I watched Avatar on the Apple Vision Pro and this is how you do 3D movies at home

Neytiri speaks to an annoyed Jake Sully in 2009's Avatar movie
(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

The most recent chapter in our collective love affair with 3D movies came and went quickly, with set manufacturers scrambling to add the feature to the best TVs around 2010, and then retreating completely from 3D support soon after. In a few short years, it was over. During that era, I amassed a sizeable collection of Blu-ray 3D discs, and they now sit filed away in a remote corner of my media cabinet, a reminder of that time and a potent source of nostalgia.

It may have disappeared from TVs, but 3D never really went away. Movies on Blu-ray 3D continue to trickle out, though if you want to view them in that format you need to watch them on the best 4K projectors, some of which still support 3D. You can also catch movies in theaters in 3D, with the most recent blockbuster showcase for the format being the Avatar sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. 

Now, there's another way to watch movies in 3D at home: the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Movies in 3D can be purchased on the Vision Pro’s Apple TV app, and an extensive collection of titles are available to stream on its Disney Plus app. Three titles – these are Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic – are also available in those apps in a “motion-graded” High Frame Rate (HFR) format, which is how they were shown in Imax theaters – The Way of Water on its initial release, and Avatar and Titanic in re-release.

Pixelworks, the company behind the TrueCut motion grading technology used for the post-production of all three movies, recently lent me a headset so I could check out motion-graded 3D on the Apple Vision Pro, which is currently the only source for home 3D movie releases other than Blu-ray disc. It was a treat to spend time with Apple’s pricey, elaborate mixed reality headset, which you can read all about in our Apple Vision Pro review. Playing movies in 3D format is just one of the many things the Apple Vision Pro can do, and it does it exceptionally well.

Blu-ray 3D disc collection on table

Blu-ray 3D disc collection animation highlights (Image credit: Future)

 Looking back on 3D TVs

Having spent many hours watching 3D movies with my kids during the 3D TV heyday – plenty of the releases were animated ones, and they were at the prime age to enjoy them – I’m well aware of what good – and mediocre – 3D looks like. Perhaps the best example of 3D animation I know of is Coraline, based on the book by Neil Gaiman and directed by Henry Selick (Coraline, incidentally, is getting a 3D theatrical re-release in summer 2024 to celebrate its 15th birthday). That disc got plenty of play in my house, and it’s one I would regularly use to test 3D TVs.

Another successful example of 3D cinema is the original Avatar, which looked fantastic in theaters and on Blu-ray. Aside from watching Martin Scorcese’s Hugo, another 3D triumph, it would be 13 years before I found myself absorbed by a 3D movie, and that was when I watched Avatar: The Way of Water at an IMAX theater. But in the case of Avatar: The Way of Water, 3D was only one thing that made the experience impressive. Another, equally important, one was its motion-graded Cinematic HFR presentation.

TrueCut Motion: how it works 

Unlike typical movies shown with a 24 frames-per-second (fps) frame rate, movies motion-graded using Pixelworks’ technology display at a higher, 48 fps rate. HFR’s main benefit is it eliminates the judder and blur artifacts accompanying fast-motion scenes captured at 24 fps. But boosting the frame rate to 48fps can also give movies an overly fluid and unnatural look, especially in quiet scenes with no action.

With TrueCut motion grading, the filmmaker can selectively vary frame rates on a scene-by-scene basis in post-production, using a higher rate for fast-action scenes, and a standard 24 fps rate for more typical ones. This process will give viewers the best of both worlds: crisp, blur- and judder-free images in shots with action, and a natural sense of motion when the action slows down.

Wearing the Apple Vision Pro headset

The Apple Vision Pro is bulky, but less uncomfortable than I expected (Image credit: Future)

Enter the virtual theater 

To compare motion-graded and non-motion-graded movies on the Apple Vision Pro, I first watched a downloaded version of No Time to Die, the most recent entry in the James Bond film franchise. No Time to Die is a movie with action scenes galore, and it’s one I’ve used many times to evaluate a TV’s motion handling. So, why not also on Apple’s mixed-reality headset?

Watching a scene where the camera pans slowly across a cemetery on a rough, hilly landscape, the image showed plenty of motion blur and a significant loss of detail. In a subsequent scene where Bond and Madeline race in a car through city streets with assassins in hot pursuit, buildings in the background also had a blurred quality that made the image look overly soft.

It would have been an ideal comparison if a motion-graded version of No Time to Die were available (it’s not), but I instead had to make do with watching a download of the motion-graded version of the original Avatar.

Same as when I watched it in a theater, and on 3D TVs back in the day, Avatar on the Apple Vision Pro had excellent 3D depth, and I was easily immersed in its 3D world. TrueCut motion grading made the film’s almost non-stop action scenes look consistently crisp, with the Na’vi and the creatures they rode upon and the intricately rendered jungle backgrounds looking equally solid and detailed. I also didn’t feel the action was happening unnaturally fast, which would have quickly whisked me out of the 3D world.

Checking out other 3D movies in the Disney Plus app, Avatar: The Way of Water was a highlight, with eye-popping 3D effects and fantastic picture contrast made possible by the Apple Vision Pro’s powerfully bright display. It looked better than I remembered from my theater experience, though the motion wasn’t as consistently natural across scenes as in the re-mastered Avatar

3D active shutter glasses with original box

An example of the 'active shutter' 3D glasses used with 3D TVs and projectors (Image credit: Future)

The new 3D – same as the old, but with a twist 

I may harbor nostalgia for 3D movies, but I can’t say I’ve missed them terribly since the last 3D boom fizzled out. Avatar: The Way of Water was a welcome throwback, but one 3D blockbuster doesn’t equal a 3D revival.

Fortunately for movie fans, motion-graded Cinematic HFR is catching on. Following Avatar, its sequel, and Titanic being shown in theaters in the format, Argylle and Kung Fu Panda 4 from DreamWorks Animation have been released in Cinematic HFR. That indicates steady progress for the format, especially since both Argylle and Kung Fu Panda 4 are from studios other than Disney.

I’ve had fun watching 3D movies on the Apple Vision Pro, though there admittedly is something a bit alienating about sitting in a chair wearing a headset for extended periods. But then again, 3D movies have always involved wearing some form of awkward eyewear that removed you from everyday existence, and maybe that’s their ultimate appeal.

You might also like

TOPICS
Al Griffin
Senior Editor Home Entertainment, US

Al Griffin has been writing about and reviewing A/V tech since the days LaserDiscs roamed the earth, and was previously the editor of Sound & Vision magazine. 

When not reviewing the latest and greatest gear or watching movies at home, he can usually be found out and about on a bike.

Read more
Apple Vision Pro new Mac Virtual Display
The Apple Vision Pro’s Ultrawide Mac Virtual Display is something you have to see to believe
The Meta Quest 3 and controllers on their charging station which is itself on a wooden desk next to a lamp
Meta announces major Quest 3 home theater update – but I want to know when it'll make it easier to watch 3D films in VR
Valerion VisionMaster MAX
Bring Hollywood to your home with the Valerion VisionMaster MAX, the world's most-anticipated cinema-grade projector
Lance Ulanoff wearing Apple Vision Pro
Five ways Apple can save the Vision Pro in 2025
Optoma CinemaX P2
I think a new world of wireless home theater is coming that could explode its popularity, if anyone can put all the pieces together
An array of Genelec speakers with. a Samsung soundbar in the middle at the Samsung Audio Lab
‘Atmos content costs too much money’: Samsung told me why Dolby Atmos isn't the future of surround sound, and why it launched Eclipsa Audio
Latest in Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
Project Moohan prototype at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, an XR goggles headset on display in a show area
Samsung's Android XR headset could avoid the Apple Vision Pro's biggest mistake, according to this leak
Vision Pro Metallica
Apple Vision Pro goes off to never never land with Metallica concert footage
The Ray-Ban Meta Coperni smart glasses
The new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses design is an expensive disappointment
The Meta Quest Pro on its charging pad on a desk, in front of a window with the curtain closed
Samsung, Apple and Meta want to use OLED in their next VR headsets – but only Meta has a plan to make it cheap
The new limited edition Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses show a translucent design.
Ray-Ban and Meta just teased new limited-edition smart glasses – but they'll be in frustratingly short supply
The Meta Aria Gen 2 with its sensors exploding out from the frame
Meta's new smart glasses come with some much-needed upgrades to their battery and sensors
Latest in Features
Disappointed by The Electric State? Here's 4 reasons you should watch Tales From the Loop on Prime Video
Close up of PS5 DualSense controller leaning on a PS5
5 reasons your PS5 needs a VPN
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
With discounts of up to 95%, these are the biggest deals I've managed to find in the Steam Spring Sale
The cast of The Parenting
The Parenting is Max's #1 most-watched movie but it has frightening reviews – here are 3 better horror films with over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes
Dr. Peter Zhou, President of Huawei Data Storage Product Line
Why AI commonization is so important for business intelligent transformation and what Huawei’s data storage has to offer
Asif Ali Saagar Shaikh and Poorna Jagannathan stand in line with a convenience store backdrop. Poorna is standing at the front with her arms on her hips in Deli Boys.
Hulu has 36 new shows this month – here are 3 you should watch this weekend with over 89% on Rotten Tomatoes