I, Robot 3D in October

As I recall, there was a "Sonny Head" box set released on DVD in Japan back in the day. I'm guessing somebody dug out the mold to repurpose it for Blu-ray.

Not excited at all about a 2D movie being converted to 3D for a BD release. There are so many real 3D movies from the past for studios to re-release in their native 3D

Then again, Fox only had a single 3D movie during the 1950s 3D craze: INFERNO - 3 strip technicolor and 3D. They were promoting Cinemascope instead.
Edited by Lee Stewart - 7/12/12 at 10:04am

While I agree it is a new conversion process developed by JVC and this is to be it's showcase. Some people that have seen some scenes (shown at NAB, I believe) have been positive about the quality/effect.
Edited by William - 7/12/12 at 1:59pm

It's a money grab by Fox - pure and simple.

If Fox was really serious about 3D conversion they might try a classic like......

Oh that's right-- this is using some miraculous new converter process. Yeah! I'll believe it when I see it. Sorry but I don't care what some well-to-do industry brown-noser at a tradeshow said.

Yeah and not to include the 2D disc in the limited edition box is kind of stupid. Maybe the same disc will play both? I Robot is still regarded as one of the top quality blu-rays so there could be so many other movies that needed a well deserved new transfer before this.

This is one of only a handful of movies that, when I first saw it in blu ray, wished that there was a 3D version. I think there are a lot of scenes that will benefit from the treatment and I'm excited that they're doing it.

Now if only they'd actually get around to doing Inception.

Not really I have seen the movie converted in the teranex (arguably better tech than JVC's) and it converted very well. So it should be a decent title to watch.

I actually use this title a lot for 2D to 3D conversion test purposes.

It wasn't a big earner at the BO when it was released:

Domestic Total Gross: $144,801,023 (#12 for 2004)

Still waiting for individual L/R offscreen photos to determine for myself how good these realtime converters are.

Whats the point of converting a movie to 3D, when the display's themselves have built in 2D-3D converters?

Is what they can do at the studio's that much better than the display's capabilities?

Depends on time, money and tech I guess. The result for Titanic is the best conversion done yet and I'm sure no tv or player can ever match that. Hopefully they used similar things for I Robot or the fans will be angry

Goodness, yes. I'd say even the least conversion would look better than any sets' 2D-3D capabilities. The one's used on some sets often look a bit wonky and artificial. Rarely use it myself, except for some animation.

Titanic was converted frame by frame and each one of those converted frames was very carefully monitored by artists who know what 3D should look like. I can't see the "new" JVC system giving us the same quality frankly. Its people that make 3D look good. not algorithms.

Not to mention all the digital painting that has to be done. When you open a second eye in real life, you can see more of the background peeking behind the side edges of foreground objects. And while shooting the scene a second time, without actors, can make it easier to clone the background, it doesn't work for every scenario, and I don't know if they can automate that process yet. Surely with the tech used in I Robot they won't be able to do this unless they actually have the source background plates. They might have foreground/bg plates for green screen stuff, but I doubt they'd even go through the trouble. If they do full auto, this will most likely be a catastrophe. Hopefully they had human artists checking and correcting things. But then what's even the point of having auto-conversion at all if it gets it wrong most of the time?

3D conversion relies on several cues. If the scene is cgi, it will have x,y and z coordinates already builtin where x and y are horizontal and vertical and z is depth, so the z coordinate will be used to determine the 3D aspect. Other cues are movement left and right. Infinity (objects farthest away) will be static (not move). As objects get closer to the camera they show more movement. The z coordinate is then extracted from that object displacement. Another cue is objects closest to you are usually closer from the ground and recede up to eye level, where eye level is inifinity. It takes a series of frames do determine depth, then each frame is extrapolated with the depth and extra pixels added for roundness. (From my years of experience running a VR center).

I own the Blu-ray version, and wonder what a 3D conversion will add. I enjoy the discussions about 3D conversions, and even learn lots of interesting stuff!

But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. I look forward to hearing reviews on how well the conversion has been accomplished... then I'll decide if it is worth further investment as part of my 3D library.

It is done on a new auto conversion technology (not frame by frame by "hand") by JVC first shown at NAB (I think). If successful it could offer "cheep" 3D Remastering. Have heard mixed reviews so far.

I still think that like in the early days of DSP audio we are still a few years away from the algorithms necessary to do "on the fly" 3D to equal what Dolby Pro Logic II does for audio.

There's a little preview of I Robot 3D on the Promethueus 3D BluRay as you get about 2 minutes of footage. The scene shown is relatively late in the film when the robots start to take over and overrun the police department. I could definitely notice a sense of depth most of the time and there was even an attempt at 3D pop out of the screen when a copy shoots a pair of doors off the hinges and glass comes flying towards the screen. While still nowhere near as effective as a properly shot native film or top of the line conversion, I was surprised by how good it actually looked, especially given how low my expectations were.

Speaking of Prometheus, how come no one is taking about it?

There's an ongoing discussion over in the BluRay area.

Where did you find the I,Robot footage? I looked but can't find it on the 3d disk.

On the Main Menu of the 3D Blu Ray Disc, it is the right-most choice ("Continue the Journey" or something like that). When you highlight that, a new submenu pops up in the upper right of the screen with three 3D previews: Avatar, Titanic and I-Robot. Just keep pressing RIGHT on your remote until the one you want comes up and then SELECT/ENTER.

I was referring to the 3d version. Figured there would be a thread here. I'm getting mine soon. Read a few good professional reviews on the 3d quality.

Hands down the best 3D moment in all these clips is the converted shot of Old Rose in the Titanic clip. The actors face has so much shape, she could be in the room. Now THAT is good 3D and really what the format is all about in my opinion!

Fox Hopes ‘I, Robot’ 3D Blu-ray Release Starts a Trend

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/3d/fox-hopes-i-robot-3d-blu-ray-release-starts-trend-28576

Whatever, I'm not wasting my time and money on conversions.