Digital 3D

Last night I went to the local Silver City with a friend to see the new Jumper film, which was great, and I'll review it later. The really cool experience was when someone I know that works there asked if I wanted to see the new digital projector. I thought, new computerized technology, sure, be cool to see what this looks like.

We got up there and my friend introduced me to the two technicians that were in the process of installing it. One guy showed me the inside of the machine, with its cooling system and high wattage power supply, and how the films come on hard-drives that have uber-encryption. They talked about the Texas Interments (TI) DLP projector system, then asked if we wanted to see the 3D.

The projector has a lens that sticks out the front as you would expect, attached to it is a swing arm with a glass pane that polarizes the image. With that swung out, the technician handed my friend and I a pair of 3D glasses. I couldn't help notice these were the only two pairs of glasses around, and they were still sealed in their plastic wrapper. We were the first to see this new projectors 3D effect.

Amazing, it was just a 15 second trailer in computer graphics, looking through the projectionists glass, but when the logo popped out at the end, I swear it was halfway across the theatre. As the trailer looped, I raised and lowered my glasses to see the difference of the 3D, I took note of the fact that the film was completely watchable without the specs. One of the techs pointed out that if you put the glasses on upside-down the 3D effect is reversed, that is what pops up now goes in. This was a cool effect.

I know the first film that will be shown on this new projection system will be Disney's Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds, which I'm not so big on seeing, but Journey 3D, the new Brendan Fraser film I am now totally excited to see. Check the trailer and imagine the 3D effect.