I know I'm in the minority on this board as someone who DOES have a real interest in 3D video. Most here don't, but I asked Michael Malcolm about Kaleidescape's plans for supporting the technology yesterday and learned a bit more about the plans and timeframes.
Short version: it's coming, but NOT anytime soon. If you've been holding off on upgrading players to M-Class, hoping for "M-3d class", then you may not want to hold off. As I think most of you are aware, the players that are on the market today do not support 3D content, so you will need new players in rooms in which you want 3D. Kaleidescape is guessing (not committing) that this will come no sooner than probably 18 months from now.
Today's servers will, of course, have no problem storing and serving the content for 3-D. While the bandwidth needs are a bit higher, the company doesn't currently believe it will be any problem for a typical system on a well-designed network.
The delay on 3D players is not due to Kaleidescape's engineering priorities nor is it due to Kaleidescape not wanting to support the technology. It is due to the fact that Kaleidescape uses Intel chipsets for decoding and video processing, and there is not yet a chipset that has the performance to support the needs of high-quality 3D plus all the other features Kaleidescape needs from their chipset.
As has previously been reported, Mike Malcolm has himself installed a 3D-capable Titan projector in his home theater and is eager to have the technology, but his tech team has reported that it is simply not possible until a more powerful chipset comes from Intel.
So... if you thought you might see this tech coming soon, I'm sorry to disappoint you. But if you worried whether the company will EVER support 3D, or even is taking an interest, then maybe you'll find this news somewhat encouraging.
AND yes... I tried to get information from him about IDV pricing and release date, 3TB drives, new players, new servers, new hardware features, etc. and he would not comment on any of those topics, but pledged to help us get the word out via the forum here as soon as possible.
--josh
Short version: it's coming, but NOT anytime soon. If you've been holding off on upgrading players to M-Class, hoping for "M-3d class", then you may not want to hold off. As I think most of you are aware, the players that are on the market today do not support 3D content, so you will need new players in rooms in which you want 3D. Kaleidescape is guessing (not committing) that this will come no sooner than probably 18 months from now.
Today's servers will, of course, have no problem storing and serving the content for 3-D. While the bandwidth needs are a bit higher, the company doesn't currently believe it will be any problem for a typical system on a well-designed network.
The delay on 3D players is not due to Kaleidescape's engineering priorities nor is it due to Kaleidescape not wanting to support the technology. It is due to the fact that Kaleidescape uses Intel chipsets for decoding and video processing, and there is not yet a chipset that has the performance to support the needs of high-quality 3D plus all the other features Kaleidescape needs from their chipset.
As has previously been reported, Mike Malcolm has himself installed a 3D-capable Titan projector in his home theater and is eager to have the technology, but his tech team has reported that it is simply not possible until a more powerful chipset comes from Intel.
So... if you thought you might see this tech coming soon, I'm sorry to disappoint you. But if you worried whether the company will EVER support 3D, or even is taking an interest, then maybe you'll find this news somewhat encouraging.
AND yes... I tried to get information from him about IDV pricing and release date, 3TB drives, new players, new servers, new hardware features, etc. and he would not comment on any of those topics, but pledged to help us get the word out via the forum here as soon as possible.
--josh
