce either frames or lenses,” Actif executive Yuko Wu (吳姿容) says. “We are the only company to produce both and assemble them into a final product.”
Actif began producing 3-D lenses in the second half of 2010 and is currently in talks with mainland Chinese home electronics makers such as the Haier Group and the Hisense Group to sell its passive glasses with their 3-D television sets. In light of such potential sales, Wu expects Actif’s shipments to expand significantly in the second half of 2012.
3-D glasses are made with either active or passive lenses. Actif produces the passive type, which rely on a polarized lens to restrict the images that reach each eye and thus yield a 3-D effect. Glasses with so-called “active shutter” lenses tend to be more expensive, as they have active LCD shutters that rapidly block the left or right eye, ensuring that each eye receives only the correct image. Active shutter glasses are typically paired with high frame rate displays and are powered by batteries. Passive polarized lenses, on the other hand, contain no electronics, making them cheaper to produce, and are used with lower frame rate panels. Passive glasses weigh less but typically yield resolutions lower than those of active glasses.
Increased sales of 3-D glasses have gone hand-in-hand with the market growth of 3-D televisions. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
According to iSuppli, Actif appears to have made the correct decision in going with passive lenses. “While the current active shutter glasses provide better picture quality, an alternative known as passive film patterned retarder not only will expand availability to support televisions in sizes as small as 32 inches, but also will reduce the overall cost of ownership, with the glasses being more user friendly as well,” the researcher says. By 2015, iSuppli predicts that global shipments of passive 3-D glasses will surpass those of active glasses.
Along with South Korean rival LG Electronics Inc., Taiwanese manufacturer HTC Corp. is playing a pioneering role in bringing 3-D to the small screens of mobile devices. The EVO 3-D, HTC’s first smartphone boasting 3-D capability, was launched in the third quarter this year. The handset targets consumers who rely on their smartphone for multimedia content creation and consumption, says Jack Tong (董俊良), HTC’s president of North Asian operations, and that puts the company in a good position to seize a share of the high-end smartphone market.
The EVO 3-D is equipped with two rear-facing cameras that allow consumers to shoot 3-D movies and photos. When 3-D mode is selected, the phone also employs a special barrier atop its display screen that renders different images for the viewer’s left and right eyes, thus creating a sense of depth without requiring the use of glasses. Users can download and view 3-D movies, YouTube clips and games from HTC and other sources. Of the device’s 3-D effect, reviewers have said that images pop from the screen when viewed from the proper angle.
Despite the efforts of HTC and LG, the uptake of 3-D handsets is still in the early stage, with some market pundits saying that the devices’ higher price tags and relatively new technology, as well as the general lack of 3-D content in the market, would prevent mass adoption for a few years. According to Taiwan Mobile Co. co-president Cliff Lai (賴弦五), for example, 3-D smartphones will most likely start to take off in 2013, when 3-D software has been improved and content is more widely available. Taiwan Mobile is one of the island’s largest mobile carriers and currently bundles HTC and LG 3-D smartphones with a monthly service package. Lai says his company has not yet seen mass acceptance of 3-D handsets. “For now, 3-D gadgets will entice early adopters,” he says, “and most of them are male and tech savvy.” Jeng Tzuan-ren (鄭尊仁), director of the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI)’s Electronics & Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, agrees with Lai’s assessment, saying that there is still a long way to go before such devices become must-have items for consumers.
A new ITRI technology allows a single monitor to simultaneously render both 2-D text and 3-D graphics. (Photo Courtesy of Industrial Technology Research Institute)
The HTC and LG smartphones are not the only mobile devices that are capable of recording 3-D content, as Taiwanese-owned Aiptek International Inc., a maker of pocket-sized video cameras, launched sales of its i2 3-D camcorder this year. “3-D will be the big trend for the imaging industry for some time, and it’s a field that Aiptek has been involved in for years,” Aiptek public relations official Julia Lin (林佳莉) says. “We hope to offer a tool for users to record their lives—both in 2-D and 3-D,” she says, referring to the i2 camcorder, which was showcased at the Computex Taipei technology trade show in June this year.
The i2 allows users to record still images or video in 2-D, 3-D or full high-definition. It comes with a 3.2-inch 3-D panel that allows for instant 3-D playback without the use of glasses. “Maybe users don’t have a 3-D TV now, but we want to offer them choices,” Lin says. “Why not record 3-D video now and play back your memories in 3-D when 3-D TVs become a must-have household item in the future?”
ITRI is also working on technologies to help Taiwanese firms capitalize on future 3-D trends. Jeng says that the research institute has developed an innovative solution known as i2/3DW that allows both 2-D and 3-D content to be viewed at the same time on the same screen. According to researchers, while 2-D/3-D switching technology for small cellphone displays is available on the market today, the entire display must be switched, meaning that only 2-D or 3-D content can be viewed at one time. The new solution, i2/3DW, on the other hand, allows 2-D and 3-D images to appear together, which would enable users to view 3-D movies and images alongside clear 2-D text, for example.
Oscars of Innovation
In July 2010, i2/3DW won an Annual R&D 100 Award. Organized by R&D Magazine of the United States, the awards have been dubbed the “Oscars of Innovation” because they identify and celebrate the top 100 technology products of each year from about 1,000 submissions around the globe.
Jack Tong, left, HTC Corp.’s president of North Asian operations, and Taiwan Mobile Co. co-president Cliff Lai introduce HTC’s EVO 3-D smartphone. (Photo Courtesy of HTC Corp.)
Jeng says that while ITRI is currently talking to various panel makers about licensing i2/3DW, the technology will grow in popularity only as content with mixed 2-D and 3-D elements becomes more prevalent. When that happens, Taiwanese firms that have licensed i2/3DW will gain an edge over the competition as they will be able to tailor their solutions and sell to the content creators, he says.
In fact, the lack of standard 3-D content in the market has led some potential buyers to hold off on purchasing 3-D-capable hardware. As it has done with promoting the development of i2/3DW panels, ITRI has stepped into the gap by pushing the creation of 3-D content. ITRI paired with local puppet theater company Pili International Multimedia Co., for example, to help produce Taiwan’s first 3-D video of a traditional cloth puppet performance. The 15-minute short film made its debut for die-hard puppet show fans at the Center for Traditional Arts in Yilan County from July 15 to September 18 this year. ITRI primarily assisted Pili with enhancing the film’s 3-D effects in the post-production phase of the project, Jeng says.
As for the future, the research institution’s latest 3-D technology—a real-time device for previewing 3-D video—is expected to help content makers by allowing them to see how the video will look in 3-D during the filming process, Jeng says. The device, which comes with a monitor and has ITRI’s proprietary preview software pre-installed, is expected to give directors feedback on whether they are filming from acceptable 3-D viewing angles or whether images are asymmetrical when viewed with the left and right eyes, which leads to a distorted image. Such instant feedback is expected to cut costs by significantly reducing the amount of time spent on post-production editing. To build on the success of the short 3-D puppet film, Jeng says ITRI is now talking with Pili about making a full-length 3-D puppet movie, with the 3-D video preview system expected to be used extensively in filming the one- to two-hour production.
As seen in the success of Avatar, consumers are willing to pay more to enjoy high-quality 3-D entertainment. According to US-based Variety magazine, 3-D films brought in US$1.3 billion in 2009, representing more than 10 percent of total box-office sales for all movies released that year. Taiwanese companies and researchers are endeavoring to tap that premium market by providing quality 3-D hardware and content. Given their track record of success in producing other high-technology devices such as computers and smartphones, the smart money is on Taiwan’s manufacturers to repeat their accomplishments in this new arena as well.
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Jason Tan is a freelance writer based in Taipei.
Copyright © 2011 by Jason Tan