„Imagination is more important than knowledge.  
For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination  
embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.“
Albert Einstein  

The Fraunhofer Institute, the developer of the MP3, has introduced a compression method for 3D movies. The new standard simplifies the transmission of large 3D data. In the future shutter or polarized glasses might be unnecessary for enjoying 3D TV.

The Multiview Video Coding format (MVC) will reduce the size of 3D data up to 40 percent, without impairing the quality of the broadcast. The method reduces the bit rate of the stereoscopic images, which is in charge for a spatial impression of the overall view.

In particular, both providers and users of future mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Android, smartphones), the technology might solve the problem, of how to reduce the enormous amounts of data for the transmission of 3D movies or 3D online games.
The development will make it possible to watch 3D TV without glasses in the future, because with MVC it is possible to encode and pack multiple views (images) simultaneously. The broadcasting of many shifted stereoscopic images is necessary to enjoy a 3D film from every perspective in a room.

We assume, that this technology will be applicable to virtual worlds like Second Life and Open Sim and even to 3D games, in the future.

Find out more at the official press release by the Fraunhofer Institute. (in German only as yet)

Other German press sources:

Netzwelt.de
Informationsdienst Wissenschaft