3D Poll: Will 3D at Home Make a Comeback? (1 Viewer)

[Bob_S.]

I checked that scene sitting and standing without any ghosting issues.

Hmmm... ok, thanks Robert.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Worthy questions (I think at least) to add here:

1) If 3D truly is done, how are we supposed to watch all our 3D discs in the future? That’s what bugs me more than whether any new ones will be made. Do they expect us to just watch the 2D versions, or throw them out since any movie over 10 years old isn’t worth watching anyways? The least I’m hoping for is an external device to add active 3D back to TVs- wouldn’t be as good as continuing passive technology and wouldn’t get the masses on board, but would be better than nothing.

2) Would ONE really well done and popular movie shot in 3D be enough to bring equipment back into production? I didn’t think Avatar was that great of a movie but it did look good, and if all of the 3D movies made after it looked as good then there wouldn’t be so much hate for it.

 

[Alberto_D]

Only TN LCD panels can be used for 3D LCD TVs, if I remamaber right.
And TN panels are the worse kind of LCD for view angle.

 

[Reed Grele]

Just finished watching SING (2016) 3D. What a wonderful, uplifting film! Great story, music, and 3D experience!

3D will only die in my HT when I do.

 

[deepscan]

Worthy questions (I think at least) to add here:

1) If 3D truly is done, how are we supposed to watch all our 3D discs in the future? That’s what bugs me more than whether any new ones will be made. Do they expect us to just watch the 2D versions, or throw them out since any movie over 10 years old isn’t worth watching anyways? The least I’m hoping for is an external device to add active 3D back to TVs- wouldn’t be as good as continuing passive technology and wouldn’t get the masses on board, but would be better than nothing.

The only definite answer I can give you is to seek for 3D Video Wizard. It’s not being made anymore because of poor sales. It pops up from time to time on eBay and Amazon (via second hand members) but they are rare at best and becoming tougher and tougher to track down. It will work with 3D ready blu ray players (even the new 4K players) and can plug in to all HDTVs (or if you have a 4K player that’s 3D ready it has to plug in to 4K TVs). I have a 3D Video Wizard unit on hand and ready to go whenever I complete my upgrade to 4K. You should be able to get good 3D with the “classic red/cyan” system (that’s what color the glasses are) and being in HD you probably won’t have any problems with it.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Any system that uses colored glasses is awful- I've seen almost all of them. There's just no way to get the color right, and if it's done in black and white it's just an alternating red and blue mess rather than a proper black and white picture.

 

[Edwin-S]

Are you sure about that Tino? I was under the impression that the passive 3D used on TVs was vertical/horizontal polarization rather the the circular polarization used by RealD 3D.

I used the clip-on lenses that came with my LG OLED several times at the theatre. they worked just fine.

 

[revgen]

Any system that uses colored glasses is awful- I've seen almost all of them. There's just no way to get the color right, and if it's done in black and white it's just an alternating red and blue mess rather than a proper black and white picture.

Agreed. The best way to have 3-D become another "passing fad" is to bring anaglyph back.

Anaglyph is okay if it's a still image like a comic book. And only if the image is black and white. 1950's 3-D comics used it quite a bit, and it's okay.

For moving images, especially color moving images, it's anachronistic. Most of the major studios abandoned anaglyph for brand new 3-D productions since 1936 when Polaroid introduced the first discrete 3-D projection system. Only repertory screenings ever used anaglyph prints since repertory theaters couldn't show dual-strip 35mm. With digital projection, anaglyph is pretty much a dead format.

 

[WillG]

No ghosting on my LG 65” C6 either

Last year up I ordered a LG LCD. Ghosting on it was horrible. Had a LG technician look at it swap out the board and all that...no improvement, ended up sending it back and splurged on the Curved OLED (which was $1000 less than the flat panel). Better performance (of my tests was the title screen on Jaws 3D which had horrible ghosting on the LCD, still had some ghosting on the OLED, but it was the same as on my older Samsung active display). But I do find I really have to be in sweet spot to not get any ghosting. If there's a problem with the display, not much I can do now since this is the last 3D display I will even own apparently. It's still under warranty, but nothing the technician did for the original LCD I bought had any effect so I wouldn't expect any difference for the OLED.

Anyway, on a personal note since 3D BD is terminal in the US, I feel like I'm being pushed toward the feeling of just wishing it will go away all together. Either support 3D BD or just stop releasing movies in 3D theatrically im the first place.

 

[Jimbo64]

Last year up I ordered a LG LCD. Ghosting on it was horrible. Had a LG technician look at it swap out the board and all that...no improvement, ended up sending it back and splurged on the Curved OLED (which was $1000 less than the flat panel). Better performance (of my tests was the title screen on Jaws 3D which had horrible ghosting on the LCD, still had some ghosting on the OLED, but it was the same as on my older Samsung active display). But I do find I really have to be in sweet spot to not get any ghosting. If there's a problem with the display, not much I can do now since this is the last 3D display I will even own apparently. It's still under warranty, but nothing the technician did for the original LCD I bought had any effect so I wouldn't expect any difference for the OLED.

I have a 42” active Samsung in my living room that I never use for 3D since I discovered passive. In my den I had a 4 year old 50” Sony LCD passive set that I enjoyed for many years (now in a spare bedroom) that I replaced with the LG OLED 65” curve last summer. I have to say rewatching many of my 3D blu-rays is a much better experience on the OLED and I have zero complaints about it. I know what you mean about the titles of Jaws 3D but I don’t think that’s a good title to judge ghosting on much like Comin At Ya. Those split lens single strip 3D films can be painful to the eyes as the parallax is so extreme. Hugo is the one that proved the superiority of the OLED to me, it just looks perfect on the LG but did ghost a bit on the Sony

 

[Josh Steinberg]

1) If 3D truly is done, how are we supposed to watch all our 3D discs in the future?

As far as the industry is concerned, no one is watching them now, therefore people watching them in the future isn't a concern either. The less glib, more practical answer is that you'll need to move into projection. You can get a high quality HD 3D capable projector from a brand like BenQ for $500, and project onto a white wall or sheet for a bare minimum job. Projection is a niche market anyway, so a niche feature within a niche product may survive a little longer than on flat panels. 3D discs are still being released internationally; if an international television manufacturer still makes a set, you may be able to import one. But in general, they don't think anyone's watching (and statistically speaking, that may be close to the truth), so they don't care about it. The BDA mandated when the 3D spec was created that all 3D discs be backwards compatible to 2D (either by including both versions on the same disc, or separate 2D and 3D discs within the same package) so they will probably argue that you still have the ability to play those films in some format. But essentially, they don't care. Microsoft probably doesn't care if you have something on a Zune you can't play either.

2) Would ONE really well done and popular movie shot in 3D be enough to bring equipment back into production?

I would guess not, but who knows. 3D projection is handled so poorly in the U.S. on average that it seems the vast majority of people are turned off by that experience and aren't looking to repeat it, particularly at the premium prices charged. As an anecdotal example of the whole phenomenon, my wife had some friends over to watch our copy of Wonder Woman 3D on my projector. They had all seen the movie in 2D in theaters, and were primarily interested in watching it at our house for the big screen, not the 3D, but when we mentioned it was an option they thought that was cool and didn't realize it was possible at home. They watched it and found the 3D quality at home to be outstanding, better than anything they had seen in theaters before. When I pointed out that I knew for a fact at least two of them had televisions that were 3D capable, so that they could easily have this experience in their own home, they showed no interest. I think there is a lot of genuine disinterest; some, but not all, brought on by poor quality 3D releases and/or poor quality 3D exhibition. The price gauging hurt. Even IMAX, owners of the best 3D projection technology in the world, are starting to move towards 2D-only exhibition of 3D films. Dolby Cinema, which is also capable of outstanding 3D projection, shows 3D films almost exclusively in 2D.

3D in the U.S. will probably remain popular for theme park attractions - Universal theme parks use 3D technology extensively, where a lot of their attractions will be the user in a mechanized cart on a track that jostles and moves and sets the viewer in front of giant 3D screens for a thrill, and then moves again to another giant 3D screen. (Disney generally prefers anamatronic builds of actual physical props.) So I think it'll still be in use for those applications.

I can't really blame the audience at this point. The sales pitch for 3D over the years has been reduced to: "Come pay an extra $5-10 per ticket for a poor quality 3D presentation that's inferior to the 2D presentation in the next auditorium." That's not a sustainable sales pitch.

I think the entire industry is rapidly changing faster than the studios understand and faster than the exhibitors can adjust. I think the goal of enhancements like 3D should have been not to price gauge audiences, but to give them reasons to come to the theaters when the quality and convenience of watching a movie at home has never been greater. Adding things like 3D or Dolby Atmos shouldn't have been done as an excuse to charge more; it should have been done to give people a reason to go out. Unfortunately, I think they blew it, and theatrical exhibition continues to decline across the board.

Jaws 3D which had horrible ghosting

Unfortunately Universal didn't make a good digital master for this title, and there are errors baked into their master that are going to look terrible on any display. That's not an ideal title to test your TV with, as it looks pretty bad even on the best systems.

 

[Worth]

Going by history, it'll come back around in 30 years.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Going by history, it'll come back around in 30 years.

By that point everybody in this thread will be dead.

 

[DaveF]

By that point everybody in this thread will be dead.

Uhm....no....

 

[John Sparks]

I got into 3D really late (like 2017) but I'm glad I did (up to 139). Of course I'm double dipping on almost everything but there are some really great 3Ders out there.

If 3D makes a comeback, we only have to thank China...they are going to own Hollywood! They just built quite a few 3D theaters last year...watch out Disney...you're in their sights!

 

[Interdimensional]

By that point everybody in this thread will be dead.

While there's still some life left in the most recent 3-D revival (and there most definitely is), I just want to see as many of the vintage 3-D films get restored as possible. They are so much fun. I wish more people would check these out.

Seeing the occasional modern gem is a welcome bonus.

 

[Brent Reid]

By that point everybody in this thread will be dead.

Well, I certainly don't plan to be! But we sure will miss you and your boundless optimism.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Though it got little coverage, turns out there WAS an 8K glasses-free 3D display being shown at CES and the manufacturer (admittedly one I've never heard of) is trying to push it. No word of when we can actually buy one, but at least it's something.

 

[RolandL]

Though it got little coverage, turns out there WAS an 8K glasses-free 3D display being shown at CES and the manufacturer (admittedly one I've never heard of) is trying to push it. No word of when we can actually buy one, but at least it's something.

Glasses-Free 3D

 

[Malcolm R]

If 3D makes a comeback, we only have to thank China...they are going to own Hollywood! They just built quite a few 3D theaters last year...

That's a good point. If 3D remains viable in Asia and Europe, there should be content available for years to come, especially if you're region free. Displays might be more problematic, but it's hard to imagine if the content remains available that some manufacturer, at some point, wouldn't introduce a 3D feature in future displays (and it might not require separate glasses, per the posts above).