- SyLC 3D Player supports everything from 3D Blu-ray to Apple spatial videos, and it can convert 3D video to display on Apple Vision Pro headsets
- It’s backwards and forwards compatible – and the maker says it can get dual-HDMI output for dual projection, for future-proofing
- The app runs on Windows and is free via Github ‘because this format deserves better than a slow death’
One of the great technical disappointments of the last few decades was 3D television. Like many movie fans, I was excited by the possibilities, invested in a 3D TV, and watched the entertainment industry ensure that 3D movies were once again a short-lived fad. Already in 2013, there was general agreement that 3D TV was dead and that smart TV and 4K were the way forward.
Not everyone got the memo [I had mine until 2020… -Ed]. Over on the r/audiovisual subreddit, Jarod-The_Centre is determined to make sure 3D never dies – so they’ve created a free player that now “plays EVERYTHING in 3D” from Blu-ray to spatial Apple videos.
And that’s just the beginning of its talents. If you’re a fan of things that point off the screen for no good reason, Jarod’s player is fascinating.
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I refused to let 3D die! So I spent months building a free player that plays EVERYTHING in 3D: Blu-ray MVC, 4K HDR side-by-side, even spatial Apple videos. And it converts your 3D Blu-rays to Vision Pro format…
from r/audiovisual
What does the 3D player do?
What does it not do? The player, called SyLC 3D Player, is a Windows app now in its fifth release. It is designed to play three different generations of 3D content: Blu-ray 3D/ISO/MVC MKV; HEVC/H.265 3D up to 4K 10-bit HDR; and Apple’s MV-HEVC spatial videos. “2020s MVC playing on your 2010s 3D TV,” writes Jarod. “There’s something poetic about it.”
The app outputs frame-packed 3D to compatible 3D TVs and projectors, and it can do something else that’s really impressive: it can export 3D content as MV-HEVC, so you can take a 3D Blu-ray and turn it into a spatial video for Vision Pro.
I love Jarod’s explanation of making the app. “It exists because this format deserves better than a slow death and because I don’t seem to know when to stop.”
Jarod is in good company. Reddit’s reaction to the latest announcement has been really positive and full of great ideas, with Acceptable-Rise8783 suggesting, for example, that the future-proofing app should be able to “send the two fields separately but in sync through two HDMI outputs.”
With 3D TVs and projectors becoming increasingly difficult to find — as they point out, “projectors are dropping support left and right because the chips that do 3D are becoming hard to come by” — the choice of viewing platforms will be reduced to dual-projector 3D or VR headsets.
The creator says that this is something that will probably appear in the player in a future version, as the player already runs two windows simultaneously – and this means that dual projectors are the most ‘future-proof’ option for 3D, and the app supports it as best it can.
The whole discussion is fascinating and I think Jarod sums it up beautifully. “Keep the faith. The format isn’t dead while we’re still building for it 🔥”.
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