How HDTV 3D technology works

Our eyes are spaced apart from each other, which means our left and right retinas see objects at slightly different angles. In real life, the brain merges these two images into a single three-dimensional image.

To recreate this experience of depth on television, a 3D TV will display two separate but overlapping images of the same scene simultaneously at slightly different angles. One image is intended for the left eye, the other for the right. A pair of Active Glasses helps viewers perceive the two 2D images as one 3D image.

3D glasses use a shutter technology to quickly block the left eye, and then the right, in sync with the TV which itself is alternating left and right images rapidly. This is fast enough that the brain perceives no gaps. The glasses help the mind merge the two images into one and will fit comfortably over perscription glasses.