Jan
22
Written by:
1/22/2010 6:57 AM
HDTV is about to become as passé as Zip Drives, dot-matrix printers and
vacuums that have to be pushed around. Or so it seems from the rhetoric
surrounding 3DTV. It’s compelling, no doubt. The migration of television to a
digital infrastructure opened the medium up to the same sort of fluidity
characteristic of all silicon-based industries. Nothing, and I do mean nothing,
remains the same for long, and the obsolescence curve keeps shortening. TrueCycle, a consumer
electronics recycler in Pasadena, Calif., says the average lifespan of a
computer in 1997 was four to six years. By 2005, it was said to be less than
two years, “which means that one computer will become obsolete for each one put
on the market,” McAdams wrote from her antique Dell.
Now television as a platform is much the same, precisely because the hardware
has morphed into a computer platform. Around half of U.S. television households
bought high-definition TV sets within the last four years or so. Prices for
HDTV sets are about half of what they were even two years ago. A 46-inch,
1080p, 60 Hz Samsung is less than $900 at Walmart. That TV would have easily
run $1,600 or more in 2008.
So it is by necessity--at least in part--that the consumer electronics industry
has wrapped itself around 3DTV. The phenomenon is also a natural progression of
the possibilities presented by silicon, and a certain breed of engineers of
the George Mallory school of motivation. They are pursuing the technical
challenges of 3DTV precisely “because it is there.”
Predictions abound about 3DTV; that it will take hold quicker than HDTV, that
the 3D format itself will be a multi-billion business within two years time,
etc. “Avatar” certainly advanced that mileage gauge, though it’s arguably the
first widely accepted 3D movie, and James Cameron spent years and at least a
quarter-of-a-billion dollars on it. It looks good for a reason. A lot of other
3D preceding it--not so much. And the early attempts at 3D sports, meaning
football in the United States, generated mixed reactions. “Some of it was
really tough on your eyes,” offered Shon
Lucas on last year’s 3D coverage of the BCS Championship Game. Diane Pucin
of The Los Angeles Times noticed the
“jerky cameras, unusual angles and just a general sense that it was an
experiment with kinks not worked out.”
To be fair, that was a year ago. A lot has happened since then, but there’s
miles to go according to the TV experts who came together recently at the USC
School of Cinematic Arts for a Sports Video Group event. There are multiple ways of formatting 3D, for one
thing. There’s no single mastering standard, though the work is under way.
Inserting ads is an issue unto itself. Perhaps most complex is the challenge of
syncing 3D video images properly for human visual perception. That is, not
making people sick.
What likely happened to Shon Lucas is similar to what affected folks at Cowboy
Stadium Dec. 13, when a 3D version of the action on the field was displayed on
the venue’s 160-by-72-foot video screen. Pupils are a fixed distance apart, and
vision converges at around 60 feet, where we naturally see two dimensions. The big-screen 3D effect caused people’s eyes to veer out of
alignment. With home 3DTV, this so-called “vergence” occurs at around two feet
behind the viewing screen, giving large venues an on-screen appearance of a
diorama. (Slide courtesy of Mark I. Schubin.)
3DTV is exciting as much for the technical challenges as for the format itself,
but I don’t look for it to supplant HDTV any time soon. Half of the TV-equipped
households in the country have standard-definition TVs, and a significant
portion of those have converters or a pay service hooked up to a cathode-ray
tube. Those of us in the press, and certainly the consumer electronics and
video industries, will hype 3DTV as if it’s the commercialization of cold
fusion.
It is not. It will be an enhancement in a constantly shifting landscape of evolving
media platforms, one day coming to an iTablet near you.
(Share your thoughts with me at dmcadams@nbmedia.com). -- Deborah D. McAdams)
2 comment(s) so far...
McAdams On: The HD-to-3DTV Transition
Getting the "vergence" right for the display size should be a very solvable problem, at least for "R" rated movies. Young children have smaller interpupillary distances than adults, so what works for their parents may be uncomfortable for them.
Walking around in real life, we always focus and converge our eyes on the same point. 3D requires us to focus on the screen, but converge our eyes where the illusion belongs. This unusual use of our eye muscles is a skill that can be developed and improved with practice, like an athletic skill. So, an effect that may be thrilling to experienced 3D viewers could be overwhelming to beginners. If 3DTV does become universal, the whole population may some day be much better at this than we are now.
-- J.S.
By on
1/22/2010 9:42 AM
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McAdams On: The HD-to-3DTV Transition
We are about to buy another large-ish flat-panel HDTV, and later this year will add 10' projection. 3D is not on the shopping list. Our household is not going to wear glasses over glasses to watch TV - 3D doesn't add as much value as the inconvenience/discomfort.
By on
1/22/2010 9:56 AM
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