Netflix begins streaming 3D movies

Today's announcement by Netflix is a game-changer. Something they're calling "Super HD" is now available on their streaming service. Oh, and 3D.

Currently 3D streaming is limited to ISPs in Netflix's Open Connect network in the US, and only a handful of titles are available. My own ISP is not part of this yet, so as of writing this I have not tested the service myself.

Netflix offering 3D is a major step towards the success of 3D in the home. While several 3DTV apps with indie content exist, and have content not available anywhere else, Netflix embracing 3D is good both for filmmakers wanting to reach a larger audience and consumers wanting to access 3D films without spending the high price point of Blu-ray 3D.

 Read the full press release after the jump.

NHK Media Technology proposes new 3D broadcast standard

NHK Media Technology announced a proposal for Advanced Stereo 3D, a new 3D broadcast format at CES. This new format has the advantage of two separate left/right streams at full HD, instead of the current side-by-side squeezed format, which has half the horizontal resolution of full 1080p. This would also allow the same broadcast to be watched in 2D on 2D TV sets. According to this video from DigInfo, NHK has submitted this to ARIB, an organization that determines broadcast standards.

Blu-ray 3D Review: A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas

Still in the Christmas spirit? Watch our review of A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas!

Indie 3D Feature playing at Sundance

"Charlie Victor Romeo", an independent 3D film directed by Robert Berger and Karlyn Michelson, funded through a Kickstarter campaign, will be playing at this year's Sundance film festival in the New Frontier Film category.

From the official website:
One of the most unique and riveting theatrical experiences, CHARLIE VICTOR ROMEO (CVR) is a performance documentary derived entirely from the "Black Box" transcripts of six major real-life airline emergencies. Allowing the audience into the tension-filled cockpits of actual flights in distress, CHARLIE VICTOR ROMEO is a fascinating portrait of the psychology of crisis and a testimony to the ability to live to the last second of life. What is going on up there behind the door in the front of the airplane? Who are these people we trust our lives to, and what do they really do when things go horribly wrong? Over the past 12 years there have been numerous discussions and investigations into how CVR might be brought to a larger audience through another medium. How do we preserve the artistic vision that makes it the dynamic presentation that it is? The power of our production is the intimate communication of the intensity and emotion of these emergencies, communicated between our cast and the audience. How do we take that closeness, that connection, and carry it over to the cinema? Through the use of state-of-the-art 3D Stereoscopic camera technology and the highest quality audio recording and engineering we will bring this groundbreaking and powerful international phenomenon to the big screen allowing moviegoers the same thrilling, devastating and uplifting experience live theater audiences have experienced for years in a way that has never been done before.

9th LA 3-D Movie Fest this weekend!

The 9th annual LA 3-D Movie Festival, one of the longest-running (if not the longest-running) 3D film festivals, starts tonight, with the US premiere of "Robin Hood: Ghosts of Sherwood 3D".

On Saturday, the festival screens two blocks of 3D shorts:

Block 1: 3D Shorts in competition
The Charlatan by Tom Koester, Ray Zone
3D Fireworks 2012 - Dancing Phoenix by Takashi Sekitani
ATM by Andrew Murchie
The Heart’s Eye View by James LeGoy
OK Go - Skyscrapers by Trish Sie, Eric Kurland
Map of Forgotten Places by Jacob Mendel
The Babysitter by Dylan Pearce
Cycle 3D by Andrew Murchie
Metropolis in Miniature by Tom Koester
Intermission by Robert Howell, Don Hertzfeldt

Block 2: 3D Shorts in competition
Chompers Teaser by Jesse Blanchard
Tarang by Jonny Greenwald, Shyam K, Ganesh Rao
The Collection by Andrew Murchie
NSX Supercar by James Piechocki
OK Go - All Is Not Lost by OK Go, Trish Sie, Pilobolus, Eric Kurland
The Key by Stefan Schneider
Animated Amusements by Bob Venezia
Cheers Elephant - Balloon in the City by Ryan Suits
Moondog by Jacob Mendel
Hidden by Andrew Murchie
The Time to Start Moving Again by Hideyuki Asakura

The evening wraps up with a special presentation of "Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'", Award Ceremony, and a screening of the U2 3D concert.

The festival ends on Sunday, Dec. 16th, with a 5PM tribute to Ray Zone. Tickets to the festival can be purchased here.

3D Short Film: The Flamingo 3D

From Jim Cummings and San Francisco 3D Films comes a half-hour live action 3D short. There are more plastic flamingos than there are real ones...

Blu-ray 3D Review: Avatar 3D

This week we review the Avatar Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.