Three Separate Logos Part of Full HD 3D Initiative, As Members Set Licensing Program

Philips, Sharp, TCL and Toshiba “expressed support” for activities of the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative, said a statement released Tuesday by Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Xpand. The initiative is intended to provide a technology standard for consumer 3D active shutter glasses, the consortium said. The standardization encompasses RF and IR protocols including M-3DI, proprietary protocols from Samsung and Sony and chips provided by Broadcom, Nordic and CSR (CED Aug 9 p1).

A licensing program for the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative is set to launch in late September, according to the consortium, enabling manufacturers of 3D displays, 3D synchronization emitters, 3D active shutter glasses or Bluetooth chip devices for such products to begin developing and manufacturing products using the technology, according to a prepared statement.

Later this year, the consortium plans to certify products at a location in Japan and later, at one in Europe, Ami Dror, chief strategy officer of Xpand, told Consumer Electronics Daily in an email. The certification process is not public, Dror said, and “the vast majority of tests are done by the manufacturer using special tools.” The certification process will cover optical 3D quality and communication protocols, he said.

Once a product has been certified, it can bear “a distinct logo” to give consumers “an easy way to recognize interoperability among 3D active-shutter products, such as 3D TVs and 3D glasses that each bears the logo,” the statement said. When we asked Dror what the logo would say, noting that “the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative” isn’t exactly consumer-friendly logo material, Dror said, “Good question,” adding that he guessed it would be “something like Full HD 3DG” but that nothing has been confirmed. Queries to Panasonic, Philips, and Toshiba weren’t returned by our deadline. Additional questions to Sharp about whether support of the initiative extended to the Elite brand also weren’t answered by our deadline. Dan Schinasi, senior marketing manager for HDTV product planning at Samsung, referred our questions to Samsung headquarters in Seoul for response.

Consumers who buy products with the logo can be confident that “all products that carry the logo work with each other (like USB) and that the 3D quality is high,” Dror said. Products carrying the logo will include TVs, projectors, glasses and emitters, he said. But there will be different logos depending on the communications protocol, he said. Under the program, there will be three “similar” logos for IR, RF and both, Dror said. “If one product carries the IR logo, it will work with all the IR products that carry the logo, etc.,” he said.

Whether consumers will drill down to determine sub-levels of compatibility remains to be seen. Dror didn’t address our question about potential consumer confusion with three separate logos. In response to our question whether consumers will be able to take any glasses bearing the logo and watch any TV bearing the logo, he said, “That’s the goal,” saying certified glasses will also work in Xpand cinemas and projectors. Xpand’s universal glasses will be compatible with all active-shutter devices, even ones not part of the initiative, and they're upgradeable, Dror said.