You’ll Soon Be 3-D Ready Whether You Want to or Not

It doesn’t really matter if you’re interested in 3-D technology or not. Unless you’re really willing to go out of your way to avoid it, you’ll have a fully functional 3-D capable home theater in the next few years.

I’ve said it before, I just plain don’t want to watch movies in 3-D. I saw ‘Avatar‘ in 3-D and wasn’t impressed with it. I also saw ‘Toy Story 3‘ in 3-D and – while it was a much better movie – the 3-D still didn’t do anything for me.

It’s not that I hate wearing the glasses, and it’s not the expense either. It’s just that I don’t feel like I get any more out of a 3-D presentation than a 2-D presentation. In fact, with ‘Avatar,’ I think the 3-D hindered it, rather than helped.

All that being said, before this year is up, I’ll likely own a 3-D capable home theater system. I’m not going out of my way to buy 3-D gear, and I doubt if I’ll ever own a 3-D Blu-ray, but I’ll have everything I need to do so.

I’ve set aside this Christmas as time to upgrade my TV. My 32″ Sony KLV-S32A10 just isn’t doing the job as well as it did in 2006. Oddly enough, a significant number of the televisions I’ve been looking at to replace it are 3-D ready. It’s not a feature I’m seeking out; it just happens to be baked into a lot of 2010 HDTVs.

The TV is a maybe, but there’s no getting around the fact that on September 21st, I’ll own a 3-D capable Blu-ray player. That’s the day that Sony’s going to release new firmware that makes the PlayStation 3 capable of playing 3-D Blu-rays. It’s not a matter of going out and upgrading or not, my current Blu-ray player is simply changing.

This is a trend that’s only going to continue. 3-D isn’t a standard feature in all TVs yet, mainly just the higher end models, but there’s no reason to expect that it won’t be. It’s a lot like streaming services. They started out as something novel and interesting, but now it’s surprising to see even a mid-level television or Blu-ray player without Netflix.

3-D Blu-ray players will be even harder to avoid, since the technology to handle 3-D Blu-ray discs seems to be fairly simple and cheap to add. After all, Sony is updating their four year old gaming system, giving 38 million Blu-ray players 3-D capability.

It helps if you don’t think of the 3-D movement as an addition to your gear. Think of it instead like a feature that you’re getting no matter what, like BD-Live or Composite outputs. It’s just something that comes with everything you buy – whether you use it or not is up to you.

18 comments

  1. Just got myself a new TV, $800 50″ LG Plasma with 3,000,000:1 contrast ratio, I had no desire to spend well over $1000 more to get a 3D TV that didnt even look as good as this one did, I got this thing home and was completely blown away by how beautiful everything is on it, 3D hasnt shown me that it can really make anything better, while I’ve enjoyed the 3D shows I’ve seen (My Bloody Valentine, Monsters vs. Aliens, Avatar, UP, Resident Evil Afterlife) and liked how it works for a lot of scenes (when properly done) 3D just doesnt work to change the movie much at all and when I can get such an awesome looking TV for that kind of money why would anyone think of spending so much more to get a 3DTV, especially when there is barely anything to even play on the thing, my plasma will probably last a good 8-10 years and unless something drastically makes me NEED 3D at home, I will never bother with it

      • I grabbed the LG 50PK540 from Sams Club, Amazon has the 50PK550 for around the same price, they are the exact same TV except the 550 can view photos and stuff from a usb drive, I checked a ton of reviews and while there were a few issues on the AVS forums, most user reviews were excellent and after seeing it in my friends home I just couldnt pass up finally upgrading my JVC 720p DLP TV I had, its a night and day difference and now I can really see what the reviews on this site talk about 🙂

        But for the money, its the best damn TV I’ve seen out there, if you really want to pay $3000 for an LED TV go right ahead people, but this Plasma is fantastic and easily looks just as good as any newer TV I’ve seen in the stores

  2. that1guypictures

    I have a 58″ panasonic 3D TV and 5 3D blu-ray movies. I love all of them. It’s amazingly better than I ever thought it could be. Most people that aren’t impressed with 3D must be looking at a different TV, or maybe the tv isn’t calibrated properly. The PQ on my 58vt25 is the best 2D and 3D set I’ve ever seen.

    • JoeRo

      I think in many cases it’s no so much that people aren’t impressed with 3d sets, but more of a case that they just don’t want them. Or they just plain don’t like 3d to begin with.

      I fall into this second category. I’ve yet to see any 3d content that made the movie-going experience better. When the 3d is done well my reaction is always the same – it looks kind of cool. I just can’t justify the cost of a new 3d tv to see an effect that at best “looks cool”, and at worst looks terrible and gives me a headache.

      If you love 3d, and you sound like you do, great. Converting to the new 3d hardware is an expense that you were willing to incur. For the rest of us though, it seems kind of like a pretty lame way to jack up the cost of the latest hardware.

  3. motorheadache

    At this point I don’t care about 3D and I don’t think anybody can be sure where this technology is going. Me and almost everyone I know is already sick of 3D, so far all I know the whole thing will fizzle out just like it did in the 80’s. The bottom line is I’m waiting to see how the technology and movie/gaming software develops before I’m spending any money on it.

  4. The day it becomes necessary to put on those stupid glases just to relax and watch a show is the day I give up watching and return to my LP’s.

    Not only do I already wear corrective lenses (for an issue that contacts CANNOT be worn) but I don’t like lying down with on. Putting a second pair over the top of my current pair and the trying to lay down to watch a movie on my couch or bed is just too hard.

    Just out of curiosity are there any statistics on whether people are really buying in to this technology? Cos nobody I know gives a shit.

    • Sales have been great, according to the manufacturers anyway.

      But how many people actually bought them because they want 3D and how many bought them because they wanted a great set? I feel like that’s the question that’s not being addressed.

  5. 3D at home will be the only way to go – The theaters I have seen force you to toss the 3D glasses into a bin so they can re-use them. Imagine the former patron being a slob or better yet, having pink eye then you get to share their glasses. Always annoyed at other patrons and 3D won’t make me go to a theater anytime soon.

  6. Here’s my issue with 3D: there probably isn’t a single 3D movie that I’d ever want to watch a second time. They are limited to family fare and piece-o-crap blockbuster spectacles. Gimmicky movies with the 3D gimmick slapped on, save for a couple exceptions. I’ll be sticking with my Kuro ’til it goes to plasma heaven.

  7. I’ve seen many 3D movies, as I said before, and I just checked out the Samsung 3D LED at Best Buy and yes it looked fantastic, not saying it didnt but I cant justify a price like that, especially when I got a TV that looks just as good for $800 without 3D.

    3D just isnt needed, nothing I’ve seen has made the movie any better for me, I own Avatar on Bluray and I like the movie just as much as when I saw it in 3D, same with My Bloody Valentine, Piranha 3D will be another one, great movie with great cheesy 3D gimmicks (I do love stuff like that) but the movie is still awesome without any of that stuff popping out at the screen….if I could have gotten a 3DTV with 1080p and a contrast ratio plus the size of 50″ for a little more than what I paid I would have done it, but nothing can convince me to pay that much for a TV when the tech is still in its infancy and it isnt worth it yet, 3DTVs without glasses are coming eventually and I would rather wait if I HAVE to get one some day, but honestly I dont see this as anything more than a fun thing to go check out at the theater on occasion and that I’m willing to pay a little extra for to do

  8. Well, if 3D want to success,they need to do the same that sony did,upgrade TV firmware to make it 3DTV and the people only need to puchase the glases,otherwise the gonna take long time for many to replace their new TV.

    • That’s simply not possible. What you suggest is akin to asking that a black & white TV be upgraded to display color. The necessary hardware simply isn’t in the set. It can’t be done.

      • Well,they need to manufacture a separated hardware that can be purchase and to plug in the TV,somehow they need to find a solution to make old TV work with this, because replace the tv that you purchase only a few months isn’t a option.

        • Again, is there something you can plug into a black & white TV to make it display color? Is there something you can plug into a standard-def set to make it a 1080p HDTV? It just can’t be done.

          What you need to consider is that soon all new TVs will be 3-D capable. You may not want to replace your current set anytime soon, but when you do eventually buy a new TV, it’ll have 3-D built in standard.