Full FeedIs 3D video all that it’s cracked up to be?
At this year’s CES, there was plenty of 3D demonstrations. I got to see both Sony’s and Mitsubishi’s 3D technologies. Panasonic also had its 3D video which I was unable to see first hand.
The difference between this crop of 3D and the old red and blue glasses-style 3D is depth perception. Older movies used gimmicky events like throwing objects at the screen or objects protruding out at you. This latest version of 3D requires polarized glasses and is like looking through a window.
Watching the demos, you can really tell how far away objects are in relation to others. A college football game was shown and it looked terrific. Watching the football go from the quarterback to the receiver you could get a sense of how far away the receiver was without seeing field markers.
Sony also showed off Gran Turismo in 3D and the vehicles looked excellent. Seeing objects that you have regular experience with, like cars, makes seeing these objects in 3D pretty natural.
However, quick cuts in the Dreamworks 3D movie shown at the Sony Keynote were a bit disorienting. Going from a bridge at street level and then to the top of the bridge took a little adjusting time to determine where objects were in relation to each other. I’m sure with repeated exposure to 3D video, this determination will be made quicker.
Is 3D video really the future? The most recent upgrade to video has been HD. Would HD succeed if you needed to wear special glasses? Possibly. I think 3D (in the way it was shown at CES) will take off in the sense that IMAX did. Not every movie or event will be shot in 3D. Other events will demand 3D. This might be the way movie theaters make their come back. I’m sure many people will be willing to watch something like the SuperBowl at a movie theater in 3D.
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At this point, 3D video is all marketing. There was no consumer cry-out for 3D video in 2008, and there won’t be in 2009. High-def video is enough for me at this point, and most other people don’t even care about that. Some people that are not tech-savvy or artsy like you and I can’t even see the difference between HD and standard-def video, and frankly don’t care. What makes companies think people will care about 3D video?
on January 15, 2009 at 12:41 PM - LINKThis conversation on 3D starts and ends with glasses. If they keep having consumers put on crazy glasses, this isn’t going anywhere.
When I plop down at the end of the day to watch me some John Stewart, I will not look around for my special glasses that will get lost more than I lose the @#$@# remote.
Maybe Iyaz’s thought on this is the new revenue stream model for movie theaters. Only there can you get people to wear stupid glasses and think they are so futuristic. Not in one’s home.
I say 3D is not going to happen for consumers. It looks weird and frankly, fake to me watching with Iyaz at the Sony Keynote. Even then I lost my stupid glasses and had to rely on Iyaz’s kindness to loan me his. Kindness and kidney punches.
on January 15, 2009 at 02:33 PM - LINKKidney punches just enhance the 3D experience. I still want to see the SuperBowl in 3D. Although I hope the ticket comes with some stuff for the post-3D headache I’m almost guaranteed to have.
on January 15, 2009 at 04:09 PM - LINKThat’s my problem with 3D. I almost always get a headache.
on January 15, 2009 at 04:12 PM - LINKActually there was such a good turn out at the limited 3d showings of movies in 2004 that they decided to try again with about one of two movies the following years. Once again high turn out. So actually the public did say “hey, we would like to see more 3d films.” Now eventhough bolt and My bloody valentine where shown in 2d at theaters that showed it in 3d as well(and remember many theaters showed it only in 2d), six people saw it in 3d for every one person how saw it in 2d. So how can the movie industry be forcing this on people.
on January 28, 2009 at 07:26 AM - LINKAlso in the fifies it was the movie industry that abandoned 3d. The last two major 3d releases of the 3d boom of the decade actually did very well at the box office, but the movie industry for some reason abandoned 3d anyway, not the public.
@Tony, I think we are talking about two different things: 3D in the theater and 3D in the home theater.
I believe most of our comments above were directed at home theater. While movie theaters will continue to do well with amusing 3d films, I don’t see it breaking into the home for the reasons cited above.
Do you?
on January 28, 2009 at 10:10 AM - LINK