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High Frame Rate 3D

Scott Wilkinson  |  May 10, 2011

I just listened to episode 63 of your Home Theater Geeks podcast and heard that 3D may be making a move to 48 or 60 frames per second. Am I correct that this is a problem for Blu-ray because it cannot accommodate this higher frame rate? Does this mean we will soon see a new disc format?

Charlie Raskob

You are correct—the current Blu-ray specification cannot accommodate 1080p at 48 or 60fps; in fact, its ability to handle 1080p tops out at 24. It can manage 48 and 60 with a resolution of 720p, though 48 isn't actually in the spec. However, I doubt that many filmmakers and consumers will want 720p when they've enjoyed 1080p for several years now.

If James Cameron shoots Avatar 2 at 48 or 60fps—and I sincerely hope he does—releasing the movie at that frame rate on disc will require an update to Blu-ray or a new format. Just what we need, another format war! Of course, there's always streaming, but few homes have sufficient bandwidth to handle 3D at 48 or 60fps with any sort of reasonable picture quality. Thus, while high-frame rate 3D might become available in commercial theaters at some point, I doubt it will be available in the home any time soon. Perhaps we'll see it about the same time as 4K displays in the home, which I think will be several years at least.

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