3D: The Most Predictable Flop in Recent History

[Starmax]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that this is hardly the economic climate to be launching a new technology which requires consumers to open up their wallets for non-essential techno-toys.

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that this is hardly the economic climate to be launching a new technology which requires consumers to open up their wallets for non-essential techno-toys.

I think that is a really good point. I would say it is a bad time to be an early adopter of anything at the moment.

 

[JarJar]

2D to 3D is a bad idea in general since I wasn't impressed with Clash of the Titans treatment... however, with Star Wars I think they can pull this off to be close to Real 3D.

The reason why is because they have so many effects shots shot on green screen and blue screen for the classic trilogy and the prequels that they can go back to the original reels and make all of the overlays in 3D and composite them back over the 2D plate and it would work pretty good.

 

[jliedeka]

I've been a 3D skeptic from the beginning although I did see Avatar in 3D IMAX. My gripes would be:

* The need for hardware upgrades right on the heels of most people upgrading to HDTVs. I upgraded my display last summer, not to mention BD player and AVR within the last few years. That's about $4000 worth of gear that I'm happy with and don't want to replace.

* The lack of content. Avatar and a few Pixar films are the only good 3D movies I know about and Avatar isn't available in 3D for the home.

* Studio greed - churning out crappy 3D movies so they can inflate the ticket price. Here's a radical thought, make better movies rather than rely on gimmicks to put butts in seats. It doesn't necessarily take a lot of money to make a good movie. Quit trying to do lame remakes of old movies and TV shows. Inception did really well because it was original and had a good story to tell. The cool effects helped tell the story rather than replaced the need for it.

Jim

 

[jostenmeat]

BMX has pointed out on a few occasions over the last number of months that 3D is simply going to be standard fare, eventually. BD players, TVs, they'll just come with it whether you want it or not. Sort of like VP on a receiver for the great many of us. Now once it has been established as standard fare, how long will it be even pertinent; how long will they even care to support it? I dunno.

IMO, Avatar on 2D BD is incredibly superior to the 3D IMAX version I saw.

As for studio greed, well even if they are known to be greedy, I wonder if it's not so much greed as it is survival. If they couldn't have this new 3D IMAX stuff, how many people would be going to the theater? Two out of the last three movies I've seen at the theaters have been in IMAX. However, I am likely to go even less often than I do now, which is twice a year at the most. I'm just wondering out loud.

I guess that the main competitors to theaters' survival are HT systems, with an overall media inundation in general, with smart phones, computers, video gaming machines, etc. Netflix, Redbox, etc.

Back in the day (and I only learned this from my HT hobby), when TV was invented and had become standard fare in many homes, the theaters were really hurting. They tried that crazy thing called Cinemerax, filmed with 3 cameras on a tripod for an extremely immersive picture. I guess that didn't last very long.

EDIT: Remember, you don't have to change your receiver in order to have the 3D experience along with your lossless audio. You just have to buy a second HDMI cable.

 

[yepimonfire]

Ok, I agree with probably all the points in the editorial but I still have hope that 3D doesn't go away. As you mentioned, it makes much more sense for gaming where much of the underlying gaming architecture is "relatively" easily rendered in 3D. As a lightweight gamer, that has enormous attraction for me. I can't imagine how scary something like a first person shooter would be in 3D. Or how exciting a simulator could be.

As far as movies go, I do think that post conversion is basically a waste of effort but movie making technology should make filming in 3D much easier in the near future. I would imagine that it is simple to flatten an existing 3D film for 2D showings. Also, most animation (well, Pixar) is created in a 3D space so it's a re-render for some good quality stuff there.

Some of the points raised about visual issues are more of a bleeding edge problem on par with single speed DLP color wheels and rainbows. Does it suck, yeah, will it get better in short time, yeah, will some people still complain, hell yeah.

A lot of this is a chicken and the egg problem in the content front with consumers being asked to bear the burden for limited payback at the present. I do know that my wife is a huge Avatar fan and has given me carte blanche to buy the first 3D projector that comes out for Avatar alone. Trust me, that's a remarkable endorsement. Even if Avatar were the only 3D movie we owned, I think she would be happy. So, when the first semi-decent 1080P projector is released, I will likely be making that upgrade with her blessing. Which is weird...

My point is, the justifications aren't really here yet but I have hope that this will not go the way of the dodo but will rather be the beginning of a beautful friendship. Of course, I invested in HD-DVD because I thought it was a superior solution so keep that in mind

3D gaming would be awesome, but considering the amount of gaming people who game do, it could really mess with their eyes, i don't think i'll be diving into this whole 3D things, i'm waiting for holographic projection.

 

[croseiv]

To me, the whole 3D push just indicates how the industry has lost touch with what we may want. I'm glad it's a flop. I knew it would be. The sooner it dies the better so we can get on with better 2D.

 

[avliner]

...EDIT: Remember, you don't have to change your receiver in order to have the 3D experience along with your lossless audio. You just have to buy a second HDMI cable.

Care to elaborate?

 

[jostenmeat]

Care to elaborate?

Oh, just saw your query. If you ran a search function with my username + 3D in either the BD subforum, or other subforums, you'd probably see that I've already explained it numerous times.

Current 3D players come with dual HDMI outputs to ensure that our prepros/receivers are not instantly outdated.

In my estimation, they will come with dual HDMI outputs for a while. It's easy to do. Creating the dual bitstream DTS-MA was a lot harder, just to have people still using S/PDIF enjoy increased bitrates. We still have plenty of legacy outputs. Therefore, I think they aren't going anywhere for the time being, and I expect to see dual HDMI outputs for quite a while (maybe as long as the 3D thing even lasts . . .)

 

[3db]

I hope it dies a quick death. And one really good point was made.. High Def and Blu Ray hasn't been out there all that long and there are still many people who are just getting into high def. Now this new technology comes out right on the heels of high def...Thats not progress in my books. Thats just a gimick to induce sales to the unwary. I'm not going into 3D until it becomes halographic.

 

[Starmax]

Looks like desperation on the part of the consumer electronics industry in reaction to shrinking revenue…throw half-baked ideas against the wall and see if they stick. Betcha we see a series of lame launches in the coming years.

 

[j_garcia]

I hope it dies a quick death. And one really good point was made.. High Def and Blu Ray hasn't been out there all that long and there are still many people who are just getting into high def. Now this new technology comes out right on the heels of high def...Thats not progress in my books. Thats just a gimick to induce sales to the unwary. I'm not going into 3D until it becomes halographic.

It comes right on the heels because the theaters KNOW we have high def at home now, so they have to add something extra that differentiates them to keep people coming out OR have something they can charge more for to keep revenue up.

 

[gmichael]

Bring on smell-o-roma.
A movie about steel workers smells like heated metal.
A movie about volcanos smells like sulfer.
A movie about strippers smells like.... wait... maybe this aint such a good idea afterall.

 

[Jed M]

Bring on smell-o-roma.
A movie about steel workers smells like heated metal.
A movie about volcanos smells like sulfer.
A movie about strippers smells like.... wait... maybe this aint such a good idea afterall.

The escape scene in Shawshank Redemption would be brutal.

 

[j_garcia]

The escape scene in Shawshank Redemption would be brutal.

Bog of Eternal Stench from Labyrinth

Showgirls might be worse though.

 

[gmichael]

That's all I would need. My wife comes home after I was watching Showgirls.

"Where is she?!" "I know she's still here."

 

[caper26]

not that I have seen the movie, but what about Brokeback mountain?

 

[xego]

i could care less about 3-D I didn't even go see Avatar at the Imax down the street. I am excited about Panasonic rolling out 3-D plasmas. From what I have heard they are great, and anything that keeps plasma technology going is a good thing in my book.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Study: Consumers Less Interested In 3D TV After Experiencing It Firsthand

The 3D revolution. Companies like Sony and pretty much every vendor who attended IFA the other day want it to happen yesterday. Consumers? Interested—just not to the point where they're willing to put down any coin just yet.

This according to a Nielsen and the Cable & Television Association for Marketing study that sampled the tastes of sports-loving, video game-playing, 3D-experiencing consumers.

What they said was this: Initial interest was high, but dropped off with those individuals once they actually viewed something (say, a sporting event) in the much ballyhooed 3D realm. Limited content and those glasses were also high on the list of deterrents, with an unhealthy 57% saying they hated the bulky, expensive eyewear.

The graph above speaks for itself, as you can see in most cases interest falls off once the person dons the glasses and immerses themselves in 3D. One notable exception is the video game crowd&madash;fully 71% of so-called "hardcore" gamers were interested in 3D technology. If only the Killzone franchise were more mainstream! Oh, the TVs they could sell

Source:http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/u-s-consumers-show-high-interest-in-3dtv-but-cite-some-concerns/

Via: Giz

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This and many other cool quotes from British actor Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Run Fat Boy Run) here:
http://gizmodo.com/5649740/simon-pegg-is-worried-about-what-3d-is-doing-to-the-movie-industry?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+gizmodo/full+(Gizmodo)