Following the announcement of the Blu-ray 3D specification, further information has been released on the detail of the standard.
The initial announcement was made in late December by the BDA (Blu-ray Disk Association). The specification calls for encoding 3D video using the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec, an extension to the H.264 advanced video coding (AVC) codec currently used by Blu-ray players.
MPEG4-MVC compresses both left and right eye views, and can provide full 1080p-resolution as well backwards compatibility with current 2D players. MVC was developed by MPEG to support multiple simultaneous views of a subject.
In general, an MVC encoder receivers N temporarily synchronised video streams and generates a single output bit-stream. The decoder receivers the bit-stream, and decodes and outputs the N video signals.
MVC works by exploiting the similarities between multiple video captures of a scene. By eliminating redundant information across camera views, MVC achieves a reduction in bit rate of around 20-25%.