World's first 3D 1080p HD video on Blu-ray

Panasonic 103in PDP
Panasonic's jumbo plasma TV is part of the 3D party

We don't have any photos of this for you yet and if we did it wouldn't really help, so it's going to have to suffice if we tell you that Panasonic claims it has just created the world's first 3D HD plasma home cinema system.

The new setup uses the company's famous 103-inch PDP and a Blu-ray player that can deliver full 1080p HD video with separate views to each eye.

Cardboard glasses

The tiny differences between the two video streams create the usual 3D effect in the human brain, but the key here is Panasonic's ability to maintain the full high-def experience, albeit with polarising glasses still needed.

The company explains: "Previous consumer 3D display systems have encountered many different problems, including reduced vertical resolution caused by a 3D display method that divides the scanning lines between the left and right eyes, and picture quality degradation caused by pixel skipping."

Moreover, all the 3D goodness fits onto a single standard Blu-ray disk, which has to bode well for the future of the format.

Pros and cons

Still, the skimpy details we received do say that, "Panasonic has developed a technology to decode and play back the left and right full HD image data recorded to the BD in real time."

That sounds to us like we'll be needing yet another new kind of Blu-ray deck if this ever becomes commercially available, which maybe isn't the wisest move right now.

J Mark Lytle was an International Editor for TechRadar, based out of Tokyo, who now works as a Script Editor, Consultant at NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Writer, multi-platform journalist, all-round editorial and PR consultant with many years' experience as a professional writer, their bylines include CNN, Snap Media and IDG.