Dave Seperson, senior technical product planning manager for Sony’s home audio/video business, brings a wide range of experience from sales and marketing with over 20 years of CE experience and 11 years with Sony. He has held several different positions with the company from training to product marketing and planning. Dave has been involved in product and technologies launches including DVD, media storage, LCD displays, handhelds, E-ink readers, and Blu-ray Disc™ technology.
Bijan Tehrani: Can you tell us a little bit about Sony’s approach to 3-D television?
Dave Seperson: We are trying to make entertainment more immersive and exciting for consumers, we have a number of televisions that are capable of 3-D and we wanted to make the best optimal viewing environment which is B-D.
BT: How does Sony 3-D technology work through Sony television and how would compare the quality of 3-D on TV to a the 3D theater experience of a film such as Avatar?
DS: There are basically two ways of getting 3-D, one is with passive glasses and the other way is with what is called active shutter glasses. What active does is that it provides a pair of glasses that shows the images of one eye at a time. Since the screen is much smaller in the home we use the active technology because it provides the viewer with a high definition 3-D experience in their home.
BT: There are people who complain about getting headaches when watching 3-D movies, does you merchandise have this problem?
DS: The experience is always different from person to person and even from viewing in the theatre and the home. The experience will still be very immersive and very involving, but if it’s uncomfortable, you should stop watching.
BT: How would you compare the technology that Sony is using now to the colored glasses technology that was used before?
DS: Well the colored glasses used the passive technique, we could do that but it would produce standard definition viewing, which can’t be compared to what Sony is doing with Full HD 1080p 3D
BT: What does the Sony 3-D televisions come equipped with in terms of glasses and other accessories?
DS: We are going to sell one television that comes with an IR emitter built in with two pair of glasses and we will offer two 3d ready BRAVIA models that don’t come with those accessories, but those can be added for an extra cost, so it depends on what you are looking for.
BT: Different companies are offering different technologies right now, so what features should a customer look for when picking a 3-D TV.
DS: One of the reasons that we really like Blu-ray Disc is that they have come up with a standard disk format and most TV companies do support the Blu-rayay Standard, they have also agreed on a 3-D standard. There technology works great with our TV’s because I have used them.
BT: What are some of the differences between your Blu-ray models in terms of their compatibility with 3-D?
DS: Right now we have units that have been on the market that can be upgraded with firmware update that is now available. We held off on 3-D until all the pieces of the technology are ready. It’s entirely possible that our players can work with other TV’s, the TV has to be able to support the BDA association 3D standard; most of the TV’s out today do support that standard but the customer would have to check with their manufacturer.
BT: How do you see the future of the 3-D market in terms of content?
DS: Just like any technology when it comes out, there are early adopters and later adopters. This is a game that will play out over time, we already support 3-D gaming on our PS3 and we will also support 3-D movies on our PS3 system.
BT: So PS3 owners could anticipate that their system will be able to play 3-D movies.
DS: Absolutely, as long as they get the firmware upgrade.
BT: As far as glasses, what are some of your suggestions in terms of quality?
DS: We sell two types of glasses for children and adults and you do have to buy Sony glasses to watch on Sony TV’s.
BT: When should we expect to see the new Sony products on the market?
DS: We made the announcement on June 9th – models are now shipping and will be in stores by the end of the month.