The Sports Tech Nihilist: Unimpressed By 3D TV

Posted by Seth in GENERAL, TELEVISION on 06-21-10    3 Comments


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If you’ve been paying attention to the latest trends in televisions, you know 3D is all the rage. Having spent a little time at the local big box electronics store over the weekend, I’m trying to figure out why.

I sat down and watched a 3D TV demonstration — they had some soccer footage playing on a nice big flat panel set — and all I can tell you is I thought it sucked. For right now, 3D TV is a lot of hype over nothing.

First of all, you’re sitting there with those stupid-ass goggles on, and the fact is that while the effect is noticeable and is somewhat cool, you get over it in a hurry. What I saw didn’t look like an HD picture. It seemed like it was in significantly lower resolution than the typical HD picture I get on my TV at home. I’d much rather watch a pristine HD picture in 2D than the crapfest I watched in 3D in the demo.

It’s a cool idea. We all live for the day when everyone has a holodeck in their house and can interact with characters like they do on Star Trek. But from what I saw, this 3D TV thing adds no value. And the fact that the average consumer has no idea what it’s supposed to look like doesn’t help either.

For now, it just seems like a way for the TV makers to drive up prices on their sets by a few hundred dollars. I pass.

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3 Comments on “The Sports Tech Nihilist: Unimpressed By 3D TV”

  • 3D TV Review

    Thank you for the 3d tv info …..

    Three Dimensional home television programing is going to be the next big thing since HD and Blueray! Computer users have been cutting their teeth with 3D for a year, with Nvidia’s 3D technology but it has not reached the mass market yet.

    With more and more films being made in 3D it is only a matter of time before this technology reaches the wide market place. 3D has undergone a tremendous resurrection in the public’s consciousness. Block busters such as Avatar, paved the way introducing new technology to film makers.

    This year alone in Hollywood movies you will see close to 80 films in 3D HD come out.

    Companies such as Sony, Samsung, and LG are making 3D televisions right now for consumers homes.

    06-22-10 » 5:45 am »

  • Seth

    I don’t doubt that 3D is coming and that there are places where it’ll be effective. Hollywood should go crazy with it, and I think it’ll probably be huge in gaming as well.

    But the question we have around here is how well 3D will translate into live TV broadcasts, specifically sports. It seems like the TV networks will have to learn a whole new language, so to speak, when it comes to creating a 3D broadcast. They’re going to have to figure out what works and what doesn’t. In a movie like Avatar that’s loaded with CGI, or in a video game, every image and every camera angle can be manipulated to best utilize 3D. But in a live sports broadcast, where things happen unpredictably, that can’t be the case. So my question is, will 3D ever really work on a live broadcast?

    06-22-10 » 7:53 am »

  • Adding A Third Dimension In Sports | The Sports Circuit

    [...] in sports broadcasts? 3D is expensive, technically challenging, and not everybody likes it (including The Sports Tech Nihilist). Sure 3D might be a neat gimmick, but is it commercially [...]

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