A few of us gadget fans from SelectSpecs Towers took an arduous 4 hour trip up to the Birmingham NEC to see Jason Bradbury, Suzi Perry, Ortis Deley and John Bentley at the 2010 Gadget Show Live exhibition on the 10th April… “oooooh, splendid!” in my best John Bentley impression.
We’ve arrived after a tiring 4 hour journey!
One of the things I was most eager to look at being a bit of a movie and general home cinema / electronics type of guy, was the brand spanking new 3D TV’s at several of the manufacturers stands. From walking through the big entrance (above) I was immediately drawn to the massive Panasonic stand that dominated the hall, so this was the perfect opportunity to get a glimpse of the new 3D TV’s in all their glory.
The 3D TVs at the Panasonic stand. The picture is supposed to be that blurry…
We viewed 2 Panasonic 3D TV’s, a top of the range £2400 50″ and a prototype 103″ beast – While my feelings were that of being impressed after a short period of time, I was left with some major concerns at why 3D TV will never catch on in the home…
1. It’s expensive…
The current price is quite positively eye watering, £2400 will get you a Panasonic 50″ Plasma 3D TV and 2 pairs of Active Shutter Glasses. This is great if you live on your own or with a partner, but add on a couple of kids and you will find you will need a couple of extra pairs of glasses at £100 each. To put the cost in to perspective, a ‘normal’ 50″ Plasma TV by Panasonic can be purchased for around £700 from many retailers at this moment.
2. You need AT LEAST a 50″ TV for the best effect…
This comes from speaking with a Panasonic rep – you need a 50″ TV screen that fills your vision for the best effect, however, in today’s England, most new houses are pretty much the size of a rabbit hutch (yet cost just as much as a mansion) so finding the space in a corner or a spare wall for a TV this big is is no easy feat! For the majority of homes a 42″ TV is just about right without the TV beginning to dominate the room and looking ridiculous.
3. The glasses are heavy… and make you look stupid…
After wearing the Panasonic Active Shutter glasses for less than 2 minutes they were already beginning to feel heavy and uncomfortable on the bridge of my nose, I don’t really know how I’m meant to wear them for a movie totalling more than 2 hours without feeling uncomfortable. Of course, technology will obviously improve and make the glasses lighter and more aesthetically pleasing but for the moment they are no good for me.
4. The Panasonic 3D glasses are expensive…
Each pair of the Panasonic Active Shutter Glasses costs £100, although you get 2 pairs ‘free’ with the TV most families have 2 adults and 2 children who will also want to enjoy the experience meaning you will need a further 2 pairs of glasses, then if you have your friends round for a Saturday night movie they will also need a pair to enjoy the experience.
Just to put the price of these glasses into perspective, for £100 you can also buy a rather nice pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, and I can pretty much guarantee you will look a hell of a lot cooler in the process!
5. My Prescription Glasses won’t fit…
I immediately noticed that if I needed to wear glasses for watching TV it would be unlikely that I would be able to experience 3D with the Panasonic TV sets. Why? well simply put while you are wearing the Active Shutter glasses there is no room to wear normal prescription glasses over the top or underneath.
6. It can cause headaches from eye strain…
After almost 3 hours of watching Avatar in the cinema I was feeling the onset of a headache, partly because of wearing glasses which were not particularly comfortable and partly because of the feeling of eye strain setting in – a similar feeling was becoming noticeable while trying out these 3D TVs after just 2 minutes. Research also suggests that watching 3D tv is actually bad for your eyes as it forces them to act in an entirely unnatural way which causes the eye strain, headaches and fatigue, this has been labeled convergence-accommodation conflict. Until this problem gets resolved it is very hard to see how 3D TV will become the mainstream product manufacturers so desire.
7. 3D doesn’t work for everyone…
If you are blind in one eye then 3D simply won’t work for you. Some will also find that it gives them headaches and may make them feel nauseous and uncomfortable which prevents them from enjoying the experience.
8. There are different 3D technologies…
Panasonic and LG are 2 different examples that we noticed, this mean you cannot use the same glasses used on LG TVs on Panasonic TV’s, or any other make of TV in fact.
9. You need 3D compatible hardware…
More expense! You need a 3D compatible Blu-Ray player and AV Receiver with HDMI 1.4 connectivity to get the ultimate 3D Home Cinema experience, and this will not be cheap at the moment or for the next few years.
10. Limited content available…
Finally, there is a limited amount of content available in 3D and this is likely to be the case for some time to come especially when 3D content costs more and takes longer to produce. So any money spent on 3D viewing technology for your home is likely to provide a limited amount of enjoyment at this stage.
Final Note:
Don’t get me wrong, 3D TV to see for the first time is impressive especially when you’re used to seeing TV as a simple 2 dimensional image, but the problem for me lies with the technology being too expensive, a limited amount of content available and a requirement to wear a pair of uncomfortable glasses that just don’t suit me, and this puts me off for now. No doubt in 5-10 years time prices will have fallen significantly and the technology will have improved somewhat meaning the glasses will be better (or perhaps non existent), the eye strain issues resolved, and the 3D technology built into TV’s as standard in much the same way HD technology is now.
In my opinion, I have a feeling this could go the way of Betmax and be a massive flop, but no doubt in 5 years time someone will come along to tell me just how wrong I was….
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