Now this one I could see being bundled with 3D branded Blu-ray players and televisions during the holidays. Many people were concerned about the release of the 3D DVD version of Avatar because there really wasn’t any solid news on its release. All anyone heard was news of the standard DVD release.

Well for those of you Avatar fans, it looks like James Cameron put to rest any rumors that we would be waiting years to see the movie come to 3D blu-ray.  In an interview posted on the Wall Street Journal blog section Cameron says:

“It’s all right on schedule,” said Cameron. “We’ll do the Blu-ray and the standard def DVD April 22^nd, that’s our plan as of right now, and that’ll be pretty much bare bones. And then we’ll do a value-added DVD and a 3-D Blu-ray in I think November sometime.”

Cameron also talked about wanting to do a sequel to Avatar but wants to do it much faster and cheaper. We also have been hearing rumors of some of his other movies which are or have been converted to 3D.  Maybe we’ll see them appear for the holiday season as well.

Source: Wall Street Journal

So the only thing stopping you from viewing 3D right now may be a pair of glasses and actual 3D content.  Don’t believe all the hype about insane costs.  Manufacturers make poor business decisions at times, but creating a popular market that the average consumer cannot enjoy isn’t likely.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. –(Business Wire)– Dec 23, 2009 HDMI Licensing, LLC, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface® (HDMI®) specification, today announced, on behalf of the HDMI Founders, the following regarding 3D formats and the HDMI Specification Version 1.4:

1. In order to respond to recent input from the industry, the HDMI Consortium will meet in late January 2010 to add an additional 3D format (tentatively named “Top/Bottom”) to the HDMI specification, supporting the use of this format over HDMI.

a. The exact date for this announcement is undetermined. The Consortium has committed to resolving this issue in January 2010 and publishing a document soon thereafter.

2. Legacy set-top boxes (those that are already deployed in the market) are required to comply with the HDMI Specification Version 1.4 requirements for 3D functionality even if only implementing one or more of the 3D formats in Appendix H of the specification.

a. In order to meet the needs of the market, the HDMI Founders have decided to allow legacy set-top boxes to use formats contained in Appendix H without having to implement the HDMI specification’s mandatory 3D formats, provided that they fully comply with the signaling protocol defined in Appendix H. This will continue to be in effect and will be reevaluated once a mandatory 3D broadcast format is defined.

i. However, legacy set-top boxes that do not support the mandatory 3D formats may not claim 3D functionality as defined by the updated HDMI Adopted Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines.

”As a leading global standard for HD connectivity, the HDMI Consortium takes the market’s needs very seriously,” says Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing, LLC. “3D is a nascent market and thus continues to evolve quickly. We have taken input from leading industry associations and this announcement reflects the HDMI Founders’ commitment to continuously and proactively set the foundation for innovations that will deliver the next generation of content. The addition of the new format will secure the application of 3D for broadcasting, in addition to the existing applications for Blu-ray and gaming.”

For more information about the HDMI specification please visit http://www.hdmi.org.

3D Blu-ray is encoded in a new MVC-AVC format, which passes through a regular 1080p video for incompatible hardware, but provides a 3D image for the software and decode hardware capable of sussing it out. Right now NVIDIA’s 3D Blu-ray capable on existing GeForce GT 220 and GT 240 GPUs, along with its upcoming Fermi cards due next year.

UPDATE: Amazon.com appears for have an Acer G245 monitor listed for sale, but it doesn’t mention the refresh rate, so we don’t think it is the actual 3D monitor discussed above.

“As a contributing member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, AMD is working closely with technology partners as the format specifications are finalized over the coming year in order to help ensure compatibility with upcoming AMD hardware. At the upcoming 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, AMD and CyberLink will jointly preview Blu-ray stereoscopic 3D entertainment for those in attendance. AMD will be located in the Grand Lobby (GL-8 and GL-10) of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The new standard is one of many 3D technologies AMD openly supports, along with 3D DLP televisions, dual-panel and line interleaved 3D monitors, and is part of AMD’s initiative to further both the art of 3D entertainment, and its adoption in homes worldwide through close collaboration with 3D technology partners, including OEMs, software developers and content distributors.”

Read more about Cyberlink’s 3D CODEC.

“SENSIO is a company of firsts – it was the first to do live 3D broadcasts, to present a Full 3D HD solution and to have its format standardized. We are very pleased to cooperate with CyberLink, the PC digital multimedia development leader. This agreement is another step that confirms our momentum in the consumer electronics market and that moves us closer to our objective of becoming the de facto standard for PC platforms, playstations and 3D televisions,” explains Nicholas Routhier, SENSIO’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

It’s important to remember that DVD or Blu-ray discs that have S3D content simply aren’t going to be viewable unless you have the proper CODEC to view the content. So as the firmware for optical devices will support the reading (and some writing) of the content, to view it within an operating system you need the proper decompression support.

While the initial shipments of flat-panel 3DTVs will be small in 2010 due to premium pricing strategies by the large TV manufacturers, volumes are likely to grow quickly in just a few short years as manufacturers begin to implement 3-D as a standard feature across their HD flat-panel product lines”, said Alfred Poor, author of the report and publisher of HDTV Almanac in the U.S.

I’m assuming that this number would include “3D ready” TVs that support the 120mhz refresh rates. Sony is well positioned to bring the 3DTV market into the home if they are able to leverage their future Playstation 3 systems and the newest Blu-Ray standards. They are in the process of developing active shutter glasses to be used in the future.

Other than working with James Cameron on custom built cameras, Sony has big plans to showcase 3DTV during the 2012 Olympic games, which is a story we will be following closely. Read more in their newsletter.

-Final 3d blu-ray specs will be released later this year and they will be display format agnostic, which basically means that no matter the type of display (plasma or LCD) or whether it uses active or passive glasses, all players will be compatible as long as it is a proper 3D display.  So no worries about proprietary brand specs.

-There is no 3D blu-ray spec format war.  All the industry players are cooperating and working together on a final spec.

-3D blu-ray players will be a premium price product, but as with all technology, it is expected to drop over time.

-There were serious rumors from multiple sources that the PS3 will be 3D compatible with only a firmware update.  The only new equipment necessary for 3D gaming and 3D blu-ray movies will be glasses.

-The majority manufacturers made a point to stress that 3D displays are here to stay.  That’s great to hear.