Blu-ray 3D Spec is Finalized

Part of the buzz around 3D coming at us from the Hollywood studios is how we'll be able to view it in our homes.

More display manufacturers have come out with 3D-ready or 3D-capable TVs in recent years, but the content needs to come from somewhere. The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and studios expected that to be in the form of high-definition Blu-ray discs.

The BDA announced that it has finalized the "Blu-ray 3D" specification that features encoding of 3D video using the MVC (Multiview Video Coding) codec, which is an extension to the ITU-T H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) codec already supported by all Blu-ray players.

The coding will include enhanced graphics for 3D content, including menus and subtitles, and will have full 1080p resolution backward compatibility with 2D Blu-ray players.

From the BDA:

The "Blu-ray 3D" specification fully leverages the technical advantages of the Blu-ray Disc format to deliver unmatched picture quality as well as uniformity and compatibility across the full range of Blu-ray 3D products, both hardware and software. Notably, the specification allows every Blu-ray 3D player and movie to deliver Full HD 1080p resolution to each eye, thereby maintaining the industry leading image quality to which Blu-ray Disc viewers are accustomed. Moreover, the specification is display agnostic, meaning that Blu-ray 3D products will deliver the 3D image to any compatible 3D display, regardless of whether that display uses LCD, Plasma or other technology and regardless of what 3D technology the display uses to deliver the image to the viewer's eyes.

You will be able to have Blu-ray 3D discs playable in 2D playback, so no frets if you're not fully into 3D mode just yet. Then again, after James Cameron's "Avatar" makes its much-anticipated debut this week, you could be ready sooner than you think. We'll wait till the reviews are in.