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John Skidmore doesn't care about 3-D TV. Should you?
In early January, Mr. Skidmore, a 24-year-old from Chicago, bought two Panasonic plasma TVs for a total of $2,700, knowing full well that he would own those TVs for years to come, even after hearing the news from the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that 3-D TV was just around the corner.
He didn't think that the new 3-D sets, scheduled to arrive in stores in the next few months, were worth the premium he would pay for something that he expected to use rarely.
"I couldn't see myself wearing 3-D glasses every time I watched anything on TV," he said.
As with most technological advances, the hype seems to have taken over the conversation when it comes to 3-D TV technologies. Thus far, consumers like Mr. Skidmore aren't waiting for new and better 3-D sets to come along and instead are going for deals found online and at big retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
But when 3-D TVs do become available in the next few months, should you invest in one? Let's look at some of the common questions most consumers have when it comes to viewing in three dimensions.
Do I still have to use those dumb blue-and-red glasses?
No. Those glasses are used in something called anaglyphic 3-D. They use two colors — red and blue (sometimes green) — to create two different "views" of an image. Popular in the 1950s and 1960s, they are going the way of the dodo. Now you have to use newer, sleeker dumb glasses.
Can I just keep the glasses I used when I watched "Avatar" and "Up" in the theater?
Technically you should be able to — those are passive 3-D glasses and they use a system of polarization that splits the image on screen into two separate images. This is fine for a large room when everyone is seated in front of the screen. But 3-D TV manufacturers can't tell what your room will look like and, more important, don't want to sell 3-D glasses for a few pennies when they can sell fancier "active" glasses for $70.
Active? $70? What's so special?
Active glasses allow light to reach only one eye at a time. As you watch the video, the display shows one side of the image, then the other in rapid succession. The glasses sync up with the image, alternately darkening over one eye. In this way, the display presents a different perspective for each eye. This also allows you to walk around the room and still get a fairly good 3-D effect.
The glasses flash? Are they electronic? That means you have to charge them, right?
Yes. As if there weren't enough wires in your family room.
So how cool is it, really? Be honest.
Set makers from Sony to Philips in their various showrooms are sure to bombard you with pitches to check out their 3-D TVs. Arguably, seeing an "Avatar" trailer on a 3-D TV will be cool the first time, but the bloom goes off the rose quickly. With the right content, it's great, but it's doubtful many will be excited by "My Dinner With Andre" in 3-D.
Can they make 2-D movies into 3-D movies?
They can, but see above. To turn a 2-D movie into 3-D, artists have to trace the outline of the various layers in the film. For example, a character moving in front of a stand of trees would have to be "popped out" from the background and a computer would then generate a 3-D image by interpolating the very small amount of background that should appear "behind" the character. It's almost not worth the effort for older movies.
The assumption is that future action movies will almost all be filmed in 3-D, and companies like Imax are already planning camcorders with two lenses (required for 3-D recording) for home use.
Home movies in 3-D!
Absolutely.
So if I wanted to take the plunge, what would I need?
To watch 3-D TV, you have to have a 3-D-capable home entertainment center (for example, a 3-D TV and a 3-D Blu-ray player). The process of sending 3-D video to the TV involves decoding and sending two separate pictures, a left and a right view of every frame in the movie or broadcast, to the TV every 1/120th of a second.
To do this, the refresh rate of the television has to be fast enough to keep up with the image. The ordinary TV has a refresh rate of 120 hertz while newer "3-D-capable" TVs have a refresh rate of 200 hertz or more. A "3-D capable" TV, by the way, still requires an infrared transmitter to tell the active glasses when to polarize, so there's an extra cost.
Want to know a dirty secret? Most older 120-hertz televisions can display 3-D content just fine. However, television makers are requiring a complete upgrade because of various improvements to Blu-ray technology, as well as built-in infrared emitters necessary to drive their proprietary active shutter glasses. More important, they want you to go out and buy a new TV.
You'll also need a 3-D-compatible Blu-ray player or, barring that, a digital tuner to bring in broadcast 3-D TV from ESPN and Discovery, which will be doing limited broadcasts in 3-D. If you have a Sony PlayStation 3, you'll be able to upgrade your console's software to play 3-D Blu-ray discs — and the upgrade is free.
When can I buy all this stuff? And how much will it cost?
Most 3-D hardware is coming out this year, and it will cost quite a bit more than the bargain HDTVs they've been selling for the last few years. Expect to pay about $4,000 for a full kit.
That's a lot. Can I get the experience on the cheap?
Sure. Buy a 3-D PC kit. The place where 3-D has truly come into its own is in gaming. Graphics chip companies like Nvidia are now selling technology similar to the glasses and disc players used in more expensive 3-D Blu-ray sets but for considerably less.
Phil Eisler, vice president for 3-D at Nvidia, said that adding 3-D to an average computer would cost about $500, including a more powerful graphics card (the computer has to render and display two images simultaneously, which takes a lot of horsepower), a new monitor, compatible 3-D glasses and an infrared signaling system.
Nvidia's GeForce 3-D Vision kit, for example, includes a pair of active shutter glasses and a U.S.B.-connected infrared emitter. By connecting this kit to a sufficiently powerful graphics card and a monitor, you can create a 3-D experience in almost any game.
"3-D lets you re-enjoy older games," said Mr. Eisler. Because games are rendered on the fly, he said, all of the information for a good 3-D experience already exists in the game.
I still don't want to pay the premium. How long will I have to wait before 3-D is standard on all TVs?
Barring any major innovations, you'll probably have a 3-D-capable TV by 2015. Things will speed up before that, though.
"2013 is the tipping point for adoption," said Richard L. Gelfond, the chief executive of Imax. The expectation is that customers who bought HDTVs in the early 2000s will soon move their plasmas and LCDs to other rooms and upgrade to a 3-D rig.
When will I be able to watch 3-D TV without the silly glasses?
Presumably this will happen after 3-D becomes ubiquitous and manufacturers are forced to sell their inventory of 3-D TVs. Maybe 2020? After all, by then they'll have to look for another cash cow. Remember the consumer electronics motto: A.B.O. — always be obsolescing.
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