Hey all,

www.stereoscopic3dmovies.com (http://www.stereoscopic3dmovies.com) has some great 3D movies in blu-ray and dvd, plus awesome deals on 3dtv's.

I was wondering if there are any experienced members in this forum who have built their own home theatre setup for 3D stereoscopic content using the passive polarization method. There were a few things I could use some help with. Before posting this message I had researched all over the internet, in this forum, googling, the works but I could not find the answers or I should say the right 'materials' I need to build this home theatre. If there have already been topics about this on the forum that I may have missed, I apologize and I hope you don't mind directing me to those threads. This is going to be a long post so I hope people don't mind reading a lot.

I'm building my first home theatre 3D stereoscopic projection room. I will be getting a couple of Optoma HD7100 projectors. There is a review of it here, http://www.projectorreviews.com/optoma/hd7100/. I will use them with 2 linear polarized filters in front of the projector lens that will be projected onto a 140" (diagonal) silver screen with a pair of linear polarized glasses that you wear to watch the 3D content. This theatre room will be in a light controlled dark room. I've researched about the differences between the linear and circular polarizer's but the differences are very small in terms of 3D quality and the price in comparison is huge. So I will be sticking with the linear polarization method for now and maybe upgrade to circular in the future.

Before going on I would like to mention that this whole setup is for the average joe, a poor-man's theatre room, and a do-it-yourself as much as you can to save some bucks project. So the goal is really to find the best and cheapest material to get almost similar (or hopefully identical/superior) results from professional products.

One of the issues I have are finding the best polarizer materials for the filter and 3D glasses that is made of great quality and is relatively cheap. The goal is to achieve as little ghosting as possible. There were a number of online stores I found that sell cheap polarizer material. Here are a few:

http://polarization.com/
http://www.3dstereo.com/viewmaster/pj-pfilt-3x3.html
http://www.3dlens.com/shop/polarizer.php
http://www.berezin.com/3d/3dglasses.htm#Polarized
http://www.studio3d.com/pages/store.html

Does anyone have any experience with any of these online stores and can comment on the quality of their polarizer products? Another solution I found on the net was to buy polarizer filters that are used with photo cameras. I found this solution here, http://www.scec.org/geowall/filters.html. In trying to achieve the best possible quality and the least amount of ghosting (cross-talk) when viewing 3D content. Which polarizer would be the best? The filters that are used for photo cameras? Or from one of the links above? I read that if you use different polarizer's for the filters then the ones used on the 3D glasses, that this will add to the ghosting effect. So if this is true, this would mean that using the filters used for camera lens wouldn't be the best idea, because the polarizer on the 3D glasses would be different. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

The other issue is building your own silver screen for 3D. I don't have the budget to spend $300-1000 on a readymade silver screen from professional companies. The best solution and possibly the cheapest depending on the size of your screen if you were to buy a professional made product was the 'Ultra Silver 3D' paint from Goosystems (www.goosystems.com). This product looks great and seems to work really well. But it's still a few hundred too expensive for me. Just for the sake of this thread I will post up some places where you can buy readymade professional silver screens for anyone who does have the money to spend on it.

http://www.paintonscreen.com/index.html
http://www.silverfabric3d.de/html/sf_silver3d.htm
http://www.lighthouseprojection.com/index.html
http://www.berezin.com/3d/screens.htm
http://t-works.en.ecplaza.net/product.asp
http://www.stewartfilm.com/
http://www.harkness-screens.us/ss_3d_spectral240.htm
http://www.dalite.com/

I came across two extremely helpful and inspiring links on the internet about building your own 3D projector and silver screen from scratch.

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15333&mode=linear
http://www.allinbox.com/vp3d/vp3d.htm (in French, use babelfish to translate)

They did a great job explaining everything in detail. One of them painted their wall to use as a silver screen and the other used a special silver fabric. The best type of paint to use for a silver screen is apparently a white metallic paint, or essentially any kind of metal paint which have polarization properties. Another tip I found was to use a matte paint over the silver screen to get rid of most or all of the unwanted bright hotspots. But would this effect the polarization of the screen? You can even use silver aerosol paint spray cans to make the silver screen with decent results. Another person on the internet (forgot where) mentioned he used silver nylon used to cover vehicles that seemed to have worked very well. I have not been able to confirm any of this myself yet, just simply reading what other people have done with some results.

I have yet to experiment all the different types of silver paints/fabrics to find the best one to use as a silver screen for 3D. I was hoping there would be someone on the forum who could point us to a specific kind of paint or fabric that they have used that seems to work really well with minimal to zero ghosting. That they can also find in your local hardware/paint/fabric store. In these forums I found many people talking about specific types of paints to use like the 'Behr Silver Screen' or the 'Black Widow PFG' etc. Hopefully we can create a similar thread here except for 3D silver screens specifically.

I would really appreciate any kind of help that anyone can offer on this topic/project. I will continue to post my own progress with building my home theatre 3D setup and will post any useful information I may come across or find.

www.stereoscopic3dmovies.com (http://www.stereoscopic3dmovies.com) has some great 3D movies in blu-ray and dvd, plus awesome deals on 3dtv's.

Cheers,
Varinder

Hey guys,

I've been posting up my progress building this home theatre setup at a couple places. I was hoping maybe someone from here can shed some light on this topic if they've had any experience building a 3D stereoscopic projection theatre.

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/3dtv/message/18981
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2569

I'm not sure if you have to register to see the threads however.

I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding which of these 2
projectors to get, the Optoma HD7100 which has great lens shift
capabilities which would make it very easy to align the left/right
images. Or the, Sharp Z3000 which is superior in picture quality with
better contrast and brightness compared to the HD7100 but does not
have any lens shift options besides 'digital keystone correction'.
Those are the main differences.

Will using the digital keystone correction on the Z3000 ruin the 3D
effect? If not, i would prefer to go with a projector with superior
picture quality.

Appreciate any help, thanks.
-Varinder

You are the first to create a thread devoted to this topic in this forum that I can recall. So that means not a lot of hands on experience to offer advice.
If we knew anything about this subject we would be happy to offer advice.

The only thing that comes close is that from time to time there have been threads about people interested in "stacking" projectors to gain the additional brightness and contrast. Other than the CRT guys (Blendzilla) there hasn't been a lot of adopters of the concept.

Devilry,

I have been looking for months for a forum that had progress on 3D Projection set ups, and like you have had no luck so this is GREAT!! Please continue to post your progress and let me know where you get with everything. I am very interested in applying this concept to my home theatre as well.

As for that I have also been looking at doing the 2 projector set up with polarizers and a silver screen, but have not been able to get much farther than that in my research.

I am an avid fan of 3D and have been waiting decades for it to emerge.

Personally, I think waiting a year or two for the different 3D methods to "shake out" into one acceptable standard is best for me.

From what I have read, I don't think you need to buy two separate projectors and try to allign them to achieve 3D.

There are dual 3D projectors available today that are all-in-one units. There are very good stereoscopic units that use RF to send the dual 60 hz. streams to the matching shutter glasses which is one stereoscopic solution. XpanD is a company that is selling systems to commercial theaters and also to consumer level users. Do a Google for XpanD 3D.

Barco makes stereoscopic systems for business and if you do a Google for 3D compatible and stereoscopic 3D projectors you will find a lot of information but again projectors are on the market and more will be coming in 2009 that are dual but all-in-one specifically designed for 3D stereoscopic which, IMO, is a lot easier solution to buy and implement that trying to deploy and align two separate projectors.

I think another great site is dcinematoday.com which has a lot of information and a lot of links to 3D. There are several 3D solutions now deploying into theaters and I don't think all of them require the expensive silver screen component.

Anyway, I WANT 3D but I want to buy 3D specific projector with assurance it is made for and compatible with all of the new 3D movies and other content that will be produced for consumption in 2009 and specially in 2010.
Best of Luck

Hi Guys,

Polarized, multi-projector 3-d setup is a different league but could not help mentioning here that I have an Optoma H80 with 13 feets curved screen setup and I just bought the Anaglyph movie 'Journey to the center of earth" in Blu-ray.

The experience is spectacular. I have had seen the movie in Real-D theater, but the depth of the 3-D in anaglyph setup is not much less effective than Real-D.

I have a question, when you setup your multi-project 3-d setup, where would you get the movies in this format? Or you don't have to?

Thanks
Prabhat

Hey guys,

I completed my DIY 3D home theatre setup awhile ago. But I've been so busy working on my own 3D film I haven't had time to post up a really big post about how I made my entire setup, so others who are interested have a good idea what's needed to make their very own 3D setup. I hope to post this up some time soon.

I think people will be surprised how easy it is to make your own 3D home theatre room.

By the way, I agree that anaglyph is a pretty good format to view 3D nowadays, but it's not nearly as good as the polarized method used by Real D and IMAX. I'll be posting up screenshots as well so people can see what I see in 3D. It's pretty damn awesome.

In terms of content, there isn't too much out there. But that will quickly changing as 3D becomes more popular. There are some great sites that sell quite a number of full colored 3D films. I hope its ok to post these sites I'm not too sure. http://underground3dmovies.com/
http://www.3d-geek.net/

There may be a lack of movie content, but any PC game works in 3D. I've played a number of games in 3D like Call of Duty 4, Fallout 3, Counter-Strike, Gears of War, etc. Extraordinary in 3D. Visit www.iz3d.com for their drivers that will support your dual projector system. These guys have really awesome up-to-date support for 3D drivers.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Varinder

Hey Varinder,

Your experience is fantastic!

i've been wanting to do this for a long time- and waited to have some money to buy good projectors and camcorders.

I want to start asap, and would be glad for any advice. Such as the basic questions:

- does DLP is really better than 3LCD for the polarization?
- does the HR (such as 1080p) make a difference?
- considering the loss of luminosity caused by the polarization, what luminosity would you recomend for the projectors?
- did you finally use the key-shift to align the 2 projectors? did you put them side by side or one top?
- with the linear polarization, how do you feel when you're not in front of the screen / when you tilt your head?
- is polarization the best way to produce 3d without headache for the spectators?
- when recording in 3d, how do you align the 2 camcorders?
- how do you synhronise the 2 video and what is the impact on the 3D if there is a small error?
- what is the result when recording in low luminosity (like 3d scenes by night...)
- what to do with the 2nd sound recorded by the 2nd camcorder?
- what software do you use to build the movie / project ?
- globally, is it valuable to invest in this 2 projectors 3d system compared to alternatives such as the "DepthQ-WXGA HD 3D Video Projector" ?
- what was your budget in $ and time for this project?

I am eager to discover your next post!

Thanks a lot,
Arnaud

Hey guys,

Early on in the year I wanted to build my very own 3D home theatre and there were a few challenges I had to face while trying to build my own 3D theatre. But, after a ton of research and going through the whole process of building one, I finally completed the 3D theatre over a month ago. Aside from the few challenges I faced that can be easily avoided or can be prepared for, it's very easy to make your very own 3D theatre at home.

I'm a giant 3D enthusiast as well as a passionate 3D filmmaker and I'd like to help get the word out there that 3D is the next big thing. For gaming and movies. The problem with 3D today is that there isn't a lot of content out there, but that will soon change by the end of this year. More and more people are getting into this 3D hype, major Hollywood studios, game developers, some of the biggest filmmakers in the world have made the permanent switch to 3D and for good reason. So, if you want to be one of the early adopters of this new wave of technology and the way things are meant to be seen and experienced. Here's a very detailed instruction on how you can build your very own 3D theatre at home.

Now before I go on, I should mention that there are a number of ways you can view 3D. I recommend going on google for a bit and research around on all the different formats you can see 3D content. The method I'll be using is known as passive stereo, it's a similar method used by IMAX.

I was planning to take really cool 3D photos of my whole setup as well as 3D photos of the 3D content the way I see it from where I sit. But I don't have my camera available for that so I will have to upload them next time, hopefully next week sometime. So for now I will have to post up crappy pictures taken with my phone.

What you need:

2 x Projectors
(I have the Marantz VP8600)
You will need two projectors that are preferably identical in make and model. The main reason that you will want to have two identical projectors is that when you project the images out of the two projectors that the colors, the brightness, contrast, etc are the exact same. That way each eye is getting the same information. When each eye is seeing something different, like the colors, one projector is brighter or darker than the other. This will produce headaches for the viewer and the 3D image will look wrong.

How many Lumens do you need? The higher the better of course, but what would be a high amount of lumens? Well, let me mention that the projectors I have are only 800 lumens. Now that seems pretty damn low right. But, after I did an intense amount of research on projectors. I realized that the amount of lumens that most if not all projectors out there state they have are quite a bit exaggerated. So, I prefer not to even look at how many lumens a particular projector has. The best thing you can do is check out as many reviews on a projector you are interested in and see what people say about the brightness level. Let me tell you that the 800 lumens my projector can kick out is pretty damn bright and I'm very pleased with the results. But again, everyone will have their own personal preference. So what I think is bright, might not be bright enough for some. So always take that into consideration when checking out reviews.

There is one important factor you should keep in mind when choosing a projector for 3D. When you are using the passive stereo method, it's hard to determine how much light you'll be losing exactly but it's safe to bet around 50% of the light coming out of your projector when it travels through a polarized filter, bounces off a silver screen and going through another polarized filter that you'll be wearing, the 3D glasses. So for 3D, brightness and lumens pay a much more important role than they normally would for 2D viewing.

DLP or LCD? Once again, it comes down to personal preference. DLP's to me have nice contrast and vivid colors, while LCD's offer a huge amount of lumens and brightness. There is a huge advantage and disadvantage with LCD projectors when it comes to 3D. The disadvantage is that some lcd projectors may not work with a passive stereo method. Because some lcd projectors use some kind of polarization mechanism to direct the light out of the projector and this will have a negative effect on the polarization setup for 3D. However, one major advantage lcd projectors have is that if you do find an lcd projector that works with the passive stereo method. If money is no issue, you can buy these fairly expensive polarized filters called StereoPol filters (or SPARS) that allow a lot more light to pass through which would allow for a much brighter image. Compared to regular polarized filters, you will only lose around 25% of the light. Money was an issue for me and I did not know which lcd projectors would work with the passive polarization method so I opted for a DLP projector. Also because I prefer nicer contrast and colors over brightness/lumens, others may prefer it the other way around.

A huge bonus that will save you a lot of trouble when aligning both of your projectors so each image is perfectly on top of each other when its projected on the silver screen. Look for a projector that can do both vertical and horizontal lens shift that physically/mechanically moves the lens. This will help you out a lot and you won't have any keystone issues when aligning the two projectors. Try to avoid using the digital keystone correction or digital lens shift. Just avoid anything that you can 'digitally' change from the menu on your projector. This will contribute to weird artifacts in your image which will make your 3D look wrong as well as giving you possible headaches.

1 x Silver Screen
(The name of the silver fabric I found is called "Monroe" used over polyurethane.)
The second most important thing to consider once you've chosen your projectors is the silver screen you need to have to project the image on to. Why a silver screen rather than a normal white or grey screen? In order for the two images being projected by the two projectors to go into the correct eye, we need to direct the light to where we want it to go using polarization. Normal white and grey screens do not have any (or very little) 'polarization properties' on the screen. So when you project the images out of the projectors through the polarized filters and you project it at the white or grey screen. The polarized light information won't be able to bounce off the screen and enter through the 3D glasses you'll be wearing and you won't see the 3D effect. What you'll end up seeing is a double-image on the screen. Silver screens retain the polarization properties of the light as it hits the screen and bounces the light to the correct eye letting you see a 3D image.

The higher the polarization properties on the silver screen, the lower the chance of seeing any 'ghosting-effect' also known as 'cross-talk'. The ghosting-effect is when you see both the images when you're watching something in 3D, I'm sure you've noticed this at times during a 3d film. The reason this happens is because, the information that was supposed to only go into your left eye for example, is leaking a bit into your right eye. So one of your eyes (maybe both), are receiving both the images into one eye, when it's only supposed to get one image. Just like your real eyes, each of our eyes sees its own point of view of the world and our brains combine the two and we see 3D, depth. If one of the eyes for some odd reason gets the same signal as the other eye, we would be seeing double and not a single 3D view. That would be weird huh.

Should you buy a professional grade silver screen or make your own? If you got the money, get a professional grade silver screen. Stewart Film Screens offer one of the best silver screens in the world, but they are also extremely expensive. There are a number of different companies out there that produce awesome silver screens and range in price. You can ask for a small sample from most of these companies and compare their screens and choose which one you think is the best or most bang for your buck.

However, If you're like me and don't have a lot of money to spend on expensive pro silver screens just yet and like the do-it-yourself motto. Then there's also an extremely inexpensive way of building your own silver screen and the results in the end are incredible considering the amount you'll have saved compared to buying one pre-made. In the end it only cost me $50 canadian to find a silver fabric to use as the 135" screen plus $20 canadian for the wood to be used as the frame. I've compared the silver fabric I found with most of the well known professional silver screens out there and it holds up against them especially when you compare the price and quality.

Now, in order to find the silver fabric I ended up using, I did have to go through a bit of work to find it. I went to a couple of local fabric stores, bought a ton of silver fabric samples I thought might work. A great way to test out how well the polarization properties hold up in the silver fabrics is by taking a pair of 3D polarized glasses and a flashlight. Shine the flashlight at the silver fabric, hold the 3d glasses in front of the fabric where the flashlight is shining and rotate the 3D glasses and see how well the 3D glasses block and lets light through. If your able to rotate the glasses so it goes completely black, you've found a pretty good silver fabric that has great polarization properties. But that's only half the battle, sure the polarization is great, but what about when you project an image on this silver fabric? How good does the image look? Well again, that depends on you and what you find acceptable. Before I found the perfect silver screen, I had spent maybe $30-40 on samples, not too bad.

One additional problem I faced with the 'perfect' silver screen I found was that it had a very ugly looking bright hot spot on the screen due to the reflective properties of the silver fabric. I could see the bright white light coming from the projector on my screen and it was just unacceptable. Luckily I was able to find a quick and easy solution to this. I went to my local home depot store and grabbed an aerosol spray can called Tremclad Clear with a Satin shine. I sprayed this over my entire screen and there goes my hotspot, now it was perfect and ready to be used.

2 x Polarized Filters
There are two main types of polarized filters. Linear and circular. A quick google search on these two filter types will teach you everything you need to know about how they work with accordance to light. IMAX uses linear polarized filters. RealD uses circular. The difference? With linear polarizers, because of the way light travels through them, you can't tilt your head while you're watching the movie or else the 3D effect will be lost. You'll be sending the wrong information to both eyes so the illusion won't work anymore. Circular filters let you tilt your head around a lot more without having any negative effect on the 3D imagery. This may not be 100% true but, linear polarized filters produce less ghosting (cross-talk) than circular polarized filters. From my testing between the two I opted for linear polarized filters because of the minimal ghosting effect. Not only that, linear polarized filters and glasses are much cheaper than circular. And who really cares about not being able to tilt your head, I don't normally find myself watching a movie or playing a game with my head tilted 30-40 degrees.

There are a number of places you can buy these filters on the net, google is your friend. I have yet to buy a proper pair of linear polarized filters so at the moment I'm using a pair of cut up 3D glasses and put them on top of the lens of my projectors, as you can see in the pics.

Looks pretty professional right? Yeah, I know it sucks. But hey, the point is, using even simple 3d glasses as your filters for 3D still works really really well. Some brands and types are better than others that allow more light to get through the filters as well as less ghosting. But, the biggest factor that will determine how much ghosting you see will be with the silver screen. So, spend your money on a solid screen first than get a decent pair of filters.

This may or may not be obvious but just to be clear here. You can't use linear polarized filters on your projectors and wear a pair of circular polarized 3D glasses or vice versa. Just won't work. Your filters and 3d glasses have to match.

Optional Equipment (if necessary):

A Mirror
If you have a small room, or a projector that has a long throw range like mine does and you're not getting the screen size you were hoping to get because you don't have enough room. Well to solve that issue, you can use a mirror to bounce the projected image coming from the projector to the screen like the setup I have here in the pics I posted up.

A few things to know about using mirrors to bounce the image around. Use 'front surface mirrors'. These mirrors will retain most of the light as it bounces off to the screen. You will also avoid seeing a double image. Most of the mirrors people use in their homes are 'rear surface mirrors'. Where the mirror is in the back covered by a thin layer of clear plastic so it gets protected by scratches and such. Because of the plastic layer, when light hits the mirror, it has to go through the plastic layer then reaches the rear mirror and bounces back again through the plastic to the screen. This will create a double image out of your single image. Some websites will show you some good diagrams of how that looks. Because front surface mirrors don't have that protective plastic layer. It's very fragile and easy to scratch. Not only that, front surface mirrors are usually quite expensive. But, once again if you search around on google, there are a number of tutorials people have posted on how to make your cheap rear surface mirror into a front surface mirror.

I was planning on using one of my rear surface mirrors and using one of the tutorials to turn it into a front mirror. But, when I tested out how well the rear surface mirror worked. I was surprised with the results. I barely noticed this 'double-image' effect that’s supposed to occur with rear surface mirrors. I had to stand 1-2 feet in front of the screen to see what I thought was the double-image effect. So, I decided the rear surface mirror was good enough for now instead of going through the hassle of making a front surface mirror. I probably lost a bit of light as well using the rear surface because of the plastic layer. But I was pretty happy with the results for now.

The optimum position and angle of the mirror should be placed at the center of the screen at a 45-degree angle. It is also better to angle the mirror vertically and not horizontally. If you angle it horizontally you will introduce focus problems where one side of the screen is clear and it gradually goes out of focus as it goes across the screen to the other end.

Finished, 3D-time!

So, that's it, it's that easy. It may seem a bit daunting or complicated at first if your new to 3D, but it's very easy to understand it all over a short time. It's very basic stuff. If you check out the 3D I'm seeing, it's pretty awesome with the setup I have and it's not even complete yet. I still have to make a better stand for my projectors instead of the thing its sitting on right now shown in the picture. The way I placed the filters on my projectors isn't a good idea and I'm planning to build a proper filter holder when I get better filters. I'm still using some crappy 3d glasses that I'm using as my polarized filters. So if I purchased better filters I would get a much brighter image plus a lot less ghosting which I'm not getting much of anyway. I'm using a rear surface mirror, so I'm losing light there. If you have the money to buy a front surface mirror or to make one. You'll be able to achieve better lighting as well as low ghosting. And the silver screen itself is hand-made used by fabrics found by your local fabric store. Imagine how much better a professional grade silver screen would be. I just hope my setup proves that you can make a very cheap, dirty, and affordable 3D home theatre with pretty kickass results. And if you got the money to buy higher grade equipment, you'll get an even better experience and quality. Once I complete my setup properly, I will post up more pictures again.

Total cost for my 3D theatre using passive stereo setup:
2x Projectors = $2000 ($1000 per projector)

DIY Silver screen
Silver fabric = $50
Wood frame = $10
Black fabric for frame = $10
Searching for right fabric = $30

Polarized filters = $1 for a pair of 3d glasses

What you can do with your new 3D setup:

3D Gaming
A company known as iZ3D specializes in 3D hardware and software. These guys are all about giving the pc gamer the best 3D experience and they have up-to-date support for your latest drivers. With their drivers you can play almost any game in 3D. If your using a passive dual projector 3D setup, you will have to purchase the "Dual Output" drivers from these guys. You can find more info on them here www.iz3d.com.

3D Movies
A very well known video player appropriately called Stereoscopic Player from www.3dtv.at is what most people use to watch 3D content. Where can you find 3D content? It's out there, but it's hard to find as not many people make 3D content yet. But there are a couple guys who specialize in turning 3D films that were released in anaglyph (red/blue format) and converted them into full color 3D films that you can use with your dual projector setup. Check these sites out for more info:
http://underground3dmovies.com/
www.3d-geek.net/

3D Images
Another well known program called Stereo Photo Maker is used to view your 3D images which you can download for free here http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/. Fortunately there's a lot of people on the internet that have posted tons of really awesome 3D images. I highly recommend checking them out.

The Future of 3D!?
3D bluray's are in the works and may start to come out by the end of this year.

3D televised broadcasts such as sports shows are in the works.

Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have 3D games in the works. Including James Cameron's next big epic film Avatar which is being made into a 3D game by Ubisoft.

A company called NEXT3D (www.next3d.com) is preparing an incredible service on almost every system out there from the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles to the PC. With this awesome service you can download a number of 3D films like IMAX 3D films to user created content that you can watch easily on your 3D setup.

There are a lot of other exciting stories out there that is bringing 3D into the mainstream day by day. 3D will no longer be regarded as a gimmick or a fad that'll breeze away over a short time like it did before many years ago. 3D is here to stay and it is the next natural evolutionary step to the way we see all types of visual content. Be it movies, television, gaming, working on your computer or using your cell-phone.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful and attracts some more people into 3D and helping them understand how it all works. If there's something I forgot to mention or something that wasn't made clear. Let me know and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Varinder C.
devilry.singh@gmail.com

Hello arn0,

To answer your other questions:

does the HR (such as 1080p) make a difference?
- In regards to 3D, there is no difference. But all the other advantages with a higher resolution still holds like better image quality. Which may give you a more immersive experience due to the more vivid picture quality.

is polarization the best way to produce 3d without headache for the spectators?
- I've owned a 3D-ready DLP tv with a pair of shutter glasses and I found that when I watched 3d on my dual projector setup using passive stereo. I was able to view the 3D for a much longer time, almost as much as normal 2d viewing. It seemed easier on the eyes and mind with a passive setup compared to an active setup like shutter glasses.

However, another factor and just as important that leads to headaches for the viewer is how the 3d content was filmed. If it was properly filmed, the two left/right images are not too separated as well as no vertical disparity in the images. This will give you a much more pleasing 3D experience.

when recording in 3d, how do you align the 2 camcorders?
- You will have to build a special rig that can hold your 2 camcorders perfectly aligned vertically. There are some companies out there that make these special rigs for setting up 2 cameras together that you can buy or you'll have to make it yourself. There are a number of methods, using a beamsplitter or side-by-side. For my first 3D film, I'm simply using 1 digital slr photo camera and I built my own slide bar so that I can take the left and right images using the 'cha-cha' method. It's the exact same method that was used for filming the 3D movie Coraline. This is a bit of a complicated question to answer simply. So I recommend doing some research on the net and compiling some facts on how you can make or buy your own rig to align your 2 camcorders.

how do you synhronise the 2 video and what is the impact on the 3D if there is a small error?
- I don't have a lot of experience personally on this yet. I won't be building my own 2 camera 3d rig (or buying one) until later in the year. But from what I've heard people say about the negative impact on the 3d effect if your 2 cameras are not perfectly synced in time. Maybe a couple frames off might be ok and can still be watchable in 3D without much headache. But it's best to avoid it at all costs and sync your 2 cameras as best you can. You should read up on a device called a LANC shepherd pro. This device is needed and paired with a couple of sony camcorders to sync the two cameras perfectly.

what to do with the 2nd sound recorded by the 2nd camcorder?
- I guess you can get rid of it since both cameras are recording the exact same sound.

what software do you use to build the movie / project ?
- I will be using Adobe after effects and Eyeon Fusion to work on the 3D shots and then bring them into adobe premiere for final editing.

globally, is it valuable to invest in this 2 projectors 3d system compared to alternatives such as the "DepthQ-WXGA HD 3D Video Projector" ?
- At the moment I think it's still a lot more feasible to purchase two projectors than one projector like the depthq. It only cost me $1000 per projector. From what I can see the depthq is still around $5000-6000+ compared to $2000 I spent for two projectors. Also, I don't think passive stereo works with the depthq. So, you will have to buy expensive shutter glasses and that will also limit your audience. Since with passive stereo you can have as many people you want watching your 3d content depending on your screen size and room space as well. If you prefer active shutter glasses and buying 2 projectors might cost as much as a single depthq hd projector, maybe go with the depthq if you're in that situation.

Hope this helps, cheers.

-Varinder

I'm glad that you have been so successful. I'm interested in hearing how it all turns out. It would be nice if decent 3D were available outside of the movie theater.

CJ

You can find them in square sizes rather cheap. 16x9 is more expensive. I've used one for 3D projection with good success.

Wonderful information got here about 3D.

Some questions I need to ask are=

1. How about building Computer System for 3D? I mean. What processor, Motherboard, Memory, VGA Video Card required for best result?

2. How about computer setting for Video card? How to divide the 2 projectors into one screen? and how to use another monitor beside 2 projectors?

Thank you for your answer and apologize for my bad English

Hey Marja,

I had a feeling the next question would have someone asking about the computer specs.

To run 3D you really don't need anything special. You just need a relatively fast CPU that can handle HD content smoothly. I think now a day's most computers out there can run HD content fairly easily now. With the video card, you'll rather want to buy 1 really good one that has a lot of inputs to use or multiple video cards on one motherboard.

If you're looking to project 2 projectors + 1 monitor, it's fairly simple to achieve that. It's exactly what you think you would have to do. Simply plug in your extra monitor into one of the empty inputs in your video card or cards and make it act as the third monitor through your PC.

It's that simple and straight forward, there's nothing to it. Here's a look at what I have and I have absolutely no problems.

CPU: Intel Xeon E5420 Quad 2.5ghz
Memory: 8GB's, 4 sticks of 2gb's.
Video card: EVGA Nvidia 9800 GX2
O/S: Windows Vista X64

My video card has 2 dvi inputs + 1 hdmi input. I have both of my projectors connected to both dvi inputs. I go into the nvidia control panel, make both projectors act as separate monitors and there you go. It's just like setting up dual monitors side-by-side. Except now your using dual projectors overlapped on top of each other and technically seeing just 1 screen.

Hopefully this gives you a good idea of what you need if you're looking to run things smoothly. I'm not a computer expert but you can probably manage with even lower specs than what I have. But I bought this setup back in September and I bet there's way better stuff out there for way cheaper now. So I wouldn't think you should have too much trouble finding a fast computer to watch or play your 3D content.

If you need more help, let me know.

-Varinder

Awesome stuff - you went and did what I was dreaming about a couple of months ago. I started doing the research, and while what you describe seems very simple, it is still out of reach for me right now. The biggest thing holding me back is the projectorsx2. Personally, I actually own 3 projectors right now, but they are all different models with wildly different specs. That, and once I discovered I would need a special screen, it stopped me dead in my tracks.

We did try the anaglyph method with some limited success, but it was difficult to watch after a while - eyestrain. I had to sit down and watch the Hannah Montana concert movie with my kids, and the concert footage was in 3D so it was cool when things started popping out during the songs. But it was tough to wear those glasses and the color issues/dimness of the image made it more difficult to watch.

I would really love a good 3D system, but it looks like I will have to wait a bit more. I recently switched jobs and money is tight right now as I build my patent law practice.

Dear Friends,

Is there any buddy who knows the best site or they have installation guide for 3D home theater. I already purchased 2 pcs of Sanyo PLC-XU105 LCD projector and high specs computer with 2.4 quad core processor with 8 GB ram, 1TB hard drive and Gefore gtx 285 grafic card with dual out put for DVi, Silver Screen and 2 polorized NIKON filter.

I am waiting for some one technical person who can give me proper technical guideline for how to process the another step for installation and what other thing i required for the installation.


Please help me or contact me asap hunterz_hakim@yahoo.com

Best Regards
Hakim :confused:

Hmm interesting new wrinkle is the espn 3d feed coming out in June... Perhaps this diy approach combined with a cable card pc capture would allow the stereoscopic 3d to work with this setup. I'm going to do some more research but I have subscribed to this thread and may do this type of setup myself.

I was thinking of sticking turkey foil to a large board reversed so it shows the matt side

do you think this is ok for 3d projection

also for those looking for the proper paint samples are only 25.00 for 120 ml

couple of them should do and thats for super 3d proper paint

but im on the cheap so i may try the turkey foil shinny side stuck down

any suggestions please advise

the brummy

I read somewhere lcd projectors if your trying to do polorization 3d will not work or may not work as good

something to do with the way the light hits your filter as coming out the projector

im experimenting with dlp projectors

i may be wrong but i thought id air it see if anyone else has had problems with lcd projectors

hmm interesting new wrinkle is the espn 3d feed coming out in june... Perhaps this diy approach combined with a cable card pc capture would allow the stereoscopic 3d to work with this setup. I'm going to do some more research but i have subscribed to this thread and may do this type of setup myself.

if they give you the 2 feeds but for some reason i dont think they will

but they might and if thats the plan building this set up is gonna be very benerficial

I still don't understand how to set up the 3d player to send the left image to one projector and the right image to the other. Also if I only have one external monitor output form my laptop, can I still hook up 2 monitors (in this case projectors) through a splitter and if yes how would I send 2 separate images to each screen? Or can I use USB ports for that?
Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

I don't think you can do any 3d using laptop single output. As I understood from above you need 2 outputs if you want to connect 2 projectors. Signal separation needs to happen at an earlier stage (i.e. during content encoding) so that 2 separate signals sent to both screens. I guess splitter would not work in this case.

if they give you the 2 feeds but for some reason i dont think they will

but they might and if thats the plan building this set up is gonna be very benerficial

There are already 2 test 3D channels running on European sats. I receive them on my HD receiver fine. Currently they loop some funny short cartoon and couple more short demo movies. It's an 1080i 3D HD feed with picture split in parts. Each eye picture is squized like if you watching 16:9 on 4:3 tv.

That's probably how 3D will be viewed on sat. receivers in the near future. I heard that 3D satellite receivers are already in the market.

2010 - year of 3D ... finally

how can make alignament for two projectors?
i want use 2 pc + 2 projectors LCD, same movie on both who play toghether same time, because i dont have a graphic card with 2 DVI outputs.
How i can do best alignament for projectors?
thanks.

I don't think you can... Pretty darn sure you have to have dual outputs from a single PC.

ok, i make this:
My video card ATI 9600 PRO 128 from Gigabyte has: VGA -out, DVI -out and s-video output. For projector 1 use VGA output and for projector 2 i used DVI- VGA adapter. Results same image on projector 1 and projector 2. Next step, need to align these two images into single one, correct?
But how can paint myself siver screen? I am from Romania and i can"t find brands from U.S. . I hear about BEHR silver screen its good, but in my country doesn"t .
What colour i need to find? like silver or aluminum? grey or blue gray?
Surface need smooth or shining or 50-50%
I find a store in my city who can make what colour i want, but i dont know what colour need to choose . He have colour palette from www.nationalpaints.com
Thanks too much!
my best regards.
P.S. I want use 2 pairs of glasses "REALD 3d" with circular polarization.

Hi All, Here are some answers

1. You need 2 separate outputs from your computer.

2. You need metallic type paint, any colour will do, but neutral grey/silver is obviously the best one as it doesn't shift colour as much. Aluminium, grey metallic, are all fine.

3. BEHR WILL NOT WORK, Behr "silverscreen" is just plain old paint with not metallic effect, so it wont preserve polarisation

4. Before you paint the metallic paint on your surface, you HAVE TO PAINT IT BLACK FIRST. Otherwise the light that gets past your metallic paint layer will hit the white substrate, and get reflected back out without polarisation, resulting in ghosting.

5. LCD projectors will NOT WORK WELL WITH EXTERNAL POLARISERS. LCD projectors emit polarised light to begin with, so you cannot change its polarisation without significant losses.

Thanks Devilry for the great information. You're the only person i've read so far who has a complete polarised 3D pj system. I've only made an LCD monitor based system using a 50% reflective mirror. Works well. A bit small =P

thanks for your reply
SOLVED!
i have 1 projector Sharp PG-B10S, is LCD and another DIY projector build by myself from LCD BENQ 15" monitor+Overhead Projector.
i make it alignament (hard but finally works)
I used a pair of lens from RealD 3d glasses(circular polarization). I put in front of each projector lens.( need to rotate filter for maximum polarization)
I make this connection from PC to projectors:
From VGA output to projector 1
From DVI output-with DVI-VGA adapter to projector 2.
I tested more movies (2d and 3d) and even 2d movies have (depth).
Movies in field sequential (for shutter glasses) have depth but can see horizontal lines
I tested Avatar dvd-2d and looks deph, but not 3d.
Players used: BSPlayer, Windows Media Player Classic, VLC Player, Stereo movie player. -all the same.
Surface projection: I tested : 1- sheet of coated board, like aluminum matt, like inside of PC case cap.
2- Cardboard grey metallic
Results: almost the same.
conclusion: nedd to find a way like a "what type of movie, how set the player"
Now i need to make a big siver screen 2.5/3 meters.
good luck all!

Hey guys.
WoW!! I want one! Great thread. Been looking into this myself and I'm very inpressed by your thread. Using the glasses as filters! GENIUS!
I've had various projectors over the years and love the real home cinema feeling of watching a movie on my own big screen. Went to see Avatar and was blown away by the 3d effect and there and then thought I have to have this at home. Will be watching this thread with great interest and once I get mine started will keep you all informed of my progress.
All the best
Lee

I finished my silver screen.
I painted the wall in 2 layers with "KOBER- aluminium acrylic paint" 750 ml = 3.5 euro (5$)
Works fine!
Update:
I bought one DLP projector, OPTOMA EP758.
Now i have one DLP and one LCD projectors.

Hi i have an outdoor screen which i show movies on. It is 16' by 9'. I have an Optoma HD65. I was wondering if a could buy another Optoma HD65 and create a polarized setup. I am also wondering if there is enough 3D content to make it worth while.I saw this link and wondered if it could be displayed in 3D by a passive polarized setup when it is released.
w w w .engadget.com/2010/01/07/sony-pictures-has-3d-blu-ray-titles-in-store-for-2010. I already have a 9800 Nvidia card with dual dvi output. I was wondering if there is any other hardware or software (besides the glasses) to make this work. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello all, I got to say this is an incredibly helpful thread.

Now to business, I am building a twin projector, linear polarised stereoscopic 3D system for a research project and have reached the part of the project where I build the silvered screen. I am happy to default to the metallic paint but I am more curious about the Munroe material the Original Poster mentioned as I would love to make the system portable if this material is flexable, I wonder if anyone has a link to a re-seller or that company in Canada he mentioned?

Also I heard that some linear polarised projectors have one of the three colours polarised in a different direction to the other two leading to loss of brightness if forced through additional filters, What would be the best commercially available projector with adjustable polarising filters?

Best regards

Steve

How can play 2 seperate movies (left / right) if I connect 2 projectors to 1 PC via the dual output video card? I mean to get the final 3d movie do I need to play two seperate movies taken by left and right camera then overlaying them on top of each other when they are projected or do I have to combine them first using any editing programs then play one same movie to the 2 projectors? :)

Hello everybody,

I have a dual setup with 2x sony's VPL-HW15 and a silver screen from Demospec-France (licensed by Harkness). Filters come from 3Dlens. Source is a PC with ATI's 3450 - dual DVI-HDMI graphic card.

My issues are:

1 - silver screen ghosting.
(Harkness beeing second after Stewart, I wonder what the others would be...). I paid 450 euros for that 2 meter wide screen with eyelets, not including frame. Fortunately, although ghosting is severe on black bakground, it is almost unnoticeable in normal lightened scenes.

2 - silver screen grain.
At a distance of 3 meters, the grain is actually terrible, generating a screen door effect. Of course, in a commercial movie theater you are seated farther from the screen and you dont notice the grain. As the silver particles are of the same size in both cases, it is a real issue in a home theater.

3 - movie synchronization.
I normally use Reclock on Overlay rendering to prevent judder in 2D. It is perfect.
In 3D mode, I cannot use overlay since there are two outputs and I use either VMR7 or VMR9. I have not been able so far to eliminate judder completely.
But judder is only the top of the iceberg. I could live with it.
In 3D, judder leads you to a most annoying effect: The two card outputs are not in perfect sync and when there is judder, one output shows frame #n while the other shows frame #n+1 !!!! In case of moving objets in the scene, this gives you the feeling that you should not have drunk so much before the show...( I know genlocked cards exist but I cannot afford these top level professional prices...!) Is there any cheap means to avoid this?

Has any of you come througth these problems ?

I must say I am very disapointed so far with the passive dual setup and am considering reselling one of my projectors... The silver screen will go to the basket, too bad...

(maybe I will have a go to Infitec filters first)

Having two of the same image will not help you.
You need to have a different image on each screen. One is the left eye image and the other is the right eye image. These images are *not* the same.
The ATI 9600 PRO will probably not be good enough for 3D playback, but I am not sure.
You need something that can playback 3D, like Peter Wimmers Stereoscopic player.
http://www.3dtv.at/Index_en.aspx
Then you need some 3D movies or some 3D games. There are many sample 3D movies to try with the Stereoscopic Player here:
http://www.3dtv.at/Movies/Index_de.aspx


ok, i make this:
My video card ATI 9600 PRO 128 from Gigabyte has: VGA -out, DVI -out and s-video output. For projector 1 use VGA output and for projector 2 i used DVI- VGA adapter. Results same image on projector 1 and projector 2. Next step, need to align these two images into single one, correct?
But how can paint myself siver screen? I am from Romania and i can"t find brands from U.S. . I hear about BEHR silver screen its good, but in my country doesn"t .
What colour i need to find? like silver or aluminum? grey or blue gray?
Surface need smooth or shining or 50-50%
I find a store in my city who can make what colour i want, but i dont know what colour need to choose . He have colour palette from www.nationalpaints.com
Thanks too much!
my best regards.
P.S. I want use 2 pairs of glasses "REALD 3d" with circular polarization.

Are you using a single graphics card or two graphics cards? I run reclock without using overlay and just use a single graphics card (ATi) and it works fine.

I am curious, does anyone here understand the polarization coming out of the LG CF181D? It is an LCoS projector.

I have been working on putting together a home theater and eventually a passive 3D setup with two identical projectors. I was intrigued by the projector, the excellent color and ample brightness for a $2400 being the selling points. (former is just nice, latter is good to ensure plenty of light after running the output through a polarizing filter and even with some ambient light)

My understanding is that 3D polarization implemented with liquid crystal projectors is hit or miss since the light is polarized by passing through the crystal itself. However, it can be done even more efficiently, if the defunct site Silverfabric3d.de is to be believed.


1. Does anyone else make quality filters specifically for LCoS? Or should I give up on my dream and go with DLP?

2. What are the issues which could arise from my trying this?

3. Are there any screen recommendations other than the "Monroe" fabric mentioned earlier and the Dalite Silver Matte? Any non-silver recommendations?


I have a machine capable and willing to produce the 3D for games and Stereoscopic Player, both of which I've been using for analglyphic, and am very excited to see what I can do with a decent screen and dual projectors. In return for help, I know quite a bit about computers if questions arise.

Thank you!

Call the guys at Rainbow Symphony 3D Glasses Inc. (http://www.rainbowsymphony.com) Their main business is 3D Glasses in Reseda California. They have been involved in Polarized material for 30 Years. Just ask for Mark.

[B]1 x Silver Screen
(The name of the silver fabric I found is called "Monroe" used over polyurethane.)

hi devilry can you give a link for this monroe silver fabric and the anti glare spray?

2 x Polarized Filters
There are two main types of polarized filters. Linear and circular. A quick google search on these two filter types will teach you everything you need to know about how they work with accordance to light. IMAX uses linear polarized filters. RealD uses circular. The difference? With linear polarizers, because of the way light travels through them, you can't tilt your head while you're watching the movie or else the 3D effect will be lost. You'll be sending the wrong information to both eyes so the illusion won't work anymore. Circular filters let you tilt your head around a lot more without having any negative effect on the 3D imagery. This may not be 100% true but, linear polarized filters produce less ghosting (cross-talk) than circular polarized filters. From my testing between the two I opted for linear polarized filters because of the minimal ghosting effect. Not only that, linear polarized filters and glasses are much cheaper than circular. And who really cares about not being able to tilt your head, I don't normally find myself watching a movie or playing a game with my head tilted 30-40 degrees.

There are a number of places you can buy these filters on the net, google is your friend. I have yet to buy a proper pair of linear polarized filters so at the moment I'm using a pair of cut up 3D glasses and put them on top of the lens of my projectors, as you can see in the pics.

Looks pretty professional right? Yeah, I know it sucks. But hey, the point is, using even simple 3d glasses as your filters for 3D still works really really well. Some brands and types are better than others that allow more light to get through the filters as well as less ghosting. But, the biggest factor that will determine how much ghosting you see will be with the silver screen. So, spend your money on a solid screen first than get a decent pair of filters.

This may or may not be obvious but just to be clear here. You can't use linear polarized filters on your projectors and wear a pair of circular polarized 3D glasses or vice versa. Just won't work. Your filters and 3d glasses have to match.

Just to mention, circular polarising is both linear and circular. the light is at first polarized linearly so that they can be easily sent to each eye. circular filter is added so that a twist is put in the light either clockwise or anitclockwise for left and right. not only do circular polarizers help with tilting of heads but if you have quite a large cinema (like you devilry by looking at the images. cripes!) then having circular polarising filters and glasses will dramatically increase your viewing angle so you would be able to have a full room of ppl all at different positions to the screen who still get the 3d effect.

for example if you were to walk around your room at multiple different angles wearing linear glasses the 3d effect will be lost as you go further to the left or right of the screen because at those angles you are effectively tilting your head when looking at the screen. circular polarisation eliminates this. I would say its worth investing in circular if you want to have lots of ppl round to watch

I've been following this thread now and then, and must ask... Didn't Optoma release a projector that is 3D ready?? Wouldn't that be easier than dual projectors?? Just curious.

I've been following this thread now and then, and must ask... Didn't Optoma release a projector that is 3D ready?? Wouldn't that be easier than dual projectors?? Just curious.

Yes they do have a 3D ready projector. Ad yes it would be amazingly more easier then dual projectors... First of all you only need one projector so no aligning the two projectors to get it perfect. Also with 3D ready projectors you do not need to get a good PC with a dual graphics card. You can simply have a 3D Blu-ray player. Samsung and Sony offer them out now, although the 3D content physically is very limited... So in my eyes I would connect a PC with a graphics card that can do 3D too as there are a hell of a lot more 3D content on the internet.

hey all. great thread!

i saw a question asked earlier that hasn't been addressed yet, and i'm wondering what the answer to it would be. if i were to purchase a 3d blu-ray player to hook up to my dual projector system, how would i send the left eye signal to the left projector and the right eye signal to the right projector? or is this dual projector set up described in this thread strictly for computer-based 3d? :confused:

hey all. great thread!

i saw a question asked earlier that hasn't been addressed yet, and i'm wondering what the answer to it would be. if i were to purchase a 3d blu-ray player to hook up to my dual projector system, how would i send the left eye signal to the left projector and the right eye signal to the right projector? or is this dual projector set up described in this thread strictly for computer-based 3d? :confused:

I beleive the dual projector is for computer :)
Blu-ray 3D is actually made for 3D TV I think.. But now they have single 3D projectors which it is possible to use 3D Blu-ray player :) I think anyway..

has anyone successfully made a stereoscopic dual-projector set up with LCD projectors? LCD is all i have at the moment and if i can avoid buying new DLP projectors that would be fantastic. i own a sanyo plv-80 and getting another one at a decent price won't be too much of an issue.

if anyone could shed light on the LCD polarization issue that would be great. i'm guessing that simply cutting up a pair of reald 3d glasses won't work in this case?

edit: if reald 3d glasses won't work, what about the glasses used for 3d film projection? i work as a projectionist and we have a couple theaters that use a special lens on a normal 35mm projector to project 3d movies. for every one traditional frame there are two. are these the same kind of glasses?

also, can anyone recommend a good dual-dvi video card that will work with this setup? i'm have no clue when it comes to video cards.

also, can anyone recommend a good dual-dvi video card that will work with this setup? i'm have no clue when it comes to video cards.

Mmmm I don't know where to get stuff like that in US only know in UK. Just google Nvidia 3d graphics card. :)

has anyone successfully made a stereoscopic dual-projector set up with LCD projectors? LCD is all i have at the moment and if i can avoid buying new DLP projectors that would be fantastic. i own a sanyo plv-80 and getting another one at a decent price won't be too much of an issue.

if anyone could shed light on the LCD polarization issue that would be great. i'm guessing that simply cutting up a pair of reald 3d glasses won't work in this case?



This guy did it here.... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=19099091#post19099091

Varinder/devilry,
I realize you are in Canada, but where did you find/where do you recommend looking for the Monroe fabric? An ebay search turned up lots of prints of "The Blonde Bombshell". :)

Thanks a lot, very useful

Hey guys I am currently building my own setup but for the benefit of others I am doing quite a bi of experimenting and posting results on a website im making projectin3d.com

Come check out my progress so far and feel free to ask me for help in the comments section on each relevant page on the site. Trying to build a bit of a 3d home theater community.

Thanks again

has anyone successfully made a stereoscopic dual-projector set up with LCD projectors? LCD is all i have at the moment and if i can avoid buying new DLP projectors that would be fantastic. i own a sanyo plv-80 and getting another one at a decent price won't be too much of an issue.

if anyone could shed light on the LCD polarization issue that would be great. i'm guessing that simply cutting up a pair of reald 3d glasses won't work in this case?

edit: if reald 3d glasses won't work, what about the glasses used for 3d film projection? i work as a projectionist and we have a couple theaters that use a special lens on a normal 35mm projector to project 3d movies. for every one traditional frame there are two. are these the same kind of glasses?


If you want to use LCD why don't you go with dichroic filters instead of polorizers? That is what Dolby 3D uses and you don't need a silver screen to do it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_3D

I have seen in another forum, iz3d I think, a user took apart a pair of dolby 3d glasses and used the lenses to filter each projector, then wearing a pair of glasses he was able to view the projected image. Since wavelength mulitplexing hasn't got anything to do with polorization it wouldn't matter if you used LCD or DLP.

As far as content and software goes that is easy. All you need is stereoscopic player and you can set it to play out as SBS on two outputs.

I have successfully ripped 3d blu-ray and created MKVs that have all the requirements to play perfectly in stereoscopic player.

I found some of the instructions here http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=155246.

The important part is using x264 to recode the right eye. The 3d blu-rays store the left eye as the 2d movie, then they store the delta of the right eye image. Using an avsynth script with "H264StereoSource.dll" you can recreate the full right eye information as a separate file.

Once you have left.h264 and right.h264 you can use mkvMergeGUI and on the "Format specific options" tab you can set "stereoscopy left" and "stereoscopy right"

you then have an MKV file with the left and right streams that can be read by Stereoscopic player, and this is the cool part. Stereoscopic player can output to any kind of 3d display or configuration. You can even set it up as anaglyph.

I have been looking at Dual projector setups for a while. I think I will go dual DLP, (perhaps even 3d ready DLPs)

Then I can use dichrioc filters, polorizers or active shutter glasses. I'll have every quality 3d possibility and I can experiment with all of them and find the best one.

Right now I am working on ripping and compiling 3d content into MKV files. When I have the money to buy my equipment I will have a ton of content ready to go. I just got another 2TB drive for my media server. I already have over 80 HDDVD and Blu-ray rips on my server, that takes up 2TB. I rip them at full quality and just remux the result, no recoding.

more info about Stereoscopic player here, http://www.3dtv.at/Products/Player/Index_en.aspx

also I don't know if I'll need the IZ3D driver, i don't have a dualhead card right now, just a laptop. I know the IZ3D driver has SBS dual output mode but I think you just need that to make games work in 3d on dual projectors. anyway more info is here http://www.iz3d.com/
and that is also where I saw info on a dual dichroic setup.

The biggest problem with the dichroic filters is that they mess with your colours. Supposedly you can adjust the colours in the opposite direction so that the resultant colours are "normal". But most PJs don't quite allow the range of changes required to have the colours look right. Other than that, the Dolby/Infitec method really would be ideal for home PJ use.

http://www.mtbs3d.com/ is really a good place to talk to people who have gotten 2 LCD PJ systems set up. They have sacrificed some 2D PQ for the sake of the polarized screen for 3D, and they don't currently have a way of watching 3D BR, with the exception of the manner ComputerCowboy mentions above, I guess.

The biggest problem with the dichroic filters is that they mess with your colours. Supposedly you can adjust the colours in the opposite direction so that the resultant colours are "normal".

there is a solution for that
check out this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18859059#post18859059
I have downloaded the code and worked it into avisynth for proof of concept. You would need a very fast computer to do 2x 25Mbs 1080P HD streams in real time. My i7 laptop can't quite do it in realtime (with Geforce 330M)

The alternative is to re-encode each stream, or make an SBS version of the movie, with the color correction. That would take a while and you would have a lossy to lossy conversion (assuming you use x264 with the AVISynth scripts)

I sent a message to Peter Wimmer (the stereoscopic player guy) to ask him if he would include Dolby color correction as part of a dual output mode, I never got a response back about it.

I think the AVISynth Dolby Color correction method is great except that you will need a fast computer and it won't work for games at all. The price of Dolby Filters and the complexity they add to the setup makes me think that a non-depolarizing screen is a better overall option. If you go with the passive polars then you can get many pairs of passive glasses for cheap. American paper optics has plastic and paper ones, even the nicest ones are under $10 a pair. Dolby glasses are around $40 a pair!

One other thing to note, dobly and infitec is the same technology but the filters are different and not compatible with each other

it won't let me post links since I'm new here, but what about something like the Optoma 3D-XL Converter Box? From what I can understand, it takes the 3D signal from your PS3, Satelite, Computer, what ever, and processes the signal to two projectors for passive 3D. A little expensive, and not in stock, apparently, but a much better idea than messing around with software on your computer and only being able to use your computer for it.
Please excuse me, and correct me, if I'm wrong. This would be the perfect solution for everyone though.

EDIT: My mistake. It's just a crappy switcher box that lets you sync shutter glasses. Dammit, got my hopes up. Something like what I thought would be ideal though. A little box that takes in an input and splits to the two projectors. That way we can use it with the PS3 and any other input device.

You can use two 3DXLs to split an HDMI 1.4 3D signal into two 1.3 signals.

It's twice as expensive, but it works.

I don't need the signals to go to 1.3, I'm looking for a box that will act like a 3D TV where it will take the 3D signal from what ever source and send it to the two projectors to display right and left. The two projector 3D set up is really easy, but only good for computers. I want to be able to use it for all sources.

Right. You can use two 3DXLs to split an HDMI 1.4 3D signal into two 1.3 signals (AKA Left and Right).

Two of these devices do what you want.

Although I wouldn't call the two projector set-up "very easy".

Have you checked out: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1280393

Ok so I was hoping that this device would do like other forum members mentioned and it does not split it into the left and right signal. It only takes the 1.4 signal and downconverts it for the 1.3 projectors so that the older Optoma 120Hz 3D DLP projectors can be used for 3D content. Still not helpful. Here's the link.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/news_story_1518.htm

And here's the back side picture of it. http://www.optoma.co.uk/projectordetailshccs.aspx?ShowMenu=HE&PTypedb=Home%20Entertainment&PC=3D-XL
And besides, it's still 720p. It's basically a large HDMI switch for your older Optoma 120Hz projector. Quite sad really that no one realizes the huge potential of the product they could sell if it did what we need it to do. Guess I'll still have to keep ripping the left and right images and use stereoscopic player.

You're all on crazy sauce. Yes, you can use one to convert to the older 3D display methods (in 720p), or you can isolate just the left or just the right image (in 1080p24hz). So, if you use a splitter and 2 3DXLs, you can split the HDMI 1.4 3D signal into two separate (1.3) left and right HDMI signals.

im goin to save u all alot of regret
ive experimented on all the 3d
the best is stick to a active glass single 3 d projector a bit dark but best pop out effect and easiest compatibility
if u wanna go dual projector use the dolby lenses as infiltec lenses
colour correction with a dual hdmi input radeon graphic card same price
as a hdmi splitter! the put on ur dolby glasses n ur good to go
always use a white screen or wall for todays projectors
never go silver screen with polarized glasses my biggest regret
now i have to sell my 3.2x2metre silverscreen baught for 700 us
the image is horribly dark and every bloody thing is grey , grey white , grey yellow, grey pink , grey grey grey ugly crap
im selling my linear polarised glasses n silver screen for 700 us.
go lelong.com to buy type silver screen . maybe u have a super bright projector or the new lg polarised type projector it may suit u but i certainly hate it amongst the rest

im selling brand new silver screen , dual projector mount with polarised lens holder for both projectors, linear polarised glassesx10
the whole set u need . all u need left is 2 projectors
i baught these items and couldnt use it cos one of my projector malfunctioned
selling at cheaper than i baught it 1000 us. selling at 850 us and negotiable
pay by pay pal at mariahkarey@gmail.com
screen is wall size 3.2 x 2 metres
mount is medium size will fit all type of home theater systems
any questions email me at the above address
grab fast before gone !
u see the pictures in alibaba.com. victory screens
also selling at lelong.com

Hi All, First post on the forum, it’s amazing how many of us have had similar experiences.

I too after much experimentation am at the stage where I need to find the perfect material for my screen.

I played with tin foil, then tried the silver metal paint on the back of a large mirror, both with very pleasing results, but I wanted it big.

I have high ceilings and can easily accommodate a 2m x 3m screen, but live in a smallish flat so need to be able to put my screen away.

I have tried everything I can get sent (free or charged for) and have also spent around £40 on samples, from sheeting used in greenhouses to reflect light onto plants and obviously clothes fabrics to material used in west end style stage drops. my most successful material is a silver matt lame stage drop fabric which I favour most because unlike the others I would not need a join for a large screen and I find that any imperfection in the screen totally detracts from the experience (like a dirty pane of glass in the middle of someone’s head) however although the depth of the 3D and the distance of the sticky out bits is far greater than on other tests, this material still reflects too much light and a noticeable quality loss is sustained.

My projectors are non-identical and both cost under £150 on eBay as used items. Although I have to have one projector sitting a foot in front of the other I can get great alignment within a minute of tinkering. I am using reald glasses lenses (rotated). A very unpretty setup but super cheap.

I have made a frame from black hard plastic electrical ducting which connects with nice little connectors, it looks well made but only cost about £25 and the 3m sections can be separated in the middle, the 4 1.5m sections then can be placed in a 2m cloth tube bag along with the 2m sections rolled into the screen material. The whole thing can hang from two ducting clips attached near my ceiling line.

Frustrated with my own slow progress, I have also purchased a pair of 3dmagic (i-art) pci wired LCD shutter glasses from way back in the day, for £1 and using a trick to enable nvidia3d vision without a 3dvision I can now also play games and watch movies (just about) on my 85hz dlp projector, (pretty cool when you think about it , projector £150, glasses £1 + any wall £free) not mentioning my badass pc. But 85 Hz is too low for long term use and the light loss on shutter glasses is too noticeable, plus I want my friends and family to be able to use their own reald glasses.

also I have a Blackmagic Intensity (about £100) which has real-time 1080p HDMI and RGB capture so I can plug in Xbox, PlayStation, Blu-ray etc. and then using the Blackmagic as a video source for Stereoscopic Player I can play 3D from any external source, if you just want RGB you can get a usb RGB capture device for about £30 on eBay.

so I just need my perfect screen material, something on a 2m or wider roll, and/or advice on how to improve the material I have but retain the ability to roll it away.

Thanks. Nick.

I'm working on a new stereoscopic 3D website, at the moment this is the temporary website to get the best deals 3D products from movies to tv's. click ---> 3d movies (http://www.stereoscopic3dmovies.com)

Very nice story, I will finish my setting in 2 weeks, Thanks!

Check this out, good sw!
http://www.biohemmet.se/