3DGo streams 3D movies you might actually want to watch

I admit it—I own a 3DTV. Well, to be more accurate, I bought a Samsung HDTV with the right blend of features and price that just happened to also have 3D support. But like many people who’ve made such a purchase, I haven’t even taken the glasses out of the box.

3DGo, an on-demand streaming 3D movie service that has been quietly chugging away over the past few months, may actually make me reconsider my 3D neglect. The service, which is currently available only on Vizio 3DTVs, carries about 50 movies from the likes of Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Paramount, and National Geographic. Current titles include Monsters, Inc., Captain America: The First Avenger, Cars 2, Wreck-It Ralph, Tron: Legacy, Thor, the Toy Story trilogy, and even Top Gun (yes, that Top Gun). Iron Man 3 will soon join that list. The service also offers Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, but I’ve decided not to hold that against it.

I had a chance to go eyes-on with 3DGo during a private demo at San Francisco’s Wingtip Club, and was pretty impressed with what I saw using an M-Series Vizio TV, a pair of 3D glasses, and a fairly pedestrian Internet connection.

Watching parts from several live-action and animated films, the quality of 3DGo’s streaming pretty evenly matched with demos of Blu-ray-based 3D content I’ve seen at CES and other places. I couldn’t see any noticeable macroblocking or other problems common with motion and transitions on streaming content. The user interface is pretty basic—a 1.0 design, by the company’s own admission—but with a relatively small catalog to navigate through, that didn’t seem like a big problem right now.

3DGoPaging Nemo.

3DGo movies are rental-based, at $6 to $8 a pop, and like other video-on-demand services, you can watch a movie as many times as you want within 24 hours. New customers get a free movie when they sign up.

Instead of sending separate streams for the left and right eye, 3DGo transmits a single stream that gets decoded to stereoscopic 3D on the receiving end. That means 3DGo can deliver full resolution 3D in the same bandwidth as 2D—roughly 4 mbps to 6 mbps works. How? The company behind 3DGo, Sensio Technologies, has spent more than a decade developing 3D technologies, and its Hi-Fi 3D format is pretty darn efficient. To get the best results, the company even requests the raw left and right channels from movie studios (rather than the master file) to combine them properly and make sure frames match up.

The benefit of a service like 3DGo is that you don’t need to buy a 3D Blu-ray player and expensive 3D movies (although if they’re meant for the kids, you’ll probably save money in the long run versus renting every time). If your TV supports the service, it’s just like having Netflix or any other on-demand option that you use when you want.

3DGoProve yourself on the grid!

The biggest problem with the service right now is compatibility: As mentioned, it currently only runs as an app on Vizio TVs (and only in the U.S.). But the company just signed a deal with Panasonic to bring 3DGo to its 3DTVs, and is also talking with Samsung (which means I’ll have to wait a while to show it off to my kids). And when I asked about expanding beyond TV, the company said it was looking at the likes of Roku, PlayStation, and Xbox as logical extensions. The biggest problem there, however, is the need for on-board hardware that can decode the processor-intense Hi-Fi 3D format.

With recent announcements from ESPN and others about abandoning—or at least tabling—3D content, the idea of such a service gave me pause. But with the built-in nature, easy setup and rental, and actual desirable content, 3DGo makes a lot of sense.

3DGo isn’t the only service offering on-demand 3D. Vudu offers a bunch of 3D movies of varying caliber, but mostly available only as $30-plus purchases and not as rentals. 3DGo prides itself on carrying large studio releases and professional-level nature documentaries. And the technology behind the service is impressive. What will make or break it is getting on more devices and building a larger catalog so people keep coming back.

Jonathan has been covering the tech industry since 1998. He loves watching TV shows on his iPhone while exercising, and has already indoctrinated his young twins in the ways of the Apple TV.
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How Amazon (and you) might use its private Wi-Fi network

A report that Amazon has tested a wireless network actually sheds new light on plans by satellite communications company Globalstar to extend the Wi-Fi spectrum.

The extension, if approved by the FCC, would create a new, uncluttered, high-performance Wi-Fi channel in upper reaches of the 2.4-GHz band, a channel Globalstar apparently intends as the basis of a managed service with cellular-like quality and roaming.

Amazon's wireless testing was revealed last week in a Bloomberg news story, "Amazon Is Said to Have Tested a Wireless Network," by Olga Kharif and Danielle Kucera. The tests were run near Amazon's Lab126 research facilities in Cupertino, California, according to Bloomberg's sources. The lab designs Amazon's Kindle devices.

"The trial underlines how Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company, is moving beyond being a Web destination and hardware maker and digging deeper into the underlying technology for how people connect to the Internet," according to the Bloomberg story. "That would let Amazon create a more comprehensive user experience, encompassing how consumers get online, what device they use to connect to the Web and what they do on the Internet."

But the tests suggest that Amazon doesn't intend or even want to be a traditional wireless network provider. Instead, the online retail giant seems to be exploring the potential of a branded, managed Wi-Fi service that mirrors the features of cellular service: seamless roaming, minimal interference, improved security, and consistent high performance.

The Bloomberg report notes that the test network used spectrum controlled by satellite communications company Globalstar, based in Milpitas, California. In November 2012, the company petitioned the FCC to allow it to use part of its satellite spectrum to offer terrestrial data services, an offering it dubbed Terrestrial Low Power Service.

TLPS adds a big chunk of new capacity: 22 MHz to the currently available 72 MHz of 2.4 GHz spectrum, according to Jarvinian Wireless Innovation Fund, a Cambridge, Mass., research and investment firm focused on spectrum issues. Jarvinian claims credit for the TLPS idea and the engineering work behind it, and has been working closely with Globalstar.TLPS would essentially add a fourth non-overlapping channel, dubbed Channel 14, to the upper reaches of the 2.4 GHz band used for unlicensed Wi-Fi transmissions. The channel actually would combine Globalstar's adjacent licensed spectrum with a small amount of unlicensed spectrum.

But because this fourth channel is actually licensed to Globalstar, the company plans to use it in something like a wholesale, managed wireless service that would offer greater range and performance than conventional public Wi-Fi hotspots, and be available to end users through carriers or through brands, such as Amazon, operating as virtual network operators.

The Bloomberg story does take note of these plans. "Globalstar is seeking regulatory approval to convert about 80 percent of its spectrum to terrestrial use....Globalstar met with FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn in June, and a decision on whether the company can convert the spectrum could come within months."

If given a green light, "Globalstar is considering leasing its spectrum, sharing service revenues with partners, and other business models, one of the people said. With wireless spectrum scarce, Globalstar's converted spectrum could be of interest to carriers and cable companies, seeking to offload ballooning mobile traffic, as well as to technology companies."

Earlier this year, then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski repeated his pledge to continue expanding spectrum in both licensed and unlicensed bands.

In June, Wi-Fi vendor Ruckus Wireless, in Mountain View, California, announced it had completed a round of tests with Globalstar. The trial combined unlicensed spectrum from the upper edge of the 2.4 GHz Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band and Globalstar's licensed Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) spectrum. Ruckus used its Smart Wi-Fi brand access points and controllers, targeted at carrier-based Wi-Fi services, and a selection of existing smartphones with built-in Wi-Fi radios that had been given and over-the-air firmware update to run on the new channel.

According to Ruckus, the test showed that the new spectrum could achieve up to five times the range and four times the capacity "over traditional Wi-Fi." Unfortunately, the Ruckus statement was not more specific about the meaning of "traditional Wi-Fi," which could refer to 802.11n or even 802.11g, or about "capacity." Capacity refers to the network's ability to handle larger numbers of users and greater amounts of traffic. [One discussion of Wi-Fi capacity is found in "Aerohive Design & Configuration Guide: High-density Wi-Fi," by Andrew von Nagy, an Aerohive employee.] The increased range is important especially if higher data rates are sustained over those longer distances.

In a June interview posted at EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet.com, Jarvinian Managing Director John Dooley was quoted as saying "Even in an indoor environment made difficult or unusable by spectral congestion, usable connections [in the Ruckus-Globalstar tests] were established at 3-5 times the distance of public WiFi." The tests also showed more uniform high speeds across longer ranges, according to that post.

The Ruckus statement also said the Globalstar test network did not interfere with nearby conventional Wi-Fi networks. That lack of interference is important. In filing its comments on Globalstar's FCC petition, the Consumer Electronics Association argued that "Globalstar's....proposal presents significant risk to unlicensed operations in the 2.4 GHz band and potentially threatens the economic value, consumer benefit, growth, and potential for innovation of those unlicensed operations." Other industry groups have also raised concerns. [See "Globalstar's plan for an extra Wi-Fi band draws fire."] 

But Amazon apparently sees potential in offering its customers, ever more untethered with smartphones and tablets, a premium Wi-Fi experience that's superior to what public Wi-Fi today can offer.

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