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3DTV without the glasses has a way to go before we see it on big home TVs.
The issues are:
The viewing Angle - With a 3DS you only get the illusion of 3D straight on, at any slight deviation it fails.
The Cost - Glasses-less 3D is a reality for screens, Samsung recently showed off a 20" model. It has to come with a huge stand and costs a load of money. Obviously costs will come down but it will be the same as the difference between HD and Super-HD with release and affordability.
Take Up - 3D with glasses is available now. If 3D TVs are slowly replacing the top end HD TVs then they will seep into homes. Obviously you can watch normal 2D TV on the 3DTVs too and they tend to have all the latest features as 3D requires the best possible picture to work properly. The Glasses-less TVs won't be in UK stores until at least 5-10 years time.
At the end of the day, only time and sales will tell if home 3D is successful. Blu-ray had the same issues with many saying it wouldn't sell because it's not all that different to upscaled SD. Obviously it is for all newer films but older titles are dependent on the original source material being good enough, and it's not age that restricts it either. Some 1960's titles filmed on high quality film that is even greater resolution than HD look fantastic on Blu-ray where as some 80's films filmed on cheaper equipment don't.
they cant see what is happening on the tv because it will be blurred
I've not that long gotten into the whole HD scene believe it or not. I won't even be considering 3D for another few years yet.
How are people that need to watch TV with glasses going to get the benefit of 3D if they have to take them off to wear the 3D glasses? Won't be long till Specsavers have prescription 3D glasses in......lol.
Regarding the HD scene,some stuff looks and sounds simply fantastic on Blu Ray (especially if you have HD audio) but other stuff simply isn't worth shelling out extra for IMO.The Blu Ray versions of some older films (examples : Robocop,Dirty Dancing) look sod all different to a decent upscaled DVD.As well as decent standalone Blu Ray Player I also own the rather fantastic Oppo 983HD DVD player and some DVD's really don't look that much different to a Blu Ray when viewed on that.Sure,if you sit 2 foot from the TV you can see a difference but from the 8ft away I sit from my TV the difference is not huge on some titles.Saying that I have just ordered the Blu Ray of Disney's Beauty & The Beast after seeing my friends US copy a few weeks back,its a stunning transfer of a classic film.
Good point on the glasses thing though.How exactly is this going to work for people who normally wear glasses to watch TV ?,will they need to wear 3D glasses over their normal glasses ? :S
Aside from the financial investment,I reckon having to wear glasses to watch 3D will be a reason a lot of people will not bother with it TBH.
How are people that need to watch TV with glasses going to get the benefit of 3D if they have to take them off to wear the 3D glasses? Won't be long till Specsavers have prescription 3D glasses in......lol.
This is where 3D is different because:
a) it's not a case of it taking off, it's there and with Sky and film companies supporting it the format is not going anywhere
b) 3DTVs tend to also be very high class 2D TVs, in fact there isn't that much of a difference in the cost of a 3D to a 2D TV with the same spec.
The format is not going anywhere ?,maybe,maybe not.At the moment there are not many studios producing 3D discs although this will of course change dramatically if they start selling.However if they do not sell then even these studio's will drop the format like a bad habit,just like they did with Laserdisc and HD-DVD.Having viewed the format I was far from blown away by it,it was OK but I can definitely live without it.In fact I'm bored of 3D films in the cinema TBH,haven't seen any film I felt was dramatically improved by it (I hated Avatar BTW).
Regarding the cost difference between a high end 2D panel and it's 3D counterpart my friends TV cost a whopping £785 more for the 3D version although this did come with 2 pairs of glasses which would normally have cost about £100 each.High end plasma TV's are generally more expensive than their LCD and Blacklit LED/LCD counterparts as they cost more to produce,but even so that seems a hefty premium to me.If you have a family of more than 2 people then you obviously need to buy extra glasses.If you already own a decent HDTV then to upgrade seems very expensive indeed to me,especially for something which may or may not be around in a couple of years time.
I remain thoroughly unconvinced with the whole idea. It's been around for near 60 years and has never been anything more than a passing fad, and that was when it only cost the price of a cinema ticket. Eventually people will get bored again and while I don't think it'll go away this time, I think most people will simply stop using it for 99% of programmes.
There's also the chance that I could shell out on one and then it doesn't take off, made that mistake with an HDDVD player and although that didn't break the bank I was still peeved off.
This is where 3D is different because:
a) it's not a case of it taking off, it's there and with Sky and film companies supporting it the format is not going anywhere
b) 3DTVs tend to also be very high class 2D TVs, in fact there isn't that much of a difference in the cost of a 3D to a 2D TV with the same spec.
or perhaps even wait for a TV to be released that can display 3D without the use of glasses ? (if that is this possible).
Toshiba have shown a 3dtv without the need for glasses. Apparently it comes with a very limited viewing angle though which will be useless for me (in my living room anyway) as the tv has to sit in a corner. I'm still tempted the wallmount it though. I'll probably end up getting one but I'll wait until the price lowers, I've only just recently got an HDTV so I don't feel the need to rush out and grab it.
There's also the chance that I could shell out on one and then it doesn't take off, made that mistake with an HDDVD player and although that didn't break the bank I was still peeved off.