3D Dear Ron and Bob: The Future of 3-D on Blu-ray...? (1 Viewer)

[Bob Furmanek]

That's wrong info on IMDB.

THE NEBRASKAN was dual-35mm and composed for 1.85:1. They never made a single-strip version.

Who makes this stuff up?!

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Does anyone know if The Force Awakens is to be released in Blu 3D yet? I can't find anything.

 

[RolandL]

That's wrong info on IMDB.

THE NEBRASKAN was dual-35mm and composed for 1.85:1. They never made a single-strip version.

Who makes this stuff up?!

Anybody can submit to IMDB so I never use it.

Does anyone know if The Force Awakens is to be released in Blu 3D yet? I can't find anything.

Hasn't been confirmed yet.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I use IMDB continuously and find it to be an incredibly valuable resource. I accept that it contains errors but if there is a more accurate substitute I would like to know what it is.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I use IMDB continuously and find it to be an incredibly valuable resource. I accept that it contains errors but if there is a more accurate substitute I would like to know what it is.

It depends on the information. I've had an IMDbPro subscription for many years, but as an AFI member, I find that more reliable on certain film details.

 

[RolandL]

Does anyone know if The Force Awakens is to be released in Blu 3D yet? I can't find anything.

This site says yes. i don't know how reliable it is though.

 

[WillG]

This site says yes. i don't know how reliable it is though.

If the "Point Break" remake is getting a 3D release, hard to believe that TFW wouldn't. But I guess when it comes to 3D and Disney, nothing is guaranteed.

 

[WillG]

The 3D 1980'S titles would do well. I feel like it would be smart to eventually release Jaws 3D and Friday the 13th 3D. Those are two BIG franchises. I'm still shocked that these have not come out yet. I think that they too would sell well if released. Hopefully both of them do actually come out on 3D Bluray.

Yeah, I'd like to see true stereoscopic versions of Jaws 3D and F13 3D in my lifetime. But isn't the "non receptive" Warner now controlling that part of the Paramount catalog as far as F13 is concerned? Is that just strictly distribution and Paramount could green light a true 3D transfer? I guess what I'm asking is who would make the call?

 

[ABaglivi]

The Amazon pre-order for Disney's The Finest Hours makes no mention of 3D.

 

[RolandL]

"Non receptive" because its a Paramount title? Warner has released a number of Blu-ray 3D titles from the 1950's.

 

[WillG]

"Non receptive" because its a Paramount title? Warner has released a number of Blu-ray 3D titles from the 1950's.

I'm just going by what @Bob Furmanek said earlier in this thread that Warner was being "Non Receptive" to their requests

Apologies if I took it out of context

 

[Dick]

The Amazon pre-order for Disney's The Finest Hours makes no mention of 3D.

I think that Disney has dropped all 3D Blu-ray support for their releases except for those under the Marvel, Pixar, and (hopefully) Lucasfilm monikers. I do note that even the Disney Movie Club is offering THE GOOD DINOSAUR as a 3D title. A rare exception these days.

 

[StephenDH]

"The Good Dinosaur" has the best water and texture FX I've ever seen.
It's basically a prehistoric "Bambi" but still very entertaining.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Just heard some more troubling news, again from England- this article says that Philips is dropping 3D support from its TVs:
http://www.whathifi.com/news/philips-takes-aim-oled-says-3d-tv-dead

Perhaps it's time for those of us who love home 3D to start a campaign to let the industry know that we do love it and would be very sad to see it go? Hearing the news about Samsung and now Philips is troubling because even if most of the studios have still been willing to release 3D Blu-Rays, the reduced availability of displays can only decrease the market for them. I feel that overall marketing for 3D has been pretty bad, while they pushed it a bit the first year or so it was out, it's practically ignored nowadays. Movie studios haven't helped matters when they overprice many of their 3D titles, but even that's better than not putting them out at all. (Disney of course remains a mystery as they STILL have not explained why they've withheld several titles from the US market. No doubt that having "Frozen" widely available in 3D would have won a few more consumers over.) This forum shows that people ARE buying them, even if it's not as many as the industry would like. I've believed for a long time that the market for 3D needs to be allowed much more time to grow, just because it's not a mega-hit after a few years doesn't mean it should be put out to pasture. Home surround sound has been around for more than 25 years now and STILL not everybody has it, but has that stopped movies from being produced with it or equipment for it being made?

Remember when many DVD titles were shifting towards 4x3 pan and scan because of "market demand" and efforts made here to turn that around? It seems like we need to do the same thing now with 3D, before it's too late. It's amazing how much misinformation there still is out there, such as 3D no longer being needed with UHD coming. That makes as much sense as if they had made the first HDTVs black and white only, but phased out color because of that. We got HD in color, so why can't we have UHD in 3D?

Being a long-time fan of 3D, the Blu-Ray 3D system has been the highest quality method of showing 3D video at home and to show my support in the face of less-than-stellar sales I've been buying all the 3D titles I can possibly afford- not just to have them, but also as a way to vote with my dollars and show that I do appreciate them being available. What more than that can I do? I've bought many movies that I otherwise wouldn't have, and if 3D ends up going away I'll likely buy fewer movies altogether. To be honest I could live without any new movies at all at this point and just enjoy the ones I have, catching up on the classics (both 3D and 2D, color and black and white) that I haven't gotten around to seeing yet instead of spending any time and money on newer ones.

So what does everyone else think? Do you want to save 3D, or let it die and go back to 2D?

 

[StephenDH]

The biggest blow to 3DTV has been the lack of material on the more popular/accessible channels. The BBC's few offerings were underwhelming, Sky 3D was horribly expensive and largely unseen by most people. It also suffered from a lack of decent material.
I don't know how things are elsewhere in the world but in the UK getting a new TV is a major and relatively rare event. Some people on this forum are lucky enough to be able to acquire new kit as soon as it becomes available but most people (apart from me) will not rush out and by a new TV just because it's 3D.
We generally wait until there's smoke coming from the back before replacing anything electrical, including TVs.
In the days when most people rented TVs it was much easier to change/upgrade but those days were gone long before 3D arrived.
Manufacturers have to be in it for the long haul for 3D to be omnipresent but they clearly are more interested in a quick return.
The broadcasters also need to do more (dream on!) because not everyone wants to buy overpriced Blu-rays they may only ever watch once.
A single digital 3D channel, preferably FTA, supported by all the major players would be ideal but licencing material would be a nightmare so I can't see it ever happening.

 

[RJ992]

Just heard some more troubling news, again from England- this article says that Philips is dropping 3D support from its TVs:
http://www.whathifi.com/news/philips-takes-aim-oled-says-3d-tv-dead

So what does everyone else think? Do you want to save 3D, or let it die and go back to 2D?

People should actually be letting the industry (manufacturers, cable, studios) how they feel. I'd think individual communications probably carry more weight than petitions...but anything is better than a deafening silence. Remember...the home video biz is a pretty clueless bunch.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Remember when many DVD titles were shifting towards 4x3 pan and scan because of "market demand" and efforts made here to turn that around? It seems like we need to do the same thing now with 3D, before it's too late.

The difference is that, at the time, DVD was still a growth product and the industry was well-aware that HDTV was on the way and 16:9 would be the standard screen ratio for televisions. I love 3D, too, but Blu-ray is dying a slow death and 3D televisions never caught on with the average consumer. It's disappointing, but it is what it is.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

People should actually be letting the industry (manufacturers, cable, studios) how they feel. I'd think individual communications probably carry more weight than petitions...but anything is better than a deafening silence.

Exactly- but how do we DO that? I thought that just buying as many 3D Blu-Rays as I could was a clear enough message, but I guess I need to do more. Electronics companies are pretty bad in terms of consumer relations, as the people who actually make decisions seem impossible to reach.

The biggest blow to 3DTV has been the lack of material on the more popular/accessible channels. The BBC's few offerings were underwhelming, Sky 3D was horribly expensive and largely unseen by most people. It also suffered from a lack of decent material.

The same thing happened with 3D cable channels in the US, but that didn't bother me so much as I haven't seen any reason to have cable since the late 80s- I mainly refuse to pay to also sit through commercial interruptions and I've found collecting media much better serves my needs. Even with that in mind, it seems they handled 3D on cable pretty badly- the 3D ESPN (sports) channel was supposed to be the big deal, but from what I heard it mostly showed the same football game over and over- PLUS you had to pay your cable company EXTRA for it. I don't care at all about sports anyways- I might have watched that channel if I could get it for free, but no way was I going to pay for it.

I don't know how things are elsewhere in the world but in the UK getting a new TV is a major and relatively rare event. Some people on this forum are lucky enough to be able to acquire new kit as soon as it becomes available but most people (apart from me) will not rush out and by a new TV just because it's 3D.
We generally wait until there's smoke coming from the back before replacing anything electrical, including TVs.

That's another thing, and a BIG thing that the industry doesn't quite seem to get. The only reason I even HAVE a 3D TV right now is through a happy accident- I actually waited a long time to get an HDTV (I had a 40-inch Mitsubishi CRT, which cost me quite a bit of money, and as I had no interest in broadcast TV I waited until there was enough hi-def media available before upgrading), and I ended up getting a Vizio just a few months before the first 3D sets came out. Many others had just gotten their first HDTVs around the same time, and I don't think many were about to replace those with new ones right away to get 3D. I DID start buying a few 3D Blu-Rays as they came out, since I could watch them in 2D on my present equipment and then I'd be able to watch them in 3D when I finally did get a new TV. As luck would have it, the Vizio crapped out and I got money from the warranty to replace it- since 3D sets were out by then, that's what I got this time and in hindsight I regret not waiting just a bit longer to get a 3D set right away. Had that not happened, I would still be using the 2D Vizio right now and anticipating getting a new TV maybe in the next year or so- with 4K just getting started now, I would want to wait for that to establish itself before buying another TV at this point. I certainly want 4K discs, but feel it's a HUGE mistake that they didn't include 3D on those right away and if I did get a player right now I would not be buying any 2D versions of 3D movies!

But the main point of all of that is the industry simply has to give 3D a LOT more time to grow- they can't judge its success or failure by where it is now. It took color TV more than 10 years to even START becoming the norm over black and white.

I love 3D, too, but Blu-ray is dying a slow death and 3D televisions never caught on with the average consumer. It's disappointing, but it is what it is.

True that Blu-Ray hasn't been the big success that DVD was- a big part of that is "the average consumer" doesn't care about picture quality. Just look at how many people can't even adjust their TVs properly, and happily watch 4x3 standard-def material stretched on a 16x9 screen and seeing nothing wrong with it! Not to mention the digital compression and screen clutter on broadcast and cable TV nowadays that people don't even seem to notice. But what should we do, just let high-quality video die and follow "the average consumer"? I simply refuse to do that. If the "big" movies continue to be released in 3D in theaters but are only released in 2D at home, I won't buy them. If a repeat of the 1950s happens and movies end up going back to 2D altogether, that will give me much less reason to even bother with a lot of current ones and I'll just watch older stuff at home. I spend a great deal of my income on movie-related stuff, but having 3D taken away could potentially put an end to that and lead me to finding other interests- is that what the industry wants me to do?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Silly me didn't even consider a big reason why home 3D hasn't caught on so well- you mostly have to BUY every movie in order to see it in 3D! That's been no problem for me as I buy tons of movies anyways, but that is asking a lot of some people. You can't rent 3D discs anywhere (except for a thing I've heard of called 3dblurayrental.com) aside from the few titles that were released as single-discs with the 2D option on them. Vudu has a number of 3D movies for rent, but not only are they a bit costly but not very many devices even WORK with their 3D format- none of the Vudu-equipped things I have (including 3D TV) support it! Same thing goes for Netflix, which I've heard has a few titles that don't cost extra to watch but good luck finding anything that will support it! There's also 3DGo, but again I don't have a single device that will work with that and likely not many others do either. I've heard some cable companies do have 3D movies on-demand, but again I know little about that and personally would not subscribe to cable just for that.

But that's just another thing the industry should keep in mind as to why 3D hasn't been as hot as they would've liked it to. DROPPING 3D capability from TVs will NOT result in more ways to see 3D movies. Keeping it around eventually WILL.

 

[Johnny Angell]

A while back I went on to Samsung's site and asked if they were dropping 3D support. I informed them if they dropped 3D I'd not be buying another Samsung TV. I got the following reply and it's not very helpful.

"Dear Johnny Angell,



Thank you for contacting Samsung Direct.

I understand that you would like to know if it is a true statement, that Samsung will be discontinuing 3D televisions.

I would love to assist, but unfortunately, Samsung has not released any information stating that they will be discontinuing the 3D feature on their televisions.

I apologize for any and all inconvenience.



KR

Samsung Sales Support Email Division"

Couldn't figure how to do a quote on this new forum software. The BB code button just takes me to a different looking screen with no options. I'm using Safari on an iMac.