There has been much lamenting and boo-hooing over the large electronics companies pushing 3D in their products for the coming years. I have heard complaints ranging from “those glasses make you look stupid”, to the more legitimate “it gives me headaches” and “I don’t want to buy a new TV”. I am one of the seemingly few that is actually excited about the possibility of 3D in my living room. As soon as there are a selection of 3D-HD projectors on the market I plan on adding one to my home theater. Admittedly, I am in a situation where I will not need to replace my TV, but am adding a device which I had been planning on adding anyway. The thing is though…no one said you HAVE to buy a new TV or wear those “stupid” glasses.
Regardless of how much content might become available, whether your need glasses, what technology those glasses use, or the extra costs involved over normal 2D consumption…3D should always be (and be thought of as) a(n) luxury/bonus/option. It will never and never should be, in my opinion, the “standard” way to view media. However, just because it is not the standard, does not mean we shouldn’t peruse industry standards where 3D is concerned. In fact, the recently decided 3D-Blu-Ray standards allow for the image to default to the regular 2D image when the player or monitor is not 3D compatible, therefore it is not trying to replace 2D. 3D is just another way to view the movie. The best comparison I can muster is this: You don’t NEED an expensive 5.1 sound system to watch that DVD you just bought, but there are standards in place and technologies available for those people that desire to use them. For those that don’t want or can’t afford the the fancy 5.1 system, there is the run-of-the-mill stereo track right there on that same DVD waiting for you to play it. I make the same argument for 3D; just replace “5.1” with “3D” and replace “stereo” with “2D” and you will see where I am coming from. No body complains about 5.1 audio, so why complain about 3D.
For those that want 3D, but can’t get over the glasses or truly get headaches from the technology, please wait for things to progress. These things take time and a degree of trial and error. We are a long way off from glasses-less 3D that is viable in the real world, so it is futile to complain about the glasses. In order for there to be enough demand for 3D for companies to progress the technology to that point, there needs to be content. For content makers to make that content, there needs to be a way for people to view it. The tech industry is going out on a limb and giving us that first way. There is already a decent wave of content on the way from 3D-Blu-Ray, Direct-TV, ESPN, Discovery, and others. I just hope the unnecessarily negative energy surrounding 3D doesn’t discourage the electronics companies from advancing the third dimension.