[Archived] 3D Tv

[Blue n White Rover]

Today various Pubs across Britain, played Arsenal v Man Utd on 3D TV. Arsenal had cameras set around the ground and it was the 1st game ever to be broadcasted on 3D TV.

This comes after the huge Hollywood hit Avatar 3D. Sky are set to launch a 3D package, free to customers who are already subscribed to HDTV.

Would you be interested in this? Wearing glasses whilst watching TV, does it appeal to you?

[ABBEY]

3d porn

[Rover9]

It does, but having forked out on a brand new TV last year I wont be making the jump until I need to. The new sets that are 3D capable should be arriving in stores soon I believe.

[mellison24]

It does, but having forked out on a brand new TV last year I wont be making the jump until I need to. The new sets that are 3D capable should be arriving in stores soon I believe.

I was under the impression that 3d is compatible with the current HD/HDready format?

[BuckyRover]

You have the wrong impression.

3D TVs need to be purchased.

Many manufacturers are releasing them this year.

[mellison24]

You have the wrong impression.

3D TVs need to be purchased.

Many manufacturers are releasing them this year.

Ah fizzlesticks. They'll probly cost the Earth and all. Frigging technology!

[Rover9]

Exactly! I have just blown big bucks on an all singing all dancing tv and a couple of month's down the line 3D is the buzz word and 'new' sets are to be rolled out ready for the world cup which I think is going to be the first full tournament shown in 3D as far as I am aware.

It's always worth waiting a year or two for the technology to 'bed in' and price of the sets to come down and content increase so all is not lost!

[neekoy]

This is why blueray will be useless in about 2 years, all live streaming 3D tv where you will be able to select any content directly from the net.

The final nail is when they deliver a daily workable codec with FFV1

[Paul]

I can't see the point really. We went to see Avatar and the technology is very clever but it didn't enhance the experience - a bad film is a bad film no matter how brilliant the technology. Look behind the 3D thing and Avatar is nonsense. Far better to spend the money on making a decent movie / TV programme than worrying about it being in 2 or 3D.

The use of 3D techno,ogy on TV will be very limited for many years, in my opinion. Why? Well the back catalogue is enormous, from what I observe much of what is available on the multitude of channels available is repeats - nothing wrong with that I like being able to see re-runs of good shows. Many of these are so old our 12 month old HD ready super whizz bang TV can only show them in the original format. Secondly much current TV is low budget stuff and I can only see selected programmes being made in a 3D format, Corrie three times a week isn' going to happen in 3D. Where there will be investment in 3D technology is on subscription channels where Sky feel they have the opportunity to tie-in the subscriber by offering "free" equipment to watch major sporting events. The end result is much of the population is denied the opportunity to even watch the sport let alone consider it being in 3D.

In the end this is a marketing exercise from the subscription channels to keep the customers emptying their wallets. Sky have a problem in being unable to expand their market, because the content other than sport is so poor, therfore the only way to earn more is to keep making technological advances and charge the existing customer base accordingly.

[neekoy]

Depends what they mean by 3D Paul. If they ean wearing silly glasses in your loungeroom it will get tired very quickly but they already have glasses free 3d which is continuing development. All 3d TV's will come with backward compatibility so your old TV shows will still be shown.

For me all new movies will be released with this format and it will do well but THE BIGseller for this is in gaming consoles. They will make billions with this technology.

[Cocker]

Wearing glasses whilst watching TV, does it appeal to you?

I have had to for 30 years so I have no problem with it

[Guest Kamy100]

It is an interesting concept and having been to see Avater in 3D, I was impressed. I think the real market for this will be Sports and Gaming. However, like the first LCD/Plasma, buying a 3D ready TV is going to be hugely expensive, it will take 2 or 3 years before the mass market will be able to afford these sets.

[Cocker]

I am sure I read somewhere that LG said they were bringing one out that would be the same price as their current top end LCD TV - cant find the link though.

[modes98]

That's the only bit of comfort I have having just pushed the boat out on Sky HD and a HD TV. I think 2 to 3 years isn't to shabby for your technology to last. I've seen avatar, and throughly enjoyed the film btw, but the 3D element gave it depth and the little floaty things were very effective.

If it is going to cost the earth I won't be that bothered, but if it comes free with my existing sky package then I guess I will invest in a TV somewhere down the line.

I am more bothered about losing the defintiion in the picture as 3d never seems to look as sharp, but I guess that is because it is on the big screen as they do use HD cameras.

[broadsword]

I'm quite happy watching in 2-D to be honest.

I object to having to update formats and having to buy new equipment every few years, I've got better things to spend my cash on.

[Beta Ray Bill]

3d porn

your wish is his command

[Cocker]

Very Interesting

A few days ago I found an odd package waiting in my mailbox. One of the commercial TV networks got my postie to deliver a pair of 3D glasses - very old school, with separate red and blue lenses. I spent a few moments assembling them, and presto! I looked like I'd just walked out of a showing of 1954's Creature From the Black Lagoon.

Now that James Cameron's Avatar has become the highest-grossing film in history, 3D is very hot. The hottest new toys unveiled at this year's Consumer Electronics Show were 3D television sets, 3D Blu-Ray players, and comfortable 3D glasses for the lounge room. At least three US-based cable networks have promised 3D broadcasts will begin sometime this year - for the few people who have 3D television sets. Everyone in the consumer electronics industry sees this as the Next Big Thing: now that everyone has purchased big, flat-screen TVs, 3D is the next logical step, the necessary upgrade that keeps us all on the treadmill of progress. The movie studios have also gotten behind 3D in a big way. Just last week Warner Brothers announced that the two final Harry Potter films will be shot in 3D.

Is this the decade of 3D? It might look that way, but we'd all better hope it turns out quite differently. You see, 3D is not good for you.

How can this be? Isn't the real world in 3D? Yes, the real world of objects is definitely three-dimensional. But that's where the similarity ends. What you're shown on a movie screen - or soon, a television - is not true 3D. That's the source of the problem.

Back in the 1990s I did a lot of development work in virtual reality - another technology destined to be the Next Big Thing. I helped Sega develop a head-mounted display (fancy VR headgear) that could be plugged into the Sega Genesis (known as the Mega Drive in Australia). Everything was going swimmingly, until we sent our prototype units out for testing.

Virtual reality headsets use the same technique for displaying 3D as we find in movies or 3D television sets - parallax. They project a slightly different image to each one of your eyes, and from that difference, your brain creates the illusion of depth. That sounds fine, until you realize just how complicated human depth perception really is. The Wikipedia entry on depth perception (an excellent read) lists ten different cues that your brain uses to figure out exactly how far away something is. Parallax is just one of them. Since the various movie and television display technologies only offer parallax-based depth cues, your brain basically has to ignore several other cues while you're immersed in the world of Avatar. This is why the 3D of films doesn't feel quite right. Basically, you're fighting with your own brain, which is getting a bit confused. It's got some cues to give it a sense of depth, but it's missing others. Eventually your brain just starts ignoring the other cues.

That's the problem. When the movie's over, and you take your glasses off, your brain is still ignoring all those depth perception cues. It'll come back to normal, eventually. Some people will snap right back. In others, it might take a few hours. This condition, known as 'binocular dysphoria', is the price you pay for cheating your brain into believing the illusion of 3D. Until someone invents some other form of 3D projection (many have tried, no one has really succeeded), binocular dysphoria will be part of the experience.

This doesn't matter too much if you're going to see a movie in the theatre - though it could lead to a few prangs in the parking lot afterward - but it does matter hugely if it's something you'll be exposed to for hours a day, every day, via your television set. Your brain is likely to become so confused about depth cues that you'll be suffering from a persistent form of binocular dysphoria. That's what the testers told Sega, and that's why the Sega VR system - which had been announced with great fanfare - never made it to market.

Video games are one of the great distractions of youth. Children can play them for hours every day, and our testers realized that children - with their highly malleable nervous systems - could potentially suffer permanent damage from regular and extensive exposure to a system which created binocular dysphoria in its users. This is the heart of my concern, because 3D television is being pitched as an educational medium - Discovery Channel has announced 3D broadcasts will begin mid-year - and that medium could damage the growing minds it is intended to enlighten.

All of this is rolling forward without any thought to the potential health hazards of continuous, long-term exposure to 3D. None of the television manufacturers have done any health & safety testing around this. They must believe that if it's safe enough for the cinema, it's fine for the living room. But that's simply not the case. Getting a few hours every few weeks is nothing like getting a few hours, every single day.

One of two things is about to happen: either 3D television will quickly and quietly disappear from the market, from product announcements, and from broadcast plans, or we'll soon see the biggest class-action lawsuit in the planet's history, as millions of children around the world realize that their televisions permanently ruined their depth perception. Let's hope 3D in the home dies a quiet death.