YouTube enters the cavernous, chromatic world of 3D

So it seems that YouTube has been experimenting with offering 3D videos over the past few days, but we've held off on letting you know just to make sure this wasn't some sort of one-day lab test. As you can see in the video there in the read link, 3D videos that are uploaded can now be shown in a variety of formats in order to suit a variety of viewing styles. Believe it or not, this little addition just made YouTube the most pervasive and most useful outlet for bringing 3D content into the home, blazing right on past Panasonic and an entire consortium devoted to making said concept a reality. And with all these 3D cameras and camcorders making their way out onto the market, we're guessing this may up being more than just a fad. We will say, however, that watching the video (posted past the break) sans the appropriate glasses is murder on your brain. Engage at your own risk.

[Via CNET, thanks William]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:03PM]

You need to try other videos, or beter yet, High res 3d images. Blurry videos don't cut it, and seriously take away from the effect. But once you start watching good quality vids in 3D, you might not wanna go back, even if you use the cross eyed method. I've been checking this out alot recently.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:06PM]

Oh, try this image, it shows quite well how awesome 3D can be. Also check out the rest in that flicker group, they have some of the best 3D images I've seen.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/turbguy/3727995585/sizes/l/in/pool-62553512@N00/

[Invisiblemoose Posted Jul 22nd 2009 6:53PM]

I wish it were just a fad.

[McPOW Posted Jul 22nd 2009 6:58PM]

That may be the most irritating video ever, and thats saying a lot for youtube.

also... my eyes are stuck crossed now. thanks google.

[Zorat Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:03PM]

first do no harm

[monkey with glasses Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:09PM]

Mcpow

Thank for laugh, needed that after a long day at work.

[jon Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:20PM]

"first do no harm"

That's medicine, this is google.

[Wwhat Posted Jul 22nd 2009 10:14PM]

There are others in the related list next to it, but once you've seen the worst the rest will seem great :)

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:03PM]

Interestingly, it shows up on searches as HD when it's not at all.

[yuriythebest Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:25PM]

that's cause the uploaded version is a stereopair which is basically 2 videos side by side so the dimensions are that of an HD video when actually it's 2 side by side 640*480 vids- this the final video is 1280*480

[magallanes Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:18PM]

Do you remember when you were a kid, those lousy 3d movies that used chromatic lens?. Yes, they sucked!.
Now they are back... and they still suck big time.
:-/

[MysterySword Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:21PM]

It's just too bad YouTube removes all of its interesting content

[Eugenia Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:36PM]

Create your own content, or watch truly free content rather than copyrighted. The real problem is that you don't find pleasure in what's available. You will just have to train yourself to like amateur or indie content. It's all about getting used to it.

[Michael Scrip Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:41PM]

It works!

If you have the 2009 Superbowl 3D glasses.... choose one of the Amber / Blue options.

(be sure to wait for the actual 3D clips.... it's not just the guy talking on his couch!)

[yuriythebest Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:51PM]

heh yeah I know my couch and white wall are a tad bland but check out the other more recent vids on my channel, I have more "non couch" vids coming tomorrow :) cheers!

[spin cycle Posted Jul 22nd 2009 9:37PM]

The guy on his couch is 3D also. His hands are visibly closer, ridiculously closer. And the couch is slightly farther.

[Larz Posted Jul 22nd 2009 7:56PM]

Ahhhh! Keyboard cat is tickling the ivories in my brain!

[garthski Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:01PM]

3d has no future for me.. I don't want to have to wear 3d glasses everytime i sit and watch a video in the future..

unless 3d can be done without glasses.. i'll stick to good ol' 2d

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:07PM]

It can be done without glasses, where you been? =P Theres the cross eyed method, which obviously isn't good for the masses, but theres also tech out there that does 3D without glasses or any weird techniques at all.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:13PM]

The cross-eyed viewing requires me to use the same focusing technique used for viewing a Stereogram image.

[notice Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:19PM]

Ack! You murdered my brain!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:28PM]

now this is really weird. Why go through all the effort to put 3d on youtube? as i recall, i never did like wearing those paper glasses in movie theatres...
but if you're into that kind of thing, i found a couple more videos that have 3d effects on them.

http://www.tvlesson.com/video/35001_youtube-goes-3d.html

[CubeGuy Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:29PM]

I still have like 100 spare pairs of Superbowl Amber/Blue glasses.

[Martin C Posted Jul 23rd 2009 11:58AM]

LOL Cool! Send me a pair, as I can't find them anywhere!

[2d546a2d Posted Jul 22nd 2009 8:33PM]

What the hell is he saying?

[Wwhat Posted Jul 22nd 2009 10:25PM]

Saying you have the sound on and it's a sign of poor judgement on your part I'm guessing, I can't be sure since I turned the sound off you see.

[spin cycle Posted Jul 22nd 2009 9:19PM]

I do happen to have glasses in my office!

3D is such a gimmicky joke. Even when you are just seeing the commentator, they fiddle the 3D so it looks like his hands are like 5 feet closer to you than his head.

[CaptSaltyJack Posted Jul 22nd 2009 9:30PM]

Quick tip on cross-eyed vs parallel:

For parallel viewing, you have to look "past" the screen, so the two frames merge in the center. The pro is that parallel is usually a little easier on the eyes (less eye strain). The con is that the size of the left/right frames must be fairly small. If they're too large, you won't be able to merge them.

For cross-eyed viewing, you have to look at a point close to your face (put your finger in front of your face and focus on it, basically). Eventually you can learn to do this without using an object to focus on. This method results in a little more eye strain, but you can view materials of ANY size on screen, which is great.

[gadgetfanboy Posted Jul 22nd 2009 9:46PM]

It just so happened that Verizon sent me some green/magenta glasses the other day for some promotion of a 3D broadcasting of "My bloody Valentine", so I tried them out.

It worked. But, the quality was not even good at all, not even as good as old 3D movies like Captain EO back in the eighties.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 11:28PM]

The question is whether or not xtube will follow suit ;).

There's already 3D porn around. Dominic Ford is the company that comes to mind, on the gay side of things.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2009 12:48AM]

It can't match my digital tattoo techniques.
http://fiestamovement.com/agents/view/58

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2009 1:01AM]

AHHHHH! I never knew what its like taking the glasses off after watching a 3D movie and then looking at Engadget. I think the room just degaussed on me. *blinks*.

[mochaport Posted Jul 23rd 2009 2:21AM]

did you say murder on the brain? the guy..person in the first minute made me think of hannibal where he fries a little brain and eats it!!

[ThomasBags Posted Jul 23rd 2009 3:31AM]

too bad none of them can use those RealD glasses you get in theaters

[KVirtanen Posted Jul 23rd 2009 4:28AM]

It's nice to master the 'crosseyed technique', no special glasses needed ..! Pretty cool :)

[GGG Posted Jul 23rd 2009 4:28AM]

the red/blue option doesn't work very well because some of the other color still gets through. that might be because of youtube's compression or because of my crappy glasses (got them for free in a book)

i also tried the cross eyed option, which actually gave me a 3D effect, but i still see a bit blurry, i wouldn't recommend doing this for over 5 minutes

[prhime Posted Jul 23rd 2009 8:40AM]

i knew i was keeping the 3D glasses from "Up" for something useful other than starting a fashion statment (however such statement ended was TBD)

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2009 9:39AM]

Great, now I can watch Daxflame rant and rage in three dimensions.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2009 4:23PM]

Keep in mind that this is in parallel mode, NOT cross-eyed. If you're crossing your eyes to see this, You're doing it wrong. It'll look wonky, and will cause unnecessary eye strain.

You can do parallel viewing endlessly with no strain, so it's the way to go.

As another poster said, look PAST the screen, not in front of it.

Good luck,

[yuriythebest Posted Jul 25th 2009 2:59AM]

correct, plus if you click on the video and go to youtube you can change the mode to crosseyed.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 13th 2009 12:08PM]

Anybody see this camera set yet, the Tachyon XC 3D system, been reading a ton on it...pretty damn good first video with it too http://www.vimeo.com/5947824