3D Another Indication that 3D Blu-ray is doomed in the United States (1 Viewer)

A few weeks ago, in another thread, I posted about my adventures going to my local Costco store in hopes of finding SpongeBob Squarepants 3D on sale at a better price than Amazon than what Amazon was selling it for.


I was very saddened to find that at least two Costco stores in my area didn't even offer 3D versions of the film, whereas there were plenty of copies of the 2D combo release.


In fact, I have never seen any 3D titles for sale at Costco stores.


So, here I am on vacation in Canada this week, about 45 minutes inside its border from the United States.


Friends and I are doing shopping for a Canada Day BBQ. I head over to their Blu-ray area to see if there are any Criterion titles around.


Well, no Criterion titles.


However, there is an entire section dedicated to 3D Blu-rays.


They have quite a large selection of current and older titles including a wealth of SpongeBob copies.. Most of the older titles including Ice Age and The Lorax were selling for $13.99 (CA).


I have never seen so many 3D titles being offered in one area like this. It was amazing.


You mean to tell me that Costco didn't feel comfortable enough offering this same selection in their U.S. stores?

Ronald Epstein said:

However, there is an entire section dedicated to 3D Blu-rays.


They have quite a large selection of current and older titles including a wealth of SpongeBob copies.. Most of the older titles including Ice Age and The Lorax were selling for $13.99 (CA).

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What ???


FYI, my Costco here in Connecticut used to stock the new 3-D Blu-rays -- Disney/Pixar, the other major studios, and I think IMAX. Of course that was then and this is now. And even with a slight Costco discount, they were still IMHO overpriced. But I certainly bought the ones I wanted.


But what HAS happened with 3-D Blu-ray releases in the U.S.? Why would the Canadian and European markets be any more lucrative than ours? Has any studio or distributor made an actual statement? (Hello, Disney.) Oh, of course not. But I had to ask because it boggles my mind how 3-D Blu-ray can apparently have continued success elsewhere and not here. It's that chief difference that I don't understand.

It could be a couple of reasons:

• 3D titles did not sell well at the two Costco stores in your area so they stopped stocking them.
• The manager(s) of the stores does not think 3D will sell so they never stocked them.

Do those stores sell 3D TV's? If yes, then it would be strange that they don't sell the Blu-ray 3D titles.

It's kind of a chicken and egg scenario. They don't stock them because they say people don't buy them. But people can't buy them if the stores don't stock them.

I recall a big display of Spongebob at my local Costco, but not being interested in that title I didn't notice if it included any 3D discs or not.

RolandL said:

Do those stores sell 3D TV's? If yes, then it would be strange that they don't sell the Blu-ray 3D titles.

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Good question. I haven't really looked at TV displays in any store for a while, so can't answer that one.


Costco's always had wild swings in the DVD/BD department, and it's impossible to tell (without asking, of course) if any of it is a direct reflection of what is selling the most. If it is, then it's the buying public that amazes me.


I remember back in, what was it, the end of 2008? 2009?, when the last of the Walt Disney Treasures (the two Zorro volumes) was about to be released, and Costco -- which had always carried every damned one of the Treasures -- told me the chain had declined to stock it. That sent me and others scurrying to Best Buy on release day. But I've seen many other such anomalies and inconsistencies there over the past few years. It's as though they could never decide how much of a media dealer they really want to be.

3D on Blu seemed to be doomed from the start. How many people in your day to day life (work, family) do you know that has a full 3D setup at their house? I know of nobody in my circle of friends/fam that bought into the whole 3D at home thing.

Ronald Epstein said:

A few weeks ago, in another thread, I posted about my adventures going to my local Costco store in hopes of finding SpongeBob Squarepants 3D on sale at a better price than Amazon than what Amazon was selling it for.

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I also wanted a lower price for SpongeBob so I bought it on eBay for $16.99 with free shipping (also had the lenticular 3D cover).


The Three Musketeers is only $7.89 on Amazon but you have to add shipping (not a Prime member). So, I sent a offer of $5 to a seller on eBay (he was asking $15) he accepted it.


So, there are other places that you can look for lower prices. Also, if you wait long enough, many of these 3D titles are on sale for $9.99 or less.

Alf S said:

3D on Blu seemed to be doomed from the start. How many people in your day to day life (work, family) do you know that has a full 3D setup at their house? I know of nobody in my circle of friends/fam that bought into the whole 3D at home thing.

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Besides the people I know here on HTF, I also know of no one that has a 3D TV. We are definitely a minority. In fact, most of the homes I have been to, have HDTV's but still subscribe to basic cable. They just stretch the picture to fill the screen.

Same here. No one. And my friends who ARE aware that I have 3-D at home think I'm pretty exotic.


(For lack of a better word. Maybe "insane" is closer.)


Those who have come over and enjoyed something or other loved it. And will return. But it's not something they'd even dream of having themselves.

Actually, I should say MOST of them have enjoyed it and would return for more.


It's surprising how many people in a relatively small circle of friends and acquaintances can be found have vision problems that prevent them from seeing 3-D well, or at all. A couple of friends have a "wandering eye" or whatever that's called -- nothing that you'd notice, but that condition kills 3-D for them from the get go. They don't get past the blurred image.


Another person seemed to have that or some other issue going on, because it became apparent in conversation after a while that he wasn't seeing or comprehending the 3-D image. and had absolutely no appreciation for it. Weird.

A few years ago, the Waterbury Costco I patronize always had at least 3 different 3D TV'S with demo discs playing, with glasses set up in front of the display, and a sign that invited customers to view it. They also had a fairly good selection of 3D BD titles in stock.

This ended at about the same time plasma TV died. And for the last year or so, you'd never know that 3D ever existed.

I have a lazy eye that pretty much prevents me from seeing 3D in it's full glory. I could never see it using the blue and red glasses of the old days. BUT, when I went to Legoland and sat in on my first 3D movie they had playing using the current style of glasses, I actually could see the 3D image, but I really had to strain a bit and look at the screen a certain way to be able to see it.


So 3D for me is pretty much moot.

Charles Smith said:

Another person seemed to have that or some other issue going on, because it became apparent in conversation after a while that he wasn't seeing or comprehending the 3-D image. and had absolutely no appreciation for it. Weird.

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Not weird at all in my experience. I have quite a few friends who can't comprehend the 3D image, due to various eye convergence issues. It's a lot more common than you might think.


Others couldn't care less about 3D and don't want to be bothered wearing glasses. Just give them a compelling story. For reasons such as these, I fear 3D will never be more than an interesting novelty.

I want 3D to thrive. I'm addicted. To me, it's the ultimate HT experience. But I'm a "techno geek" type. I can read and understand directions on how to set things up for a proper viewing experience. Most consumers are either ignorant, or lazy. They want something that you turn on and simply press 1 button in order to see 3D content. And that assumes that they're even interested in 3D content.


Consumers saw a 3D TV demo in a store and decide to buy one. Then when they got home, reality set in. Now they needed a 3D capable BD player and some 3D discs to play on it. Or, at the very least, an HD cable TV subscription that includes some channels with 3D content. But wait, that's SBS or O/U formatted. What's this? Looks strange. More menu settings to find, and buttons to push.


Then they had to make sure that the 3D glasses were charged up or had batteries installed. And, of course, there's a tiny (usually difficult to find) switch that needs to be pushed, or slided to turn them on properly. Sets usually came with only 2 pair of 3D glasses. Extra pairs were expensive and not many were compatible with other brands. Not to mention that the glasses were too fragile. These were not meant for fidgety kids.


I believe that all of the following reasons have contributed to the current decline in 3D interest by the public:

• Too complicated to set up and maintain by the average consumer.
• Extra glasses expensive, fragile, and poor compatibility.
• Not enough 3D content, and usually have to pay extra for a 3D version.
• Lackluster 3D conversions of films that are too dark, have little depth, and no pop out effect.

I'm somewhat in the market for a new set, trying to upgrade from my 22" 720p set to something in the 50-60" 1080p range. I don't believe I can afford a 4K set, and they don't appear to have 3D anyway. I'm unsure whether I should strive for a 3D set. I like 3D in the theater quite a bit and have been to over 40 3D movies. It's a nice "addition" to a movie and can sometimes make an average or poor movie at least watchable.


However, how does 3D on Blu-ray compare to that in the theater? Does it give a comparable depth of field and allow things to jump out and such? The idea of watching 3D at home is appealing, even if the kinds of movies that are in 3D are not necessarily the kinds I would buy to own on BD, and Netflix does not have 3D Blu-rays to rent. However, different things I've read have led me to believe it may not be worth trying to find if a decent enough set does not have it.

@Glenshaw


3-D Blu-Ray is about the same as 2K digital 3-D that you see in theaters. Theatrical DCP's are uncompressed, while Blu-Ray 3-D is compressed with the lossy AVC codec. But other than the lossy compression, it's basically the same.


The trick is finding a 3-D TV that


A) Has enough brightness to make 3-D watchable

B) Doesn't produce an issue known as "crosstalk" or "ghosting".


Passive 3-D (glasses without batteries, similar to what you wear at the theater) sets are less likely to produce crosstalk. LG is the most well-known manufacturer of these kinds of sets.


The downside of passive 3D is that it halves the vertical resolution. So instead of watching 1920x1080, you're watching 1920x540. That's not a problem with 4K passive 3-D sets since the vertical resolution is still 1080 when it's halved.


Active 3-D (glasses with batteries) doesn't halve the resolution, but may be prone to anomalies like flickering. Crosstalk can also be present if you're using them on any TV other than a DLP TV.


IMO, there are better options for 3-D at home if you decide to go for the home theater projector route.

In the UK people only tend to buy a new TV when the old one dies the true death so buying one just for a particular feature is quite rare. It's not that long ago that most people used to rent their TV set so buying one at all was a novelty.

I bought one to access Sky's 3D service but it was so feeble as regards content that I cancelled it along with my Sky subscription.

That said, most people who've seen 3D on my TV have been impressed.

The movie companies would rather people pay silly prices for 3D in cinemas than watch it, more or less, for free at home.

I have a Panasonic Plasma 3D TV (ST30) and I'm very pleased with it as are my friends who view 3D movies on it.

Personally I dont think 3D TV was that well marketed, at least in my neck of the woods (New England). I've owned this set since 2013 and when I've asked some of my friends why they don't have one they either said its too expensive or, where do they sell them. I don't think they're as dedicated as us folks in this forum otherwise they'd fork over the money and know where these sets could be bought.

3D TV's were heavily promoted from 2010 to 2013. But, when 4K TV's came out in 2014, 3D promotion was dropped. The majority of the 4K TV models have 3D (except for Vizio) but its not promoted.

FWIW, Best Buy has a whole section devoted to 3D.


I am just now starting to get into 3D. I have a 73" Mitsubishi DLP that was 3D Ready when I bought it back in 2009. I just ordered a 3D kit for it from Amazon. Looking forward to venturing into 3D!