Meant to be Seen

As promised, Tim Partridge, EVP of Dolby Laboratories, answers a lot of your questions and more.

Post your comments here.

Regards,
Neil

Nice follow up interview, Neil! It is great to gain insight into the film making industry and how they view the direction of S3D technology. I saw Beowulf last weekend and it was easily the best 3D movie I have ever seen, bar none. A little mild ghosting here and there, but the way S3D was used to bring the audience into the storyline was light years beyond the "gimmicky" movie 3d of past films.

While I am very appreciative of Tim taking the time to address the additional questions posed by everyone, I can't say that I am personally very happy about the content of the replies. As good as Beowulf was and as much as I would love to go see it again, going to the movies is not as affordable as it used to be. Your mileage may vary, but my average night at the movies usually costs $75 at least (family of 4), sometimes much more considering dinner and shopping is always "conveniently" located near the theater. Staying home and watching an "On Demand" movie is a fraction of the cost of going out. I can understand the need to continue focusing on mass adoption of S3D in the movie theaters because this is where they currently are making their money, but ignoring the home 3D entertainment industry at this point is a mistake in my opinion. Everyone who has some type of 3D display has the inherent ability to play a 3D movie as they are ALL connected to a PC. Seeding this industry with quality distibutable content that can be viewed at home is just as important as getting it out into the theater. I understand their concerns about content and piracy protection, but getting Beowulf in S3D out into people homes could be a very considerable profit maker once the movie is no longer showing in theaters and would fuel the adoption of the technology, which in turn drives more people to the theaters to see the next Dolby3D release and pulls revenue from those movies and theaters that only offer a 2D experience. Don't you think people would go nuts if they walked into Best Buy and saw Beowulf running in 3D on XYZ display?
I think they (I) would!
PiXeL

You're preaching to the choir here!

I think it's important to remember that until Dolby and Real D are directly involved in the home consumer markets, 100% of their efforts will go towards driving customers and revenue to their exhibitor (movie theatre) customers. However, if you were to look at the market as a triangle, home consumers would be on the bottom left, movie theatres would be at the bottom right, and the content makers (e.g. James Cameron, Dreamworks Animation, George Lucas, etc.) would be at the top. These are the guys who decide what content goes to the home and to the theatre.

When the S-3D hardware adoption is there, what's to stop DVD manufacturers from offering additional stereoscopic rental options with higher rental fees? Or blueray discs with S-3D unlock codes that you pay for once the hardware is available?

For now, Real D and Dolby's influence and level of expertise is in the theatre. It will be interesting to see what the other shoe, the content shoe, has to say!

Regards,
Neil