[The News Bot]

Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, has surprisingly poured cold water on Blu-ray and HD DVD, predicting that both formats represent no more than a videophile niche. Dreamworks is far more interested in developing new 3D movie-making techniques, he says. 3D is “a huge creative and business opportunity.” His comments were made at an [...]
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[Mark_a]

I think I agree with him. For most punters with their 32" (or less) TVs the supposed beneficial jump from DVD to HD will be comparatively small for quite a lot of expenditure. Unless the market forces the issue by withdrawing DVDs then I don't see any great impetus to change any time soon.

Then again, 3D's been tried before to overwhelming indifference.

Regards

Mark

[mikeaitch]

Fine.

So make 3D HD....

[lokideviluk]

Originally Posted by Mark_a

Then again, 3D's been tried before to overwhelming indifference.

Regards

Mark

Do you have links for that? Id be interested in seeing where that technology is at the moment.

How 3d would that actually be? I suppose at the far end of the theoretical you have the sort of "Virtual reality" rooms where its fully encompasing.

[edward]

I suspect that 3D hasn't done well because it is generally done badly, especially when it comes to auditorium scale presentations. However, I remember, with wonder and joy, the pleasure I got from the ViewMaster and disks that my parents gave me as a 6 year old. I even sold bottles to buy more of those disks with 16mm slides embedded in pairs on opposite edges around the cardboard disk with a diameter that was approximately the distance of two eyeballs apart. It was true 3D and really well done.

Years later I used to wonder why the porn industry hadn’t taken up on 3D like this – then I read that it was because it makes you go blind.

To do it properly, we’ll probably goggles with a tiny screen for each eye, or spectacles with tiny lasers to write the image directly to the retina. This kit will take us completely out of the room we’re sitting in. Frankly, I would not recommend that in a public theatre, especially if you’ve still got your shopping with you – you might go hungry that night. This means it’s a Home Cinema/DVD experience – and a totally absorbing thing rather than a social one. Personally, I’m fine with that – conversations while I’m trying to enjoy a really good Home Cinema experience is as annoying as it is in a public theatre. With good sound and such an absorbing visual experience, what place is there for holding hands in the movies – especially if you can’t see whose hand you’re holding?

It means that the whole Home Cinema industry has to work in a joined up way: there is easily enough space for the duplicated content on the new DVD formats, but we’ll need new graphics processors to handle dual video streams, the goggles/spectacles. If we no longer need to sit up and watch the big screen: convincing surround sound headsets (BTW: what ever happened to cars running on water powered engines?).

There is no real reason to stop there either: its already possible to make a glove that give the sensation of holding an object that exists only in a computer generated virtual world, so why not have whole suits for even more reality! It’s a good foundation for generating addictive content. In fact, in Oliver Stone’s mini-series, Wild Palms, it was described as “better than life”. But we just know that directors like Tarantino will not be able to resist shooting the customer because they can and it’ll be legal – and customer will probably queue up to buy into this painful experience – yup, folks are weird. And if you think a computer virus in your HTPC is bad now, virus writers tampering with this stuff could really ruin your day. Note to self: ensure Virtual Reality suit with washable pants.

Mmm, wandering off track a bit there… but the idea of Dreamworks taking this up is an exciting prospect. This could be the best thing since Tom Holman and Lucasfilm, only better. The potential is there, and if this stuff is launched with studios committing to come up with plenty of 3D content, many of us will probably give them, our money gladly.

The emergence of home cinema should have told the industry that there is a market sector willing to spend serious money on the kit needed for “better than the movies”. As a consequence, it has been worth studios making the effort/investing the cash to produce more DVDs with decent surround sound tracks rather than mono or even stereo. 3D is a natural progression really.