Options for a new efficient, compatible, flexible 3D standard

Recently the interest in 3D video has significantly increased (as eg. could be seen on the consumer electronics show CES 2009). Because there is a lack of one clear recognized 3D standard, various different (proprietary or non-proprietary) standards or solutions are starting to enter the market already based on stereo where some kind of spatial sub-sampling is being applied. To avoid consumer confusion and to ensure support of many different display types and sizes, a flexible, generic, scalable, compatible 3D video standard would therefore be highly desirable on short notice. This paper presents objectives and some options for realizing such a generic 3D standard.