In July 2011, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) held its 2nd International Conference on Stereoscopic 3D for Media & Entertainment in New York. Marty Banks from Berkeley, Rob Allison from York University in Toronto, Simon Watts from Bangor and I jointly presented a seminar on stereoscopy and the human visual system. The aim was to lay out some of the key findings from vision science which relate to the design of 3D displays including 3D TV and cinema. We collaborated closely on our presentations, and afterwards wrote them up together into this paper.