IT seems you don’t need a crystal ball to gaze into the future of film and television technology these days, what you need instead is a 3D–capable screen.

And with a bit of luck, you might soon be able to see film classics such as Star Wars, or even Casablanca, being re-broadcast in 3D on the new generation of consumer televisions.

DDD chief Dr Julien Flack believes the future of TV is 3D / Image: Istockphoto

At least that’s the picture emerging from Dr Julien Flack, chief technology officer with the 3D software company DDD, short for Digital Dynamic Depth.

The company recently won the innovation section of the WA Information and Technology Award (WAITA) for its TriDef 3D software which is used in the new generation of Acer laptops that allow real time conversion of normal DVD pictures from 2D into 3D.

The firm’s technology is also utilised in the 3D TV released in Australia this month by Samsung.

DDD’s headquarters are in the US but its R&D arm is based in Western Australia and has been involved in developing and refining 3D technology for the past 10 years.

At a gathering this week in Perth, Dr Flack gave an insider’s insight into the 3D technology sweeping the world and what people can expect in the near future.

Dr Flack was speaking at the AELC Innovation Club in Perth, which regularly features speakers from the Western Australian innovation and entrepreneurship community (www.innovationclub.org.au)

Dr Flack said for the past 10 years, DDD has been involved in R&D, developing its 3D software applications. It now has a patent portfolio of 38 patents in 26 countries.

“We have different packaging with our technology, but the core of it is our real time conversion software, and we have a software bundle that sits around that,” he said.

“With that, you can play DVDs in 3D, you can watch movies in 3D, and you can also play games in 3D – which is a slightly different technology – and that’s relevant to the PC side of things.

“With the TV side of things, our algorithms are embedded inside the TV and becomes part of the onscreen display, so you press a button and it does 2D to 3D conversion.”

Thanks to the success of the film Avatar and electronics manufacturers now jumping on the bandwagon, a new golden age for 3D is well underway.

“We know Fujifilm is producing a 3D stereo camera and a 3D picture frame, and there are Blu-ray players that support 3D,” he said.

“We’ve already worked with a 3D mobile phone and Samsung is about to release another 3D mobile phone, so is Hitachi.”

He said that having spent the past 10 years or so developing its software applications, including several years trying to develop a form of ‘3D without glasses’, DDD is now focusing on licensing its products to electronics makers with the ultimate goal for DDD’s software to become a standard feature in as many electronic products as possible.

“It may not be something you use all the time, it may be something you use occasionally but it's there and it's in every device,” he said.

TV broadcasters such as Sky and ESPN are already gearing up to broadcast in 3D but Dr Flack said a new 3D-enabled television and glasses is needed to experience the pictures jumping out at you.

The good news is he predicts a set-top box device that could work with ordinary TVs might not be that far off.

“There isn’t a consumer set-top box that does real time conversion (of normal broadcast TV pictures) at the moment but I’m sure there will be,” he said,

“Unfortunately, at the moment, you need to buy a new TV to enjoy 3D.”

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