2013-03-19, 22:24
Guys, just fyi
There are different types of 3D. Some require hdmi 1.4a, some don't. The ones that don't require it, can be played by pretty much any htpc that plays 1080p content
There are the Full HD Frame Packed versions, which require 1.4a simply because the 1.3 does not support that resolution. It is practically 2 full size 1080p pictures either side by side or over and under with a blank strip (45px) in between. So the resolution of each frame is more like 1920x2205 (for over/under). This is the format most commonly used in retail 3D blurays.
There are also the Half side-by-side or over-under versions, which are compatible with hdmi 1.3. They take both the left and the right eye frames, (for half SBS) horizontally squish them, and put them side by side, creating a single 1920x1080 frame that contains both the left and right frames. Since the resulting signal is identical to a regular 1080p stream, any htpc that plays 1080p also can play this. In this case, you have to manually switch the tv into 3D mode as it won't be able to tell the difference between reg 1080p and half SBS. Essentially, it is the TV that's doing some post-processing to switch it to a 3D picture by cutting each frame in half, expanding horizontally by 2x, and displaying them in sequence. Most scene releases are of this kind and will play on pretty much any htpc.
So the video cards or apu's that advertise 3D, are the ones that are Full HD 3D capable, in other words, hdmi 1.4a ones. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the others are not 3D capable.
And then there is also the case of PlayStation3, which is 1.3, but is able to do frame packed 3D at 24p only (so no FHD3D 1080p60). I am not sure how that relates to htpc's. The manufacturers never seem to get into that. I think that even if the htpc were capable of frame packed 3D at 24p, I don't think xbmc would be able to output that due to ffmpeg (don't quote me on that, it comes down to whether xbmc can play a 1920x2205 video file outputting at that resolution)
Hope it's clear.
There are different types of 3D. Some require hdmi 1.4a, some don't. The ones that don't require it, can be played by pretty much any htpc that plays 1080p content
There are the Full HD Frame Packed versions, which require 1.4a simply because the 1.3 does not support that resolution. It is practically 2 full size 1080p pictures either side by side or over and under with a blank strip (45px) in between. So the resolution of each frame is more like 1920x2205 (for over/under). This is the format most commonly used in retail 3D blurays.
There are also the Half side-by-side or over-under versions, which are compatible with hdmi 1.3. They take both the left and the right eye frames, (for half SBS) horizontally squish them, and put them side by side, creating a single 1920x1080 frame that contains both the left and right frames. Since the resulting signal is identical to a regular 1080p stream, any htpc that plays 1080p also can play this. In this case, you have to manually switch the tv into 3D mode as it won't be able to tell the difference between reg 1080p and half SBS. Essentially, it is the TV that's doing some post-processing to switch it to a 3D picture by cutting each frame in half, expanding horizontally by 2x, and displaying them in sequence. Most scene releases are of this kind and will play on pretty much any htpc.
So the video cards or apu's that advertise 3D, are the ones that are Full HD 3D capable, in other words, hdmi 1.4a ones. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the others are not 3D capable.
And then there is also the case of PlayStation3, which is 1.3, but is able to do frame packed 3D at 24p only (so no FHD3D 1080p60). I am not sure how that relates to htpc's. The manufacturers never seem to get into that. I think that even if the htpc were capable of frame packed 3D at 24p, I don't think xbmc would be able to output that due to ffmpeg (don't quote me on that, it comes down to whether xbmc can play a 1920x2205 video file outputting at that resolution)
Hope it's clear.
