Will we ever see a 3D TV again?

Will we ever see a 3D TV again?

  • Yes, the Avatar sequels will do what the first film did for 3D technology!

  • No way the technology will ever return!


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Screwdriver

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After experiencing the incredible 3D effects of LG's 2016 4K OLED TV lineup, I can't help but believe that the tech was killed off just as it (finally) matured. I had owned 3D tvs before, but somehow the dim lighting or the strain of active 3D never lived up to the surreal experience I had when watching AVATAR in IMAX 3D a decade ago! LG's 2016 lineup actually exceeded that cinematic experience for me - the images jumped out of the screen and the colour and brightness remained superb. The 3D experience far exceeds 4K HDR & owners of these TVs know exactly what I am talking about!

Sadly, the 2016 TVs are all but extinct and the technology looks to have been abandoned. Normally, I'd have given up but James Cameron hasn't. The guy has doubled down on the technology, which makes me believe that it may actually make a come back (The first film practically made the technology mainstream). Would be curious to know the rationale behind your thoughts if you believe otherwise.
 
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Yep for exactly those reasons, Cameron was working on glassless technology last I heard. Trouble is most people only saw 3D in bad setups either at the cinema or at home, but on a decent setup it’s fantastic at home. I for one hope it comes back.
 
I'm afraid your glowing description of TV 3D will not be shared by the majority of AV enthusiasts and certainly not by the general public.

It's a wonderful concept in theory, but its implementation left much to be desired.

In particular, having to wear special glasses, which were uncomfortable and left one isolated from one's surroundings and companions, were a big put-off for many.

I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated cinema room and tried hard to like 3D, but I haven't watched any for ages and frankly don't miss it or the headaches!

If they can bring out a system which is as good as the adverts suggest, then I'll give it another chance, but until then I believe it will remain a niche product for a few dedicated enthusiasts.
 
I'm afraid your glowing description of TV 3D will not be shared by the majority of AV enthusiasts and certainly not by the general public.
I was careful to be specific. I wasn't impressed with 3D on every pre-2016 set I tried it on for reasons you mention. Have you experienced it on an LG OLED G6/E6? If not, you are opining with incomplete information. All the issues you share were resolved and the result was spectacular.
 
In a couple of decades maybe, in the next few years? No chance.

It was tried, it proved unpopular and that's that. The main complaint was never that there was a large variation in the quality of implementations.

In the grand scheme of things it's only a picture quality improvement. It doesn't totally transform the way you watch video. It seemed to be used exclusively as a better version of existing content.

Any inconveniences have to be in-line with that and the customer base decided that the downsides outweighed the benefits.

And of course now we have VR, which shares most of the inconveniences of stereoscopic video but with more benefits and even that is barely managing to carve out a niche.

Stereoscopic video, even slightly improved above the 2016 state of the art, isn't going to be a tempting proposition for the industry until either people have forgotten about it or the downsides are eliminated.
 
In a couple of decades maybe, in the next few years? No chance.

It was tried, it proved unpopular and that's that. The main complaint was never that there was a large variation in the quality of implementations.

Stereoscopic video, even slightly improved above the 2016 state of the art, isn't going to be a tempting proposition for the industry until either people have forgotten about it or the downsides are eliminated.

To be fair, you're right about the downsides. My point is that LG totally eliminated these by the final year of production. And now Cameron is filming in 4K 3D!

As far as it being a picture quality improvement, one can say the same about HDR as well?
 
That's a misconception. The LG reusable glasses were colorless, lightweight and weren't a burden like the glasses in cinemas.
 
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That's a misconception. The LG reusable glasses were colorless, lightweight and weren't a burden like the glasses in cinemas.
The glasses in the odeon cinemas we went to years ago used the same glasses as LG passive. I still have loads of LG and Polaroid sets Bu obviously I onLy have active 3D now. I’m a 3D fan, I feel your pain, let’s hope it returns.
 
The glasses in the odeon cinemas we went to years ago used the same glasses as LG passive. I still have loads of LG and Polaroid sets Bu obviously I onLy have active 3D now. I’m a 3D fan, I feel your pain, let’s hope it returns.
I've still got my 59" Samsung.

I also have a load of 3D movies.
I hope it makes a comeback.
 
I loved 3D, bought a fair few 3D movies and enjoyed them despite my active glasses with big Green flashing beacon.
The 3D Sony has been relegated to the bedroom since getting an oled but I'll still watch one now and again, particularly Edge of Tomorrow, I'd love to see it come back though, 4k 3D with no ghosting or anything? Count me in.
 
I've still got my 59" Samsung.

I also have a load of 3D movies.
I hope it makes a comeback.
Damn, that’s good going, mine died years ago now, I loved it.
 
Damn, that’s good going, mine died years ago now, I loved it.
I don't use it much which is probably why it's still going.
I still love it.
 
I personally loved 3D...when I worked for sony I went to one of the launch training and demos...there were a lot of people from various retailers...the problem is people are so hard to impress add the fact that the active vs passive argument didn't help matters and people not liking the fact that they had to wear 3D glasses at home really didn't help the cause.Whrn 3D was done right it was a stunning experience...I was lucky enough to win a sony kdl40HX 803 and its still going strong today....then brought an lg 49 uv850 passive 3d 4k tv and that still looks amazing.I have brought loads of 3D Blu-rays over the year's and watch the odd film...its a shame it dint take off...but some of the best technologies are the ones that seem to fail.
 
Don't worry, it will be back! 3D, in some form or other, comes around every 30 years or so, is hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread & then fades into obscurity.
 
8K 3D, streamed via the tinterweb. I kind of don't think it will happen with today's HDMI standard. So if it comes back, things will need to move forward again and I suspect that once the powers that sit round the table for HDMI standards realise money can be made forcing people upgrade, the answer will be yes. For me, I'm not fussed by 3D and would just be happy with the UK broadcasting/streaming everything in true HD before 8K 3D becomes a thing, but I suspect there's more chance of 8K 3D being a thing than the UK broadcasting industry sorting their houses out
 
It was interesting reading the comments about 3D on this thread. I think there were separate issues with the cinema and home implementations.

I can't think of any 3D in the cinema that works except Avatar and the Odeon countdown with the numbers right in front of my face. At home, active glasses required charging and they darkened the picture. Not releasing Avatar 3D to the general public was a also a stupid move.

What's sad is that many of the problems have now been fixed or at least mitigated. I hear that the newer LG passive glasses are much lighter and don't darken the picture so much. Film makers started brightening the 3D image on disc so that even active glasses would get the benefit. Many post production 3D discs are excellent and much better than 3D cinema.

So I'm watching 3D in VR now. The disadvantages are obvious. Some people hated the glasses, so they would absolutely loathe a sealed off, clunkier and heavier VR headset. It's also not as simple as putting in a disc and play. The advantages require preparation beforehand and is generally a PITA but watching a 3D film with Atmos at home on cinema sized virtual screen is worth it :)
 
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8K 3D, streamed via the tinterweb. I kind of don't think it will happen with today's HDMI standard. So if it comes back, things will need to move forward again and I suspect that once the powers that sit round the table for HDMI standards realise money can be made forcing people upgrade, the answer will be yes. For me, I'm not fussed by 3D and would just be happy with the UK broadcasting/streaming everything in true HD before 8K 3D becomes a thing, but I suspect there's more chance of 8K 3D being a thing than the UK broadcasting industry sorting their houses out
The issue isn't 4K or 8K. The best Blu-ray discs look almost as good as a decent 4K disc. The same applies to 3D Blu-rays which on a large screen can look as detailed as many 4K films watched on a TV screen.

The issues? Poor cinema presentations, poor 3D discs and Panasonic's exclusive deal for Avatar. What didn't help was the faff involved in watching 3D films. It's why Cameron and co. are looking into 3D TVs that don't need glasses I watch in VR using a PC so that is a lot of faff but the payoff is great. Most people don't even want to put on the glasses, especially if you are a glasses wearer. If you add 8K then there are obvious bandwidth issues at both the ISP core and at our end.
 
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The issue isn't 4K or 8K. The issue is the faff involved in watching 3D films. I watch in VR using a PC so that is a lot of faff but the payoff is great. Most people don't even want to put on the glasses, especially if you are a glasses wearer. Then you have the bandwidth issues at the ISP core and at the consumer end.
I know when people experienced 3D via projection, people always objected until they saw it and was so amazed they couldn't wait to buy it regardless of the eyewear, So I never saw that once when selling 3D with projection at least

Where it was hard was with the line up of TV's at that time which were basically very poor. Now if large TV can reproduce 3D like the projectors with better resolution and all the features like HDR plus do this without glasses. I feel it will be a winner

And as you never get anything without having to change everything else, I also feel that HDMI will come into to play again as its an easy way to make people upgrade when nothing else is available. It might only be a simple option for the chip designers to enable it, but it'll still be a costly one for most adopters

I was told one of the main factors with 3D being released last time was camera technology and the space between both lenses which was close enough to fool the brain (or at least that what I was told when they shot the live scenes of Avatar by the electronics brand that sponsored it)

But on the other side, the likes of Hollywood need to start making great films again that can take advantage of it to and at the moment, we are in a situation where people binge watch TV series over films and I feel that if the film makers don't catch up, we maybe starved of great films due to the way people are watching TV now

I'm mean prior to CoVID, I cannot remember any films which I had to go and watch at the cinema or want to purchase, yet, some of the streamed series like Dark Crystal were well worth the wait in my opinion. But that's another subject altogether
 
The future, if there is any, of 3D is not dependant on the technology, past, present or future. You can have the best system available, but if the studios decide that it is not going to pull in the punters then it simply isn't a worthwhile investment. In my lifetime it has had 3 launches on the public and they all soon fizzled out through lack of interest. Sure, its fun and the impact when you see it on the big screen, for example IMAX, it's sensational. But people walked away with headaches and hated wearing the glasses. With the exception of Avatar, which did quite well in the box office, after that interest quickly tailed off. Cinema owners would quickly switch to showing a standard version after a couple of weeks as audience figures diminished.

The additional investment in making a 3D movie is considerable whether it is shot on location, in a studio or with additional CGI. Unless the studios, who are working on tighter budgets these days, can achieve a reasonable profit on their investment they are not going to be committed. It just isn't worth the hassle. Add to that the cost of kitting out the cinemas for the occasional film. I recall my local Odeon used two 2K projectors working simultaneously to show 3D.

In its last manifestation the films tended, towards their end, to be electronic recreations of normal mono film stock which often produced very unconvincing results. Even rehashes of Jaws and Titanic didn't attract that much attention. As a result the public said 'no more'. Presentations on the home screen went down two different routes which confused people. The BBC were brave enough to have a crack at it, but the public reaction was poor. TV manufacturers had a product which the public no longer saw the point in owning so they dropped it too. The format is nothing unless there is material, and lots of it, to back it up. A few thousand expensive Hi Def DVDs is not going to tip the financial balance since it is a dying format anyway. I believe there has been one recent Japanese animation presentation in some cinemas, but that is it. It may live on with a few documentary productions via IMAX but I'm guessing that is it. Even IMAX have dropped their amazing 70mm presentations in favour of an inferior digital one.
 
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Where it was hard was with the line up of TV's at that time which were basically very poor. Now if large TV can reproduce 3D like the projectors with better resolution and all the features like HDR plus do this without glasses. I feel it will be a winner
I've been asking for this for years. I've probably mentioned this at least a couple of times on the Forums lol.

I was told one of the main factors with 3D came about last time was camera technology and the space between both lenses which was close enough to fool the brain (or at least that what I was told when they shot the live scenes of Avatar by the electronics brand that sponsored it)
But that was obviously not the case with Avatar so that doesn't make sense. The Resident Evil films also look awesome in 3D. What makes more sense is that filming with 3D equipment is different and more difficult. It also requires a completely different way of thinking about shots and shot selection.

But on the other side, the likes of Hollywood need to start making great films again that can take advantage of it to and at the moment, we are in a situation where people binge watch TV series over films and I feel that if the film makers don't catch up, we maybe starved of great films due to the way people are watching TV now
The additional investment in making a 3D movie is considerable whether it is shot on location, in a studio or with additional CGI. Unless the studios, who are working on tighter budgets these days, can achieve a reasonable profit on their investment they are not going to be committed. It just isn't worth the hassle. Add to that the cost of kitting out the cinemas for the occasional film. I recall my local Odeon used two 2K projectors working simultaneously to show 3D.

"Modern" 3D post production has revolutionised 3D film. As long as you have thought about the stereography process while filming, then post production 3D looks great. Even films that were made without 3D in mind can look spectacular. Have you seen Pacific Rim in 3D? The director had no intention of doing 3D post production on that film but the result is that Pacific Rim is one of the best 3D blu-ray discs out there.

Right now I have a collection of over 100 3D films, the vast majority of which are at least good 3D, many of them are excellent. Others Forums members buy documentaries and have much larger collections.
 
Originally had a Samsung 6400, didn't bother with the 3d for ages. When I did I was impressed with some titles, but can understand the annoyance of flickering active glasses and needing them to be charged etc. It did feel like a bit of a novelty. I since own a 55' LG UH850 and it's night and day difference, the 2016 range from LG were unreal.
 
Originally had a Samsung 6400, didn't bother with the 3d for ages. When I did I was impressed with some titles, but can understand the annoyance of flickering active glasses and needing them to be charged etc. It did feel like a bit of a novelty. I since own a 55' LG UH850 and it's night and day difference, the 2016 range from LG were unreal.
I was tempted at one point to get an LG TV because of how good they were with 3D. But I've had discussions on here with people who have experienced both 3D TV and projection and as @mike7 said, the experience is even better on the larger screen. From personal experience I would have to agree.
 

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