For home theater enthusiasts, 3D technology adds a unique experience to movies and other content. Thanks to its features like manipulated depth of field, onscreen video appears to have physical depth, giving movies a distinctive interactive quality. There are many different way to view 3D movies at home. For those people who already have a 3D TV and care much about video quality, a 3D Blu-ray player will be your ideal choice. However, if you don’t want to invest money on pricey 3D Blu-ray players, watch 3D movies on computer or VR Headsets would be your second choice. The following article will talk about 3D movie viewing tips:
1. Where to get 3D movie to watch at home?
2. Play 3D Blu-ray movie on 3D TV with 3D Blu-ray Player
3. Hardware and software to watch 3D movie on computer?
4. How to view 3D movie on VR headsets?
1. Where to get 3D movie to watch at home?
There’s a happy fact that 3D-capable HDTVs now cost little more than their non-3D counterparts. Another happy fact is that 3D-capable Blu-ray players now cost little more than their non-3D counterparts. However, one sad fact is that you can’t rent 3D movies from Netflix or stream and download from Amazon, Netflix or iTunes. Thing does not get so bad, there are still a few resources that can deliver 3D goodness to your home, following are your options:
3D-Blu-rayRental.com
Comcast Xfinity 3D
Sony PlayStation Network
Vudu
Many of the titles are available only for purchase, with prices typically set at $21.99. And a lot of the best 3D flicks aren’t there, including “Despicable Me” and “Hugo.”
For my money, the smart way to enjoy 3D at home is to rent or buy 3D Blu-ray discs. That affords you not only the best picture and sound quality, but also the widest selection.
2. Play 3D Blu-ray on 3D TV with 3D Blu-ray player
Best 3D Blu-ray player:
OPPO BDP-103, Sony BDP-S6500, Panasonic 3D Blu-ray Player, Yamaha 3D Blu-ray Player, Sony BDP-S5500, Samsung BD-H5900
Best 3D TV:
Samsung H, Sharp Aquos, LG 3D LED, Sony W, Samsung F, Panasonic, Vizio, LG LED Google TV, Hisense, JVC Sapphire
3. Hardware and software to watch 3D movie on computer
To watch 3D movies on computer, there are some hardware requirements you should take into consideration. You need to buy a specific 3D glasses, a 3D graphic card and a new computer that has 3D monitor.
Before viewing 3D movies on your computer with no problem, you will need to let you computer to render twice in everything, and this process is every essential. And to make your computer support 3D movies, it should at least achieve the following configuration:
Microsoft® Windows® Vista 32/64-bit or Windows 7 32/64-bit
Intel® Core™2 Duo or AMD Athlon™ X2 CPU or higher
1GB of system memory (2GB is recommended)
100 MB free disk space (for driver installation)
For better looks and performance, you can get a computer with i7 processor with a 8GB RAM.
After all the hardware configuration is done, you still need a 3D video player for you to watch 3D movies on computer, a list of 10 best free 3D video players can be found below:
ArcSoft Total Media Theatre 6
Nvidia 3D Vision Video Player
Corel WinDVD Pro 11
Cyberlink PowerDVD 14 Ultra
VLC Media Player
Potplayer
Wondershare Player
3D Video Player
KM Player
DepthQ Player
4. How to View 3D movie on VR Headsets?
Samsung Gear VR: After searching for format supported by Gear VR, we get the answer, the Gear VR by default supports most common video formats including 2D MP4/AVI/FLV and 3D SBS MP4/MKV, only audio which Android standardly supports work and that is AAC and MP3. AC3 and DTS were removed because of high licensing costs.
Related topic: Top 5 3D Movies for Gear VR | Watch 3D Movies on Gear VR
Oculus Rift: If you own the consumer version of Oculus Rift, then you can watch 3D movies with the Oculus Cinema app, which supports both Side by Side and Top and Bottom 3D movie contents that comply with the following standard:
Video encoding: H.264 is recommended, H.265 video can also be played
Video resolution: 1280×720 is recommended, higher resolution will not provide better quality
Bit rate: recommend to use a higher bit rate than a typical web stream at that resolution
Encoded resolution: 3D movies should be encoded “full side-by-side” with a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio. Content mastered at 1920×1080 compressed side -by- side 3D should be resampled to 1920×540 resolution full side -by -side resolution.
Related topic: Import 3D Movies to Oculus Rift | Watch Movies on Oculus Rift DK2
Google Cardboard: To watch your own videos on Cardboard with 3D effect, you can download a free app called Cardboard Theater, supports SBS, Over/Under and Red-Cyan anaglyph formats as well as plain 2D movies in all formats originally supported by your phone.
Related topic: Watch 3D Video on Google Cardboard | 3D Blu-ray to Google Cardboard 2
Zeiss VR One: The Zeiss VR One offers a Cinema app enables you to enjoy virtual reality experience just like sitting in a 3D movie theater. The VR One Cinema app can play “.mov” and “.mp4” file formats. If you have a Side by Side video that is specially formatted for 3D, you can simply add the keyword “SBS” to the file name of the video and the app will automatically show the correct content for each eye. In addition, movies in 720p resolution are best for watching in the VR One Cinema.
Related topic: Transfer 3D Video to Zeiss VR One
Play unsupported files on VR Headset
Do not have enough Side by Side 3D movies in hand for viewing directly on VR Headsets listed above? Don’t worry, with our powerful 3D Movie Converter for VR Headsets, you can easily create 3D movies from all unsupported file formats including 3D Blu-ray disc, 3D Yify Torrent movies, 2D Blu-ray/DVD/video to VR Headsets compatible SBS/TAB\Anaglyph 3D mode with MKV/MP4/MOV/AVI/MP4 file format.
To get better 3D visual effects on your VR Headsets, you can adjust the output file resolution as 720p which are best for watching with VR cinema app. Adjust 3D video depth to strengthen 3D effect or switch left right image for change the displaying order of SBS 3D movie.
How to Setup VR Headsets to watch 3D movies?
To view your SBS 3D video files on your Gear VR, follow these steps:
1. On your MicroSD card file directory, navigate to Oculus > Movies > Your Movies
2. Create a new folder within “Your Movies” and label it “3D”
3. Import or move your side-by-side 3D videos into your newly created “3D” folder
Once you have created your 3D content folder and imported compatible video files, insert your MicroSD card into your Galaxy Note 4 (if it isn’t already), dock the phone in your Gear VR, and don the virtual reality headset. Then:
1. Navigate to Oculus Cinema from the main menu
2. Navigate to “My Videos” from the Oculus Cinema content library menu
Select the 3D video you wish to view (if you followed the above steps it should have a “3D” label in the upper righthand corner)
3. Choose the cinema mode to begin playback
Play 3D movies on Oculus Rift Kit 2 DK2:
1.Download and install VLC player.
2.Download and install VR Player.
3.Then download the DK2 Tracker to track motion within VP player.
4.Expand the zip file of DK2 Tracker and copy the files to the following location: C:\Program Files (x86)\VR Player\Trackers.
5.Open VR player and set the tracker you have just copied as below:
There are different options to view 2D or 3D movies, you can have a reference at the examples below:
1.Select Oculus as extended Desktop in the Rift Display Mode Program.
2.Make sure your windows monitor is setup so your rift is secondary.
3.Options for watching 3D movies:
Menu – Media – Format – Side by Side
Menu – Media – Projection – Plane
4.Options for common 2D movies:
Menu – Media – Format – Mono
Menu – Media – Projection – Plane
5.Open selected movies:
Menu – File – Open File – With VLC…
6.Browse and select the movie you desire to watch.
7.Switch to Oculus screen:
When the movie is playing, move the video screen onto your Oculus screen with the instructions: In the Oculus is your second monitor to the left, hit these keys:
Hit Windows Key + Cursor Key Left (Do this twice to move the window to your Oculus)
Hit Windows Key + Cursor Key Up (This maximizes the window)
8.Put on your headphones and enjoy movies on Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 DK2 with pleasure.
Transfer 3D movies to Zeiss VR One
With iPhone:
1.plug the phone into your computer. After opening iTunes, select your phone at the top (Step 1)
2. Open the Apps Menu (Step 2).
3. Scroll down (Step 3) you will find the VR One Cinema app listed under the”File Sharing” menu.
4. Just select it, you can either drag and drop videos into the window on the side, or click the “Add” button to search through your folders (Step 4).
And that’s it! All the videos you add here will be listed under the “Movies” folder inside the app.
5. Feed your iPhone 6 into its custom-made tray and insert the tray into the Zeiss VR One and then don the headset.
6. Navigate to the Zeiss VR One Cinema app on your iPhone 6.
7. Go to “My Videos” folder from the Cineme app content library menu.
8. Select the 3D video you wish to play and choose the cinema mode to begin playback.
With Android:
1. Connect your Android phone via USB cable and open Android file transfer.
2. Create a folder “VRCinema” on your phone at root level.
3. Drag and drop any .mp4 file into this folder.
5. Insert the tray with your Android phone into the Zeiss VR One and then don the headset.
6. Navigate to the Zeiss VR One Cinema app on your Android phone.
7. Go to “My Videos” from the Cineme app content library menu.
8. Select the 3D video you wish to play and choose the cinema mode to begin playback.