Rebecca Day

Marchon 3D is planning a staggered rollout of 3D-ready prescription glasses, the company said Monday. Marchon has been working on the designs for 18 months, testing them for “proof of science” prior to going into production with larger quantities, David Johnson, president of Marchon 3D, told Consumer Electronics Daily. The company hopes to have completed the test mode and to begin putting lenses in frames “and have people wear them,” by the end of May, he said. Testing is being handled by VSP Optics, Marchon’s contract lab partner.

Enabling a “good user experience” will ultimately “make or break” 3D as an entertainment medium, said Philip Corriveau, Intel Labs principal engineer of interaction and experience. He spoke during a symposium in New York last week on 3D vision and health sponsored by the American Optometric Association and the 3D@Home Consortium. An experimental psychologist, Corriveau has been studying the human factors involved in driving the adoption of 3D in the home, both for Intel and with the Vision Performance Institute at Pacific University.

Nintendo’s introduction of the 3DS game system next week could have a profound effect on children’s vision in the future, but not in the way Nintendo has warned, said a panel of optometry experts who want to use 3D content to screen for potential vision problems.

Samsung has splintered the tablet market with the introduction of four- and five-inch “ultraportable” models designed to provide “more choice” to consumers, the company said at its spring line show in New York. “We wanted to deliver solutions for different sets of users,” Tim Baxter, president of Samsung America, told us. Prices haven’t been set for the handheld devices, which squeeze into the Galaxy lineup between the company’s smartphones and its 7-inch tablet. Scheduled for May delivery, the ultraportables will be Wi-Fi-only models, Baxter said, and there are no plans now for 3G versions. The models are designed for the “youth market,” he said, but also for any consumers “looking for a second device” who want to stay connected with social media through a product small enough to fit in a purse or pocket and not requiring a wireless data plan.

Dolby Labs and DTS royalty fee growth is being hampered by Chinese TV set makers that are implementing audio codecs in firmware, thus sidestepping Dolby and DTS chip audits Collins Stewart said in an investment report. The report said set makers have been producing TVs with the codec technology but “have not fully reported all TVs shipped with the companies’ codecs.” Dolby and DTS are “likely already aware” of the issue and may have reflected it in forward guidance, the report said, adding that the practice “may limit more meaningful near-term revenue growth opportunities.” Dolby and DTS have dealt “successfully” with similar issues with DVD players in the past, it said. If Dolby and DTS were able to reinforce compliance of royalty payments, it would represent a “significant revenue opportunity,” Collins Stewart said, estimating the attach rates of multimedia TVs in China to be more than 70 percent. In response to the report, a Dolby spokesman told us the company values its brand and intellectual property, and China is a market of “strategic importance.” Dolby “works closely with licensees, retailers, industry associations and government organizations to protect our assets, support fair competition and ensure a level playing field,” he said. DTS did not respond by our deadline.

Google TV missed the boat in first-generation products that launched in October by not understanding what the consumer wants, said panelists at the NexGen Entertainment Home Experience panel at the Digital Hollywood 2011 Media Summit in Manhattan Wednesday. The platform should come back strong in subsequent generations, assuming Google addresses issues that limited its appeal the first time out, panelists said. But Google’s stab at an undefined, fast-moving target shows how far the entertainment industry has to go in defining the home entertainment experience of the future.

CEA launched a new standards process for 3D glasses Wednesday, with hopes of having a standard approved by October of this year, Dave Wilson, CEA director of Technology and Standards, told Consumer Electronics Daily. Principle areas of focus for the standard are the interface between the glasses and the TV, signaling between the TV and the glasses, set up and control and polarization, Wilson said. After proposals have been submitted, the R4WG16 working group will select proposals that will become the basis for standardization. The goal is to create a standard for 3D active eyewear glasses that can “help break down consumer barriers to purchasing 3D TVs and increase the expansion of 3D into the home,” according to the group. Wilson said the introduction of passive 3D TV models this year doesn’t affect the standards process. He said, “3D is a relatively small part of the overall TV market right now and there’s plenty of room for growth for different technologies.” Wilson said the standards group will meet in April to review proposals. Between April and September, the group will work to develop consensus. A vote on the standard in October assumes “work will be done in a timely manner,” Wilson said. The formal Active Eyewear Standards IR Sync request for proposal can be downloaded at www.CE.org/Standards/1401.asp. Proposals are due by 5 p.m. on March 31.

3D films have “notably underperformed expectations” the past few weeks, BTIG said Tuesday, leading it to maintain its sell rating for RealD. The “overwhelming majority” of 3D films introduced since Alice in Wonderland premiered in March 2010 have been disappointments, resulting in a drop in license fee revenue per screen in the U.S. from $4,300 in June 2010 to less than $3,000 in December -- a figure expected to drop this quarter below $2,000, the firm said.

Warner Bros. Digital Distribution said Tuesday it will begin testing movie sales and rentals through the Warner Bros. Entertainment Facebook page. Consumers will use Facebook Credits to buy or rent select titles while remaining within Facebook. According to Warner Bros., fans who “like” The Dark Knight can rent the title through that page and begin watching the movie “within seconds.” The rental fee is 30 Facebook Credits or $3, Warner said. A member buys Facebook Credits using a credit card, PayPal account or a mobile phone. The movie offer is available only in the U.S., Warner said, and additional titles are slated for availability over the next few months.

SAN DIEGO -- Paul Gray, director of TV electronics research for DisplaySearch, warned the TV industry in 2008 that if something didn’t change, the TV set would end up as a commoditized monitor. Something did happen when the Internet and the TV collided, and the industry is banking on the connected TV to lead the product category well into the future. But Gray warned on at the DisplaySearch Flat-Panel Conference last week that Internet video is creating a large traffic jam on the road to the future and few solutions are in sight.