Copyright 2011 Bit Cauldron Corporation
Page 18 of 24
About Performance Tuning
Basic Function of Shutter Glasses
Both movie theaters and home entertainment systems work together with glasses to allow a person to
look at a flat screen and see different images in the left and right eye, thus providing the information
needed to perceive depth. Seeing slightly different images in each eye is the basis of 3D perception.
All 3D shutter glasses start with an alternating frame display. An alternating frame display alternates
between displaying frames for the left eye and frames for the right eye. Shutter glasses block the light of
the left frames from reaching the right eye, and vice versa. In this manner each eye receives every other
frame, and the series of still pictures is reassembled by the mind to produce a moving picture. When the
sequence of frames is sent fast enough, the mind will assemble the sequence of frames to form a
moving picture, or in the case of 3D, a separate moving picture in each eye. Many HDTV televisions
produce 60 frames per second for a 2D HDTV image. Many 3D televisions operate at 120 Hz or faster so
that each eye receives a separate 60 frames per second.
Figure 1: Ideal Shutter Glasses Behavior
The Optoma 3D-RF shutter glasses contain lenses that are liquid crystal displays. Each lens alternates
from clear-to-dark every other frame, thus making the left frame look dark to the right eye and vice
versa. The name shutter glasses is a legacy of the first shutter glasses which used mechanical shutters as
one might find on a camera or projector.
Many televisions with the VESA 1997-11 Stereoscopic connector (the round 3D glasses Emitter port
shown in the picture below) behave almost identically to this timing. For example, many Mitsubishi 3D
Televisions incorporate the 3D stereoscopic connector and behave almost identically to this timing.
When attaching the device to the back of these televisions, the default settings for delay and duty cycle,
work perfectly and performance is already perfectly tuned.
