Digital TV and high-definition players were hardly out of their Styrofoam molds before people started talking up 3-D as the coming thing in movies, gaming and video.

"To date, there have been two great revolutions in movies -- from silent film to talkies and from black-and-white to color," stated Jeffrey Katzenberg, head of Dreamworks Animation Inc., just this month. "The next revolution arrives in 2009 when movies go from 2-D to 3-D.

"What our filmmakers are able to create using these new state-of-the-art digital tools is absolutely amazing," continued Katzenberg, who oversaw the making of "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid" and "Shrek," among other hits, while he was production chief at Disney and Paramount.

On Dec. 1, Katzenberg will give the keynote address at the first 3-D Entertainment Summit at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. "The next generation of 3-D represents a dazzling new innovation in filmmaking and film going," added the studio chief.

Hey, haven't we all looked through those old cardboard glasses before? Way back in the early 1950s, film producers and exhibitors embraced 3-D as a way to combat the lure of the living room TV. Now the old homestead is outfitted with wide screens, high-def video and seven-channel sound -- and the only trading trinket left in the movie industry's bag of beads is "improved" stereoscopic cinema.

The truth is, the market is already there. IMAX theaters have revitalized their brand in recent years by hosting 3-D attractions. And it's common to hear folks with high-definition TVs boasting about a picture that looks "almost three-dimensional."

The effect is pronounced on certain Blu-ray Discs. In "Chicago," when Catherine Zeta Jones comes rising up on stage through various panes of smoke and light during "All That Jazz," she does indeed pop out of the background.

Providing that "wow" factor is what high-definition video is all about. Still, the number of true 3-D titles released commercially is minuscule. So it will be interesting to watch sales figures for the new Walt Disney Studios production, "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert -- The 3-D Movie" (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated G, $34.99; also on Blu-ray Disc for $35.99).

Can a successful pop singer with two identities breed success in three dimensions?

Miley Cyrus is still just 15 years old, but she has been a hit with young audiences since stepping into the spotlight as Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel in 2006. She began her "Best of Both Worlds" North American concert tour in October 2007, and it was extended to some 69 shows to meet the demand for tickets.

The concert itself was captured in "Disney Digital 3-D," and that footage was edited together with standard backstage film of rehearsals and interviews. The resulting "Best of Both Worlds Concert" movie grossed $31 million its opening weekend, and it was also a ratings hit on cable when it premiered in July on Starz.

The two-disc "extended edition" DVD comes with four pairs of those flimsy cardboard 3-D glasses. We found the glasses as annoying and uncomfortable as ever, becoming one more thing to contend with when fumbling for the TV control in the dark. Slipping them over the frames of your own glasses or fashioning a cushion for the sharp edge that digs into your nose will help.

The optical effect does provide the promised illusion of depth and perspective. You won't have to duck, as nothing comes popping out of the screen at you, as things did in the best of the old-time theatrical 3-D. But the images are never blurry or headache-inducing, either, as they routinely were in the old days.

The cameras and multi-channel sound successfully put you right there in the midst of the concert action. When little Miley leaves the on-stage band and comes jogging all the way to the end of the long runway to sing out at her first-row fans, you'll have new appreciation for the distance involved and how much stamina it takes to be a pop phenomenon these days.

The DVD also contains a standard 2-D version of the complete concert, but after watching the robust 3-D footage it comes off as less immediate and, indeed, rather flat. Still, those glasses are definitely in need of an upgrade.

On the Blu movie front

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated R, Blu-ray Disc $28.95). While fans must await the flow of good horror films in 3-D, studios have opened a vein of more recent genre offerings on Blu-ray Disc. This 1997 release is still one of the best of the post-"Scream" flood, with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar sowing more than a bumper crop of guilt for their part in a murder cover-up. Blu-ray helps boost all the genre trademarks: It gives us better glimpses of the eerie phantom in the fog, deeper night shadows where the killer may be hiding, and more precise sounds of footsteps and knife slashes in the air just behind our necks. The acting and directing help keep this one in the current library of suspense chillers. Also in the same bundle of Sony's Blu-ray releases and at the same price point are 1998's "Urban Legend," about a vengeful serial killer on a college campus, and 2005's "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," about a priest put on trial for performing the title act. Despite good acting, neither film is very successful at manipulating our emotions or making us identify with the leads. Count on the images being sharply detailed and highly cinematic, however, with all the extras a diehard fan should expect.

Also new on DVD

"Disney Camp Rock: Extended Rock Star Edition" (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated G, $29.99). This ratings champ even out-performed the premiere of the Disney Channel's earlier original movie, "High School Musical," and is aimed at the same audience. The Jonas Brothers, who also show up as guest performers on the Miley Cyrus concert disc, appear here as more or less themselves -- teen idols with a knack for bland but wholesome pop anthems. Babe-magnet Joe Jonas gets stuck teaching at a summer camp for aspiring music idols, including all the usual suspects: the stuck-up girl, the talented wall flower, the upbeat mascot, and the Everygirl who needs to make peace with her own humble background so that her "amazing" talent can shine. Newcomer Demi Lovato stars as the latter in a formula script for those too young to spot formulas.

"The Life Before Her Eyes" (Magnolia Home Entertainment, rated R, $26.95). This mournful drama is based on a novel with one of those "dark night of the soul" plot devices that writers love more than readers. Uma Thurman plays the adult narrative figure, who still blames herself for a Columbine-like massacre when she was in high school (and played by Evan Rachel Wood). On the event's 15th anniversary, she moves through her otherwise normal suburban routine while sad and violent memories of those days intrude and build to a climactic revelation. Lyrical, slow-motion images of flowers, insects, floating pollen and more ensure the glacial pace of a film intended, evidently, only for devoted fans of the book.

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