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Try getting the average consumer’s pulse on 3D, and just muttering the phrase “3D television” seems to elicit a different response from everyone. Like research would indicate, just about everyone I’ve seen with an opinion on 3D in the home seems to show a genuine interest in the concept, but what I am commonly finding are these same people uttering phrases that indicate a drastic misunderstanding of 3D in general. Specifically, phrases like “3D is just a fad” and “I’m not going to watch everything in 3D.”
Those two statements are inherently flawed, as is people’s entire understanding of 3D’s future in the home. What I consistently see is an “all or nothing” expectation, proving the industry has done a terrible job communicating the future of 3D to consumers, instead relying on the equally uninformed mass media and polo jockeys at CE chains to educate consumers on 3D. What are they saying? “Let me tell you about the transition to 3D TV ...”
Nothing could be worse for 3D.
Ten years ago, the industry started throwing HD-ready televisions at consumers during a time when there was little HD content. The message, “Soon you’ll be able to watch your favorite television shows and movies in HD, although there’s little content out there right now to watch other than a channel on DirecTV and the occasional live sports event. But, as the transition to HDTV progresses and content you want watch is available, you can add a box to this TV and start enjoying content in high definition.”
It’s not surprising that consumers today are confused about 3D, given the message is almost identical, “Soon you’ll be able to watch your favorite television shows and movies in 3D, although there’s little content out there right now to watch other than a channel on DirecTV and the occasional live sports event. But, as the transition to 3DTV progresses and content you want watch is available, you can add an emitter and 3D glasses to this TV and start enjoying content in three dimensions.”
The technology pitch is identical, but the reality, however, is there is no “transition to 3D.” With “analog to digital” or “SD to HD,” the content itself (how it’s made and the experience it offers) and how you watch it, isn’t fundamentally different. That’s why everything is better in HD.
We’d be kidding ourselves if we didn’t recognize that content produced in 3D is not just not just an enhanced experience of the same content in 2D. If it were, then movies like The Last Airbender and Clash of the Titans would have been improved by the addition of 3D. But they weren’t. It made them worse.
Argue if you will that adding 3D after the fact is different than making it in 3D (which is true), but then also try to come up with an explanation why everything artificially upconverted from SD to HD is better. Sometimes you may not be able to tell the difference, but I’ve never seen a SD to HD conversion that made something look worse.
3D is a distraction while watching a movie.
Sure, it might be fun watching a James Cameron or a Disney animated film but the cheese factor is high on the fromage scale.
Can you imagine watching “Precious” or “The Hurt Locker” in 3D? You’d be wondering what the hell the filmmakers were smoking during pre-production.
It is a gimmick that is being pushed by the gaming industry.
The big thing that annoys me is that people keep acting like this 3D thing is a paradigm shift in TV technology.
All it is is an extra feature like the internet or 240hz or now with super contrast or things like that. The addition of 3D didn’t make TVs any more expensive than last year,
it didn’t make them any worse, it doesn’t make them any heavier or thicker or have any better sound quality. It is just a feature some guy at the factory probably installs off of a flash drive.
Premium TVs are still good TVs even though they say 3D on them. I am excited on how low the prices on good quality large format LEDs and plasmas are getting, even the best 3D set is only about $2200 retail for a 50” display. And if you see it in 2D IMHO it looks far better than any $3000 TV from last year.
3D is a fad that I’m not buying in to, I can see it being popular for gamers but for the average viewer it will flop.
I keep seeing articles online and CE experts on tv raving about 3D but I still haven’t seen sales numbers to backup their claims, all I hear them say is “there’s interest”.
Why should we expect a lot? The industry has still not delivered consistent, if any, televisions with true color spectrum, crispness and clarity let alone the whole issue of what is ‘black’. It’s a “yeah, but . . .” type of thinking that is delivering less than stellar technology at entire month salary pricing for most families.
Then top that with the cable/satelite industries gouging the consumer at the movie, satelite or cable connection. As you said, charging $5 extra for movies not even filmed in 3D. Then until just lately less than half the channels a consumer was purchasing were filmed/broadcast in even HD!
Most people are being flim flammed into beliving “digital” is HD, and that “HD” is ‘blu-ray’ quality. Analog is dead so drop the need to portray you are getting something special by whomever giving you “digital”.
In all, 3D and all this is snake oil salesmenship by these industries. Milking the gullible and nieve with less than real product(s).
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I agree with this article. 3D will probably always have its place and it will take time for studios and tv providers to see that and to allow it to fall into that category. I just don’t like how fast things are moving. I still only have 25 out of 100 HD channels. Anymore and I have to pay a pretty big premium for my cable service. Now 3D will be added and they will most likely put another premium on those channels if you want more than just a couple free demo channels. I personally don’t enjoy 3D very much. I have given it a try and find it distracting. Its a gimmick that in most cases is an attempt to distract the audience from that fact that they are watching a crappy movie with plots that have been done over and over again (toy story3 excluded). I’m so happy christopher nolan didn’t hop on the band wagon and convert Inception to 3D. Atleast someone still believes in making at truly good film these days.