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@mark wilson I have a dumb question. how is this technology different from 3D things i can currently watch on my tv? Shrek 3D, for example, came in 3D and it works on my normal tv (albeit with glasses). And in adobe after effects I can make 3D images for either colored glasses or those polarized looking ones. And that works fine on my tv or computer screen. Why cant we just use that tech?
@musicmonkey34:
Shrek 3D uses the very outdated red/cyan anaglyph, which induces headaches with prolonged use. I can only make it through about half an hour at a time, and generally just watch those types of 3D movies in their optional 2D format. Now, when an episode of Chuck was aired in 3D, they used the new amber/indigo ColorCode3D, which has two major advantages over anaglyph. Firstly, you don't need to be wearing glasses to watch the show. True, you won't get the 3D experience, but the two-color 3D formatting doesn't make it unwatchable to someone who _isn't_ wearing the proper eyewear. It just makes the edges a bit fuzzy, where anaglyph looks like technicolor vomit without the glasses. Second, it's more of a light/dark thing than a two-color thing, and by making one of the lenses amber it gets around the problem where one single type of cone is used to see red, green, and amber. I suspect this latter bit is what causes anaglyph headaches, since that two-color arrangement splits the red and green colors between opposing eyes.
All of these will fail. Miserably. Why? Because they all require special gear to use, and the only one that's watchable still requires a plasma display, a special Blu-Ray player, and special movie discs. It's simply not going to be worth it for 95% of people to go there. And the movie industry will not go there either unless the market is big enough. Think about the investment on their part to get the media out there.
This will die like many other specialty media formats, including DVD-A.
3D is a nice idea that in reality requires way too much capital investment to make sense for the average consumer, especially TODAY's average consumer, who has been burned by the recession and thinks a LOT harder now about what they throw money at. That mentality will continue for a long time after the economy starts recovering.
@redman042: To add to that, consider the fact that the majority of consumers have still yet to upgrade, to standard, run of the mill, HDTV.
In it's greed, the consumer electronics industry is biting itself in the ass big time with the push for 3D. Most consumers have not even adopted HDTV yet (and this was before recession), and now the CE industry is already pushing for something much more expensive - 3D goggles, 3D blu-ray player, 3D HDTV, etc. The fact that you need to have all of these components combined just to buy into the entire 3D experience is ludicrous when you examine the out of pocket expenditure it all represents to the end consumer.
True, a small handful of people with money to burn, are going to pony up to the 3D table, but the vast majority simply are not going to fall for it.
And that is before we even address the matter that no one really wants to wear those stupid goggles every time they want to plunk down on the couch and watch a movie.
And that still does not address the issue of this little format war to see which 3D tech will become the dominant supported tech.
Plain and simple, at this stage of development of the technology, none of it should even be considered for release into the hands of consumers. The CE industry still has years worth of work to do before they get to the point where all of the issues are addressed that would make 3D tech not only consumer friendly to use, but also consumer friendly in price.
Yeah, until we get holograms, I'm passing on this gimmick. Besides, all this is, is just a push by studios to combat piracy. Nothing more. It's glorified DRM with glasses.
Wait a minute...Hasn't Samsung done this for like three years now? They were using the way Panasonic was doing it way back with DLP, and they have had it on Plasmas for the last three years with DDD.com glasses. This is nothing new!
Now what was new was what Samsung and others showed at CES in Jan. They had a display that didn't require glasses at all.
@Smith145: Yeah, these tech demos have been around for AGES. The difference now is that the companies are going on record as saying these old concepts are going to be real products next year.
I'm on board with the get-rid-of-the-glasses idea. The faux-3D aspect (and let's be honest, it's not true 3D, it's just a better illusion) is a novelty at best and nauseating at worst. It requires better eyesight than some viewers have to see it, and takes bulky glasses to watch.
And some of them require power? Seriously? You know, I was playing with a Wii the other day and the batteries died. And I was thinking, "Man, replacing these batteries in the middle of a game is so much fun! I wish I could do this in the middle of a movie!"
Yeah, no. I mean, I'm a 3D purist. I want a damn hologram, k? A real hologram, that I can walk around. One that appears to occupy space on more than two axes. But failing that, if everybody absolutely positively HAS to make faux-3D television and movies, can we please at least have the decency to not wear dumb glasses that make my head hurt? K? K.
@OCEntertainment: For what it's worth, human vision is no more "True 3D" than these technologies. Our eyes produce two separate no-depth images, it just so happens that our brain is a master signal processor.
Regarding glasses, I think 3d may catch on even if they're required. It's just a matter of getting the quality/price to the right level. I've been waiting for 3d gaming for my entire life (movies, eh, not as much) compared to that, glasses are a non-issue.
Uh...so what happens for those of us who can't see with the special 3D glasses and all?
My vision is such that the images look the same with and wthout the glasses. (Super blurry.) If everything is going to be in this special 3D-style, what happens for those of us who have trouble seeing the images correctly because of our eyesight? Will there be a second feed that will be in 2D to accommodate us? Or will we be SOL until we can beam the images directly into our brains a la "Batman Forever". (I can't believe I referenced that.)
This is a question that I've been searching for an answer to for a little while. Especially since I've been hearing more and more people say they don't/can't see 3D movies.
@ChatwinDawidude: Hey, not sure what tech you've used or your vision situation. But if you close one eye while watching active shutter tech, you just see a normal 2D image.
@siamgx: Your question is brilliant, and after reading the responses I feel both enormously impressed with the perceived brilliance of the commenters here, and even more unimpressed with my ability to feel any smarter after reading all of them.
Regardless, my thanks to you and everyone else for making my already soft head feel like the soft brown stuff.
(Though, I have to admit - I have wondered since watching The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D and wondering why I still cannot purchase it at Target.)
09/14/09
09/12/09
09/13/09
Shrek 3D uses the very outdated red/cyan anaglyph, which induces headaches with prolonged use. I can only make it through about half an hour at a time, and generally just watch those types of 3D movies in their optional 2D format. Now, when an episode of Chuck was aired in 3D, they used the new amber/indigo ColorCode3D, which has two major advantages over anaglyph. Firstly, you don't need to be wearing glasses to watch the show. True, you won't get the 3D experience, but the two-color 3D formatting doesn't make it unwatchable to someone who _isn't_ wearing the proper eyewear. It just makes the edges a bit fuzzy, where anaglyph looks like technicolor vomit without the glasses. Second, it's more of a light/dark thing than a two-color thing, and by making one of the lenses amber it gets around the problem where one single type of cone is used to see red, green, and amber. I suspect this latter bit is what causes anaglyph headaches, since that two-color arrangement splits the red and green colors between opposing eyes.
09/11/09
This will die like many other specialty media formats, including DVD-A.
3D is a nice idea that in reality requires way too much capital investment to make sense for the average consumer, especially TODAY's average consumer, who has been burned by the recession and thinks a LOT harder now about what they throw money at. That mentality will continue for a long time after the economy starts recovering.
09/14/09
In it's greed, the consumer electronics industry is biting itself in the ass big time with the push for 3D. Most consumers have not even adopted HDTV yet (and this was before recession), and now the CE industry is already pushing for something much more expensive - 3D goggles, 3D blu-ray player, 3D HDTV, etc. The fact that you need to have all of these components combined just to buy into the entire 3D experience is ludicrous when you examine the out of pocket expenditure it all represents to the end consumer.
True, a small handful of people with money to burn, are going to pony up to the 3D table, but the vast majority simply are not going to fall for it.
And that is before we even address the matter that no one really wants to wear those stupid goggles every time they want to plunk down on the couch and watch a movie.
And that still does not address the issue of this little format war to see which 3D tech will become the dominant supported tech.
Plain and simple, at this stage of development of the technology, none of it should even be considered for release into the hands of consumers. The CE industry still has years worth of work to do before they get to the point where all of the issues are addressed that would make 3D tech not only consumer friendly to use, but also consumer friendly in price.
09/11/09
09/12/09
09/11/09
Now what was new was what Samsung and others showed at CES in Jan. They had a display that didn't require glasses at all.
09/11/09
09/11/09
And some of them require power? Seriously? You know, I was playing with a Wii the other day and the batteries died. And I was thinking, "Man, replacing these batteries in the middle of a game is so much fun! I wish I could do this in the middle of a movie!"
Yeah, no. I mean, I'm a 3D purist. I want a damn hologram, k? A real hologram, that I can walk around. One that appears to occupy space on more than two axes. But failing that, if everybody absolutely positively HAS to make faux-3D television and movies, can we please at least have the decency to not wear dumb glasses that make my head hurt? K? K.
09/11/09
Regarding glasses, I think 3d may catch on even if they're required. It's just a matter of getting the quality/price to the right level. I've been waiting for 3d gaming for my entire life (movies, eh, not as much) compared to that, glasses are a non-issue.
09/11/09
My vision is such that the images look the same with and wthout the glasses. (Super blurry.) If everything is going to be in this special 3D-style, what happens for those of us who have trouble seeing the images correctly because of our eyesight? Will there be a second feed that will be in 2D to accommodate us? Or will we be SOL until we can beam the images directly into our brains a la "Batman Forever". (I can't believe I referenced that.)
This is a question that I've been searching for an answer to for a little while. Especially since I've been hearing more and more people say they don't/can't see 3D movies.
09/11/09
06/18/09
06/18/09
06/18/09
06/18/09
06/18/09
06/18/09
06/18/09
06/18/09
Regardless, my thanks to you and everyone else for making my already soft head feel like the soft brown stuff.
(Though, I have to admit - I have wondered since watching The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D and wondering why I still cannot purchase it at Target.)