Why two thirds of visitors to 3D cinemas experience physical discomfort after a session
Welcome to the pages of the blog iCover ! Those who enjoy watching 3D movies on the big screen without experiencing any discomfort often do not even suspect that almost three-quarters of the auditorium, when they leave the room, feel unwell on the physical level. A group of MSU specialists headed by Dmitry Vatolin managed to clarify the etiology of this unpleasant phenomenon and develop a program for identifying “bottlenecks” in 3D films. In mid-February, the scientist spoke about the results of his research at the 27th annual Stereoscopic Displays & Applications conference held in San Francisco.
A survey conducted in 2011 in France made it possible to talk about quite definite and depressing statistics: 27% of viewers have a quite conscious feeling of discomfort after a session, 22% complain of a general deterioration of well-being, 7% of respondents mentioned headaches and 11% could name other specific symptoms . Thus, the number of “tough nuts” that can boast of the absence of any aggravating factors as a result of viewing is limited to one third of the total number of viewers. At the same time, many of those who refused from such a viewing format subsequently associate their decision with acute discomfort or a headache.
The head of the research team, Senior Researcher of the Laboratory of Multimedia and Computer Graphics at the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of the Moscow State University Dmitry Vatolin, who has studied the problem for 8 years, believes that while watching a 3D movie, the discomfort is experienced at least once in each room.
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The main reason, according to the scientist, is the forced distortion of the usual perception of the length of space. In order to form a stereo image, the human brain during the process of viewing a 3D film is forced to continuously combine a picture focused on both eyes. When the incoming video stream is misaligned or confused, the process of perception is inevitably disrupted, forcing the brain to work under increased load, which becomes the main cause of headaches and other negative reactions.
In general, researchers were able to identify almost 15 causes of the problem, which, in their origin, in turn, can be divided into two broad categories. The first is connected with the desire of cinema hall owners to cut costs where possible: poor glasses, low-quality projectors and other equipment automatically and inevitably lead to a decrease in the quality of the broadcast stereo image, hindering the natural perception of the film. The errors of the second category include the so-called confusion of the right and left video signal due to installation errors. And this, Dmitry notes, is far from the only technical flaw in 3D films.
The result of the laboratory’s eight-year work was a computer program that allows it to detect technically incorrect fragments of 3D films with a high degree of accuracy and, in the future, to help prevent cinema products from occurring on large screens that are harmful to the viewer. Creating a “metric” at the level of a software product, according to Dmitry Vatolin, will help identify such technical content problems, greatly facilitating and speeding up the process of technical control of film distribution.
As the authors note, using software development, they have already tested 105 Blu-ray films, in 23 of which about 65 problem fragments were discovered. Interestingly, in addition to films that do not pretend to Oscar-winning laurels and general recognition, the leaders of the rental, such as Avatar, The Chronicles of Narnia and Stalingrad, were included in the list of tapes with problematic moments. And especially in this regard, was awarded “Avatar” - the Oscar winner in the nomination “The best special effects”.
Statistics obtained by experts as a result of testing 3D films on Blu-ray discs led to the conclusion that “... the probability of acquiring films with the problem of confused angles in individual scenes is 21%. For sensitive people, this figure becomes quite tangible. ” The author of the development states that a very large percentage of these and other problems were recorded in horror films, which is often due to the limited budget.
The refusal of reputable manufacturers to support the 3D function in the overall panels of home theaters does not at all mean the fastest decline of the 3D industry in the near future. 3D movies on large screens in cinema halls, on the contrary, are gathering a large audience. According to the author of software development Dmitry Vatolin, certain positive trends in improving the quality of both films and cinema equipment cannot be overlooked. Already today, in his opinion, on average, the quality of films in stereo format is on average better than the quality of Avatar. At the same time, a tangible improvement in the situation with the described problem will require, according to Dmitry, another 2 to 3 years.
It’s difficult to predict in advance the imperfections of existing technologies when watching a movie. The only thing that can be advised to lovers of 3D effects in order to reduce this possibility is to choose halls where modern high-quality equipment and films with an impressive budget are installed, advises Vatolin. The best picture quality is most likely offered to you in the halls of IMAX 3D, where there are such advantages as: a large screen, high brightness, no flicker effect, high-quality passive glasses.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/391521/
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