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F750

2011/09/24
by Sean
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You can buy the Toshiba Qosmio glasses-free stereoscopic 3D laptop now!

Note: If you found this by searching for a review of the Toshiba Qosmio glasses-free display F750, F770 or F775 laptop, you’re in luck – I actually own and use one! This is not another of the endless “coming soon” copy and paste reviews you’ve been sifting through.

UPDATE: I now have posted instructions on how to solve the Qosmio’s key problem using third party software. Please visit my page here:

www.sibbet.com/index.php/2011/10/01/autostereoscopic-games-on-your-toshiba-qosmio-f750/

Only by pressuring the General Manager of the downtown Future Shop did I manage to convince them to let me buy the one demo unit on display. Being the stereoscopic 3D enthusiast that I am, the Toshiba Qosmio F750 (Canadian version) represents to me the holy grail! Why?

It is the first laptop to go on sale with a glasses-free 3D stereoscopic display!

Yes, that’s right. No shutter glasses. No polarized glasses. No glasses at all, unless you happen to wear prescription ones.. or sunglasses I suppose.

Let’s get to the point.

First question: What’s it like?

At first, it seemed a bit complicated and not particularly easy to watch. Fortunately, by the end of the most recent round of driver updating and fiddling, the effect became much cleaner. The laptop uses the webcam to track where your face is, which dynamically adjusts the image so you don’t have to lock your head in one place to see it. I think that the updated software runs faster than the older version that comes with it, out of the box, because the tracking improved significantly after updated. The four people who looked at it so far were impressed that yes, there is a real stereoscopic image on the screen and the tracking works very well.

Second question: Why shouldn’t I buy one?

As of September 24th, 2011, the “Stereoscopic 3D” panel in the nVidia drivers ONLY shows up when I have connected the laptop to an external 3D monitor! Yes, that’s right! The 3D movies play just fine, but for some reason that I have been unable to discern, the autostereoscopic display is not recognized by nVidia as a valid 3D device. So, essentially, it’s a $1899 video player.

I still have confidence that the functionality will become available, this kind of thing is something I am used to after 30+ years of nerdliness. You buy the bleeding edge, sometimes that blood is your own!

Once I have learned more, I will report back! Until then, if you purchased a Toshiba Qosmio with an autostereoscopic, 3D glasses-free display (can’t we get a better name for this?) or have more questions and information, please contact me!

WestJet-737-YVR-takeoff-stereoscopic-3d

2011/09/20
by Sean
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Westjet 737 takes off @ YVR in stereoscopic 3D

This is my first test output of a SBS video with source material from my Sony HDR-TD10 stereoscopic 3D camcorder.

You will need to go Full Screen to see it properly. If you don’t have a stereoscopic TV, there are cross-eye and anaglyph options available by pressing the red “3D” button on the YouTube page for the video, then selecting your viewing method.

More to come soon!

MVCConverter

2011/09/19
by Sean
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How To Decode Sony HDR-TD10 Stereoscopic 3D Video Clips

I bought Sony’s first stereoscopic camcorder, the Sony HDR-TD10, on the day it arrived in Canada. After experiencing Panasonic’s weak “adapter” offering, Fuji’s grainy video with the W3 and the limited scope of GoPro’s 3D capabilities, I was looking very much forward to a high quality recording device.

As I stated in a previous review, the camera has been amazing. I take it everywhere with me, barely touching my 2D cameras anymore.

Unfortunately, it has had one major fault, to date: no way to edit the footage in a PC, in stereoscopic form.

Fortunately, a fellow named Peter Wimmer, of Austria, has developed some amazing utilities that the device manufacturers should be ashamed of for not offering, themselves!

He wrote a utility called MVC to AVI Converter, which separates the left and right eye channels into discrete files.

The best part of this tiny application is that it’s essentially drag-and-drop! Here’s all you do:

  1. Open MVC to AVI Converter
  2. Drag your selected video clips from Explorer into the empty box under the word “Files:’, in the application’s window
  3. Files > Start Conversion

Yep, it’s that easy. Once complete, you will see two AVI files, with either -l or -r appended to each filename, located in the same folder as the source file.

The files you get out will be much, much larger your source material, as the converter, by default, produces uncompressed output. For my purposes, this is ideal, as it limits quality loss. If you don’t have scads of huge hard drives around, you can go to the File > Settings menu and select one of your installed encoders from the appropriate tab.

Keep in mind that the Sony HDR-TD10 produces 1080i (interlaced) video. To avoid losing image continuity between the left and right channels when you are working with your files, I recommend waiting  until the final render stage to remove the interlacing, if you plan to.

To adjust the convergence of the two streams, grab StereoMovie Maker, a freeware tool developed by Masuji Suto and David Sykes. It’s a bit old, but does a great job.

Finally, he mentions that you need to install FFDShow for audio support. I must have installed it previously, as the sound was just fine.

The Sony files have 5.1 surround encoded audio! If you want to down mix to stereo at this point, the software has an option for that. For me, I figure if you are going 3D video, convert the audio to 2D?

Visit the 3DTV.at website and grab the MVC to AVI Converter today and save yourself countless hours of headaches trying to do it yourself! At 19 euros for private use an 49 euros for a commercial license, it’s a great deal. Peter deserves every penny.