- SyLC 3D Player supports everything from Blu-ray 3D to Apple spatial videos, and can convert 3D videos for display on Apple Vision Pro headphones.
- It’s backwards and forwards compatible, and the creator says you can get dual HDMI output for dual projection, future-proof.
- The app runs on Windows and is free through Github “because this format deserves better than a slow death.”
One of the great technological disappointments of recent decades was 3D television. Like many movie fans, I was excited by the possibilities, invested in a 3D TV, and watched as the entertainment industry ensured that, once again, 3D movies were a short-lived trend. In 2013, there was already general consensus that 3D television was dead and that smart TVs and 4K were the way to go.
Not everyone got the memo. [I had mine until 2020… -Ed]. Over on the r/audiovisual subreddit, Jarod-The_Centre is determined to ensure that 3D never dies, so they’ve been creating a free player that now “plays EVERYTHING in 3D,” from Blu-ray to Apple space videos.
And that’s just the beginning of his talents. If you’re a fan of things that pop up on your screen for no good reason, Jarod’s player is fascinating.
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I refused to let 3D die! So I spent months creating a free player that plays EVERYTHING in 3D: Blu-ray MVC, side-by-side 4K HDR, and even Apple space videos. And convert your 3D Blu-rays to Vision Pro format…
from r/audiovisual
What does the 3D player do?
What doesn’t it do? The player, called SyLC 3D Player, is a Windows application that is now in its fifth version. It is designed to play three different generations of 3D content: Blu-ray 3D/ISO/MVC MKV; HEVC/H.265 3D up to 4K HDR 10-bit; and Apple’s MV-HEVC space videos. “The MVC of the 2020s, playing on your 2010s 3D TV,” Jarod writes. “There’s something poetic about that.”
The app generates 3D frames for 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 how to create the app. “It exists because this format deserves better than a slow death and because I apparently don’t know when to stop.”
Jarod is in good company. Reddit’s response to the latest announcement has been really positive and full of good ideas, so, for example, Acceptable-Rise8783 suggests that to be future-proof, the app should be able to “send the two fields separately but in sync via two HDMI outputs.”
With 3D TVs and projectors becoming harder to find (as they point out, “projectors are falling out of support left and right because the chips that produce 3D are becoming hard to come by”), the choice of viewing platforms will come down to dual-projector 3D or VR headsets.
The creator says this is something that will likely appear in the player in a future version, as the player already handles two windows simultaneously, and it means that dual projectors are the most “future-proof” option for 3D, and the app supports this as best it can.
The whole discussion is fascinating and I think Jarod sums it up beautifully. “Keep the faith. The format is not dead while we are still building it 🔥.”
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