The 3D Phenomenon

If there is one thing that was made abundantly clear at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last year, it was that the entire consumer electronics industry was strongly pushing for a switch to 3D. Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Vizio, Sharp and a number of other manufacturers have all announced new 3D capable models that they will be releasing over the course of this year (2011). Never before have we seen such widespread industry support for 3D, and this will certainly go a long way in helping bring 3D to the masses.

Riding on the enormous success of James Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar, many of the big name electronics manufacturers are making a strong case for bringing an authentic 3D experience to the consumer’s living room. This time around the timing seems perfect. Over 60% of Avatar’s ticket sales were for 3D viewings of the movie, a startling statistic given that the number of 3D capable screens around the world is far outnumbered by their regular 2D counterparts.

New 3D technology overcomes previous limitations

Old 3D technology from many years ago never really caught on, but new 3D technology overcomes its previous limitations.

1. Unrealistic to Realistic 3D – An unrealistic effect was caused due to the images for the left and right eye being unnaturally spaced causing eye strain. However, current 3D video capture technology coupled with the projection of both left and right eye images by the same device ensures that such effects are mitigated in new 3D displays.
2. Goodbye to Nausea and Headaches – These side effects were predominantly due to the analog nature of 3D films many years ago when the films for the left and right eye view were projected simultaneously but were hard to keep in sync with one another. This resulted in an uncomfortable viewing experience, confusing the viewer’s brain due to the unrealistic and unnatural visual stimulation.  Current 3D displays however, are digitally synced so no such issues exist and these “3D Symptoms” are thankfully a thing of the past.
3. Poor to Great color fidelity – Using Anaglyph technology, images were split into chromatically opposite colors so that by using tinted glasses the viewer was able to view a unique image for each eye thus providing a 3D effect. However, the use of these tinted glasses drastically changed the appearance of colors and in general resulted in a poor 3D experience. With the use of new Polarized or Active Shutter technology, this has been done away with as the image displayed on the screen represents the true color and each eye piece does not distort the image color in any way (apart from lowering the incoming brightness of the image by a small amount).

3D Content

Many people seem to whine about the lack of 3D content and that this lack of 3D content guarantees the failure of this industry push towards 3D. After all, content is king right? There are some issues with this criticism however.

1. ESPN, DirectTV, Discovery Channel and UK’s Sky have pledged support for delivering 3D content as early as 2010. ESPN has already procured the necessary equipment for shooting live events in 3D and plan to air football and NBA in 3D in the near future. A number of other content providers are also joining ranks and pledging support for delivering more 3D content. While 3D content is still at a nascent stage, we have to keep in mind that these are still early days. However, with all the industry support so far, the signs seem very positive.

2.      Hollywood is also backing this push to 3D with over 20 3D movies released on 2010. Keep in mind also that every 3D animated film will likely be available in 3D as this medium enables an effortless transition for producing movies in 3D. These numbers will only increase, especially if there is widespread interest in 3D content as witnessed by the success of Avatar in 3D.

3D TVs are Backward Compatible with Regular 2D

This is one of the main reasons why 3D will eventually succeed over time. Pretty much all the proposed 3D technologies that are being developed by various electronics manufacturers are compatible with regular 2D content. This of course is for a good reason as it would be suicidal on the part of device manufacturers to make their 3D sets not compatible with conventional 2D content given that there is a long transition period ahead as we make the switch from 2D to 3D (and perhaps it will never be a complete 100% switch).

Displays requiring active shutter glasses are pretty much your regular high performance LCD or Plasma TV with a high refresh rate (120-240 Hz) and the ability to sync with your active shutter glasses. However, they are perfectly capable displays for 2D content as well and there shouldn’t be any real decrease in performance or image quality. Additionally, the high refresh rates of newer 3D TVs will actually be a bonus for regular 2D content as this refresh rate boost will help smooth the display of fast paced 2D scenes and sporting events. Finally, the prices of the TVs themselves aren’t going to be all that much more than regular TVs.  If you don’t want 3D at all, you could still buy a 3D capable set for roughly the same price as regular TVs and just skip buying 3D glasses and any other accessories that you might need for viewing 3D content on your new TV. All in all, it’s a win-win situation either way and this is one of the main reasons why the long run adoption of 3D TVs will hence in general a will win situation.