3D Movies Play in 2D Also

[htpc_user]

While trying out my new TV this week, I noticed that my 3D version of Disney’s A Christmas Carol was incredibly clear and looked “normal” (turns out I was having problems getting my PS3 to output in 3D) without glasses.  I know very little about 3D right now as I just haven’t bothered reading up on it that much.  But I thought 3D blurays would look blurry or at least different.  I didn’t know it was possible to play a 3D bluray in a 2D player and have it play like a normal disc.  Today I came across an article on 3D’s final specs, and it stated that 3D discs will be backward compatible with existing 2D players and will still have full 1080p output.  If that’s the case, then why put out 2 different versions of a movie?  Why have the standard bluray and 3D bluray available separately?  I bought the 4 disc Disney’s A Christmas Carol when it came out, and I only got the 4 disc version with the 3D disc because it ended up being cheaper than the 3 disc because of the coupon I got from Disney’s site.  But why even have a 4 disc?  Is it so companies like Disney can charge extra for a “more disc” version?  Or perhaps is it because of the little extra that 3D takes up on the disc there’s not enough room for extras?

[swoon]

The studios are likely putting out separate discs for multiple reasons. It could be the space issue or perhaps older players would need some firmware update to be compatible playing back 3D discs in 2D mode. I think the studios also want to differentiate (and thus charge more) for 3D vs. 2D.

Another interesting thing you might notice is that 2D playback has been disabled on the 3D A Christmas Carol BD. The 2010 World Cup BD is apparently mastered this way as well.

[babgvant]

MVC is supposed to be backwards compatible, so most 3D BD should also play in 2D.  The player will decode and present one eye’s worth of data.

[swoon]

[quote=babgvant]

MVC is supposed to be backwards compatible, so most 3D BD should also play in 2D.  The player will decode and present one eye’s worth of data.

[/quote]

In theory at least. I wouldn’t be surprised though if there are older decoders that choke on an MVC stream and thus this is why some newer 3D BDs are apparently 3D only.

[babgvant]

[quote=swoon]

In theory at least. I wouldn’t be surprised though if there are older decoders that choke on an MVC stream and thus this is why some newer 3D BDs are apparently 3D only.

[/quote]

Thought I threw enough caveats/qualifiers in there 🙂 I’d guess that that decision was more marketing based.

Too bad the pool isn’t statistically significant yet, so we’ll have to wait to call this one.

[htpc_user]

[quote=swoon]

The studios are likely putting out separate discs for multiple reasons. It could be the space issue or perhaps older players would need some firmware update to be compatible playing back 3D discs in 2D mode. I think the studios also want to differentiate (and thus charge more) for 3D vs. 2D.

Another interesting thing you might notice is that 2D playback has been disabled on the 3D A Christmas Carol BD. The 2010 World Cup BD is apparently mastered this way as well.

[/quote]

I was able to play the 3D disc of A Christmas Carol in 2D.  It did so on the PS3 any way; I’m not sure what it would do on any other (2D) bluray player.  But I wouldn’t think there would be anything “special” about the PS3 that would allow it.

[swoon]

I was able to play the 3D disc of A Christmas Carol in 2D.  It did so on the PS3 any way; I’m not sure what it would do on any other (2D) bluray player.  But I wouldn’t think there would be anything “special” about the PS3 that would allow it.

That’s good to know. I have the disc, but haven’t tried it yet. Blu-ray.com review stated:

Please note that 2D playback on this 3D disc has been disabled; to see the 2D image, viewers are forced to play the included 2D-only Blu-ray disc.

[htpc_user]

Aaron, I take it back…kind of.  As soon as I posted my last reply, I remembered that before I updated the firmware on my new TV, I connected the PS3 to it and tried the 3D disc.  After several seconds a message came on that said, “This disc has determined that either the TV or the bluray player is not capable of 3D playback.  Please make sure that your equipment is capable and up to date and try again.”  It was something along those lines.  So you are right.  If you were trying to play it in a secondary room where the player and/or TV are not 3D then you wouldn’t be able to get past that message.

But I was having some issues with the PS3 and/or the TV that day.  So when I was trying to show off the 3D to my wife that night I realized that it wasn’t even in 3D; I felt pretty stupid when I realized what we were watching was normal, LOL.  But in my defense it had been a long day hooking everything up and trying to get everything working correctly.  So I guess it “fooled” the disc into thinking everything was 3D capable, but then when it started the PS3 didn’t output it in 3D because of whatever issues it was having.  I guess that couldn’t be re-created on a normal basis.

Then this leads me back to a problem.  When I read that 3D discs were watchable in 2D with no loss in quality I thought that was good news, and I thought that if it’s only a small difference in price that I could buy a 3D version and not have to worry about only being able to play it in one place.  But if companies are going to disable the 2D playback then what’s the point of it being backward compatible?  You won’t know until you try a disc whether you can play it in 2D or not, unless you happen to read about it.  And I’m not going to buy it on the “chance” that it will play.  As long as they keep putting out combos with the 2D and 3D bluray included, then it won’t matter.  But I’ve got to believe that at some point we will stop seeing these Bluray + DVD + Digital Copy (+ 3D Bluray).  Then you will be forced to choose.

[swoon]

We’ll just have to wait and see what the studios do. FWIW, the 2010 BD does explicitly state on the front cover that it is 3D only.

[htpc_user]

[quote=swoon]

We’ll just have to wait and see what the studios do. FWIW, the 2010 BD does explicitly state on the front cover that it is 3D only.

[/quote]

Where does it state “3D only”?  I looked this afternoon after reading your post thinking it might help with finding out that info on future discs…you know, show me what to look for.  But I didn’t see it any where (other than it just saying 3D).

Last night I was looking for 3D movies on Amazon, and I came across the new Resident Evil that is coming out this month.  I noticed that it says, “This Blu-ray disc will display only in 2D without special hardware.”

Edit: After posting, I looked up A Christmas Carol, and it says the same thing.  So Amazon’s info is probably not a reliable source to tell you if the 2D has been disabled.  They are probably making a general statement going with the assumption that the discs are playable in 2D.

[swoon]

[quote=htpc_user]

[quote=swoon]

We’ll just have to wait and see what the studios do. FWIW, the 2010 BD does explicitly state on the front cover that it is 3D only.

[/quote]

Where does it state “3D only”?  I looked this afternoon after reading your post thinking it might help with finding out that info on future discs…you know, show me what to look for.  But I didn’t see it any where (other than it just saying 3D).

Last night I was looking for 3D movies on Amazon, and I came across the new Resident Evil that is coming out this month.  I noticed that it says, “This Blu-ray disc will display only in 2D without special hardware.”

Edit: After posting, I looked up A Christmas Carol, and it says the same thing.  So Amazon’s info is probably not a reliable source to tell you if the 2D has been disabled.  They are probably making a general statement going with the assumption that the discs are playable in 2D.

[/quote]

 

I am looking at the front cover of “The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D” BD as I type this and it states:

ONLY PLAYS IN 3D

plainly on the front cover.

[htpc_user]

Ohhhh…I thought you were talking about A Christmas Carol.  I was wondering what you meant by “2010”.  Duh, I’m a dummy.

[Author]

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