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Sony Blu-ray Players to do 3D 1080p with HDMI 1.3

Surprisingly, Sony has announced that they’re going to be sending full 1080p 3D signals over existing cables. Of course, that’s not the whole story.

Sony revealed recently that their new players are capable of a lot more than we thought. Mainly, they're able to process a 1080p 3D signal.

There’s been a lot of confusion with the advent of 3D and HDMI 1.4, and the initial word was that HDMI 1.3 just couldn’t handle 3D in 1080p. As Sony pointed out though, that’s not really the case. Their new Blu-ray players can hack a 1080p signal using your existing HDMI cords.

So what’s the deal? Well, there are two real factors here. First off, while Sony’s new player doesn’t bear the HDMI 1.4 branding, it sounds like it will still be HDMI 1.4 compatible. As a Sony rep said, “The players and theater systems support the HDMI 1.4 spec for 3D playback, but may not support all of the qualifications of spec.”

So the players won’t support everything required to get HDMI 1.4 branding, but you’ll still be able to get the 3D benefits of HDMI 1.4 while using an HDMI 1.4 cord. The player doesn’t work with the other features of the new spec though, such as an audio return channel, which means it doesn’t get HDMI 1.4 branding.

The second thing, and perhaps the most important, is that HDMI 1.3 will indeed carry a 3D signal at 1080p. It can’t handle 3D at sixty frames per second though, only thirty. Of course, while watching movies on most Blu-ray players, the output is set to 24fps, which HDMI 1.3 can handle just fine.

Source: Engadget

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