3D Coming To Home Theater

[steve williams]

With all of the hype about 3D coming out of CES several months ago, it seems that the buzz now is what and when all of us will pony up and buy a 3D television, BluRay player and then of course the limited software to show. I still haven't embraced 3D as I suppose I should but it just doesn't grab me. I did see Avatar on Imax 3D and liked it but that is where it ended. last week I was buying some movies at Best Buy and happened to stumble upon a Samsung 3D demo on a 50 or 60 inch screen, played through a 3d BD player with the use of 3D glasses. The demo was horrible. Nothing that wowed me and if anything a very restricted sweet spot to appreciate the effects. Is it just me or are others feeling the same about 3D? To ask it another way, who is planning to embrace this new technology and spring big $$ for a completely new system?

 

[amirm]

Avatar in theaters set pretty high expectations for consumers. Sadly, they are not going to get anything close to that experience at home. An LCD screen is way too small to provide an immersive experience. Your eye easily wonders off screen edges and see that 3-D illusion is quite fake.

Then there is the response time issue. For 3-D to work, each eye must only see the image destined for it. The LCD will play the frame for one eye then the other. The active shutter glasses run in sync with it, blocking light. In theory it should all work. In practice, the world is different. LCD is not an on/off device. It takes it a while to switch on and off. So when you think you are seeing the image for one eye, in reality you are still seeing some of the image for the other. That will distort the 3-D perception in really odd ways.

Finally, compressed video can damage the 3-D portion. To maintain backward compatibility, the movie is encoded as 2-D and stored compressed on disc. Then the difference between it and 3-D source is compressed and stored on disc elsewhere. The player decodes both and combines them to get the two images. Problem is, if you compress the 3-D difference signal and add distortion to it, now you have all kinds of bizarre problems that will be dynamic in nature (they will come and go rapidly).

Net, net, the experience in home will be far worse than in theater. I could not stand any of the demos at CES on these screens and even projectors. The only one that came close was Mitsubishi with their DLP rear projection which eliminates the response time issue (DLP is very fast).

 

[rsbeck]

I hate to be a name dropper here, but I do want to pass on this tid-bit.

Dennis Muren happens to live in my general neighborhood and I see him at get-togethers once in awhile.

You guys probably know who I am talking about, but if you don't, dude works for ILM, has won six Oscars and is "The Guy" when it comes to special effects in movies.

So....last time I button-holed him, we were talking about 3D.

According to Dennis, it's coming, man, it's coming!

He said something like, 'all of the new movies we're working on are in 3D.'

I asked, "you think it's really going to take over?"

He said something like, 'well, in the kind of movies we work on, which are the big tent-pole movies, yes. That's all we're doing. The rest of the industry? I couldn't say."

 

[rsbeck]

Personally, though I didn't say this to Dennis, I am not that interested in 3D.

I'm also not sure I am the target audience for tent-pole block-busters.

 

[amirm]

When I talk to studios, there is no question that 3-D is hot from their perspective. So the supply is not as much of an issue as is the home experience.

 

[RBFC]

I'm personally not that enthused yet about 3D, for the immersion reasons mentioned by Amir. I believe the industry is excited about 3D, because it will drive consumers into movie theaters and revive a dying market. Also, consumers who have not bought into BluRay will make the jump to get their 3D tech.

Lee

 

[cal87]

You know, I initially had no interest in 3D. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by the local BB while my car was getting serviced across the street. I spent a good amount of time checking out the 3D demos. It looked pretty cool - gimmicky I know. Now that some content is starting to roll out, I am getting more tempted. I have a PS3 and DirecTV, so I would have a few different things to try out. I have no intention of replacing my front projector, but a new 3D plasma for my bedroom would not be bad. Any one interested in a 2004 50" Sony plasma for free?

 

[amirm]

Plasma? I have a Sony CRT set I am trying to give away first .

 

[Ron Party]

Any one interested in a 2004 50" Sony plasma for free?

[puckering lips]I'm casually whistling, trying to seem inconspicuous[/puckering lips]

 

[cal87]

Plasma? I have a Sony CRT set I am trying to give away first .

But how much does yours weight? This sucker is 115lbs., and that is not including the media receiver unit.

 

[kach22i]

Plasma? I have a Sony CRT set I am trying to give away first .

My 31" CRT Panasonic works fine I'm in no rush to upgrade myself. If I had a big plasma then I would need to upgrade my service going into it, and there just is not enough cash flow for that right now.

Besides, nothing on TV mean I listen to my stereo more.

I do other things while watching most TV programs, sketching, light reading, don't think 3D is going to fit my lifestyle. Movies only take up so much my time in a week, not worth get lathered up about.