The Secret of RealD and Samsung's Active Polarizing Film "RDZ"

Active Retarder and polarized glasses can reproduce full HD images, with minimal impact on image quality such as viewing angle and brightness. RealD of the United States and Samsung Electronics of South Korea jointly developed the "RDZ" method with the above characteristics. The author recently interviewed Robert Mayson, president of the CE department of RealD, in the luxury suite of RealD in the Wynn Hotel, which is close to the "International CES" exhibition venue.

- First of all, what exactly is "RDZ"?

"It is a technology that embeds RealD's theatrical polarization system into 3D (3-dimensional) LCD TVs. We define LCD shutter glasses as the first generation, RDZ polarization system as the second generation, and naked-eye 3D as the third generation. In the theatrical polarization system, a circular polarization generating filter called "Zscreen" is installed in front of the DLP projector. RDZ is like a circular polarization generating filter built into the LCD panel. RDZ is the abbreviation of 'RealD Zscreen'."

- LCD panels have linear polarization, so won't these interfere with the circular polarization of Zscreen?

"No problem. What bothered us more was the slow movement of the LCD panel. As a solution to this problem, we came up with a new driving method. That is to write in sequence after division from the top. This development work took two years. After that, we signed an agreement with Samsung Electronics six months ago and have been conducting joint development. They have been very proactive. We have also provided a lot of technical know-how."

——Have you not discussed passive polarizing film?

"There is no technology we haven't discussed. Of course, we have considered it. But we found that considering that full HD effect can be obtained in both 2D and 3D modes, and considering the picture quality conditions such as wide viewing angle and high brightness, active type still has an absolute advantage. 2D mode has finally achieved full HD effect, why does the clarity drop to "half HD" in passive mode? No one will buy it, right?"

——RealD is a technology development company. RealD provides technology to panel manufacturers, panel manufacturers supply panels to system manufacturers, and system manufacturers return to accept guidance from RealD, which can form a perfect triangle relationship. What is the relationship between RDZ and the previous LCD shutter glasses?

"There is no doubt that RDZ is better. This is from the aspects of high image quality, light weight of glasses, and low price. In the future, RDZ is expected to become the mainstream"

——So what is the situation in the third generation of naked-eye 3D TVs?

"I think that naked-eye 3D TVs must achieve the same picture quality as the current RDZ. To achieve this, the number of pixels in the LCD panel is not enough, 4K×2K, and I think even the ultra-high-definition 8K×4K is not enough. If it does not reach 10K or 12K, it may be difficult to achieve practical use. I think it will take more than 5 years."

LCD shutter glasses, Side-by-Side, polarized TVs, naked-eye 3D... In any case, RealD is involved in all areas of 3D. Manufacturers are like Sun Wukong running on the palm of Tathagata Buddha. Wherever manufacturers run, RealD will appear there.