3D TV

[Reinhold]

3D TV to be 'saviour' of industry
By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Las Vegas
3D TV is being billed as a possible saviour for recession hit manufacturers looking to boost sales.

On the opening day of the Consumer Electronics Show, CES, in Las Vegas, all the big names unveiled 3D TV's.
Industry experts said the picture looks promising with a survey showing around 3.4m 3D TV sets will be sold in the US this year.

"It's a challenging market. We need something to kick us out of this," said Panasonic's Elsuke Tsuyuzaki.

"To me, the thing that's going to get us there is 3D," added the firm's chief technology officer.

"2009 is a year none of us want to repeat," said Gary Shapiro the president of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) which hosts the annual tech gathering.

The association has predicted that for the coming year the whole consumer electronics industry should eke out a slight revenue increase of 0.3%. The rise of $440m (£280m) will take expected revenues to $165.3bn (£105bn)

However Mr Shapiro noted that lower average selling prices for TVs will be a drag. CEA expects TV revenues to decline 2% in this sector to $22.1bn (£14bn) even though unit sales will go up 5% to 37.7m (£24m)

Movie boost

For several years the industry has talked up the arrival of 3D TV in the home to little effect.

Many however believe 2010 really is the breakthrough year for the technology, helped in large party by the growing number of 3D movies at the theatre and the success of James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar.

"While 3D has taken a number of years to penetrate in the movie theatres, I believe this is the year it will begin to enter the home," Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of Dreamworks Animation told BBC News.

However he added a caveat to that statement.

"It usually takes from five to ten years to transition from one platform to a newer one. To go from analogue to digital has taken about ten years so that is why I say to you this is the year in which 3D is going to enter the home in a really meaningful way."

Mr Katzenberg, who is known as a 3D evangelist, said he is so confident about the future of that vision that he has committed his studio to make 3D versions of all its future movies.

During CES, he announced Dreamworks would release Monsters vs. Aliens as a 3D Blu-ray disc in an exclusive promotion with Samsung and Technicolour.

In 2010 around 20 out of 170 movies will be made in 3D, double the number from last year.

Industry play

Samsung is just one of the big TV makers betting a huge chunk of the bank on 3D being a winning proposition for consumers and for the company.

It, along with the other top names such as Sony, LG and Panasonic, put on ritzy displays at CES to show the hundred thousand plus attendees what the future holds.

There were also announcements galore.

The Discovery Channel said that it is forming a joint venture company with Sony and IMAX to deliver 3D TV channels.

UK satellite operator BSkyB said it is also planning to launch a 3D service later this year and ESPN said it will show at least 85 sports events this year on its new ESPN 3D channel.

Panasonic revealed a tie-up with top US satellite provider DirecTV to launch three high-definition 3D TV channels by June to try and jump-start demand for 3D TVs and content.

"Once you see it you get it," said Panasonic's Mr Tsuyuzaki during a CES session on the issue called "3D Hope or Hype."

"It will take off a lot more quickly than a lot of people expect."

Price point

That is certainly what the Consumer Electronics Association said it was told by those it surveyed on the issue.

"One of the key findings is that we don't need to convince consumers that 3D is different," said Shawn DuBravac, the CEA's chief economist.

"This is the struggle we had with HDTV (high-definition TV.) 25% of consumers say they will own a 3D TV over the next three years. By 2013, a quarter of all sets sold will be 3D," added Mr DuBravac.

Right price

"3D is gaining a ton of momentum unlike any other technology in recent history," said Buzz Hayes, senior vice-president of Sony's 3D tech centre.

"The market is ready for it and a lot of people are embracing it."

One important factor the industry has to get right is pricing.

"The TV industry is desperate and they are latching onto 3D as hard as they can" Gartner research's principal analyst Van Baker told BBC News.

"They have done the flat panel upgrade. It will be a hard sell to get people to spend big bucks again on 3D TV so soon after paying out for an HDTV."

Those in the business agree it is an important consideration.

"I think all the CE (consumer electronics) companies are waiting to see what the others do (on pricing)," said Ahmad Ouri, chief marketing office of Technicolor.

"It can't be double the price tag, or it's a non-starter."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8447432.stm


i think Sony is best positioned right now to really blow everybody away over the next several years. if i had any extra money, i'd pour it into Sony. sure, nobody's going to care if anything is real in a few years (even less than they do now), but it's also pretty exciting from a content/art perspective to start moving toward mainstream 3D. i personally can't wait for better glass to become cheap enough for prosumers to start shooting good looking polarized 3d.

[picolas]

Ugh. so unnecessary.

[Stefen]

I had a headache after Avatar. Can't imagine watching TV that way ALL THE TIME.

Although seeing Snooki getting punched in the face and The Situation trying to mack on girls in three dimensions could be pretty epic.

[Gamblour.]

Fuck this, I'm waiting for Smell-o-vision technology to take off.

[The Perineum Falcon]

i can't wait til books are 3D.

[RegularKarate]

i can't wait til books are 3D.

That's where all the trouble started in the first place!

[Reinhold]

nobody's excited about it?

look at what color, sound, and depth of field technology so far have each done for cinema. when people get over the novelty i think there's going to be some really awesome art.

[Gold Trumpet]

nobody's excited about it?

look at what color, sound, and depth of field technology so far have each done for cinema. when people get over the novelty i think there's going to be some really awesome art.

That's the hope, but my fear is that technology is updating itself so often that the art stands little chance to catch up. When film was originally invented, it was a novelty for years because it took many years for artists to make sense of the new art form. Filmmakers were able to lay grounds to the aesthetics of the art form by the 1920s with high point of the silent period. The introduction of sound to film pushed film art back 10 years, but filmmakers were able to catch up because they already had a basis with what the silent period had accomplished and the fact that technology (for the next 80 years) just looked to improve sound filmmaking.

3D is challenging visual understanding. Filmmakers are trying to find ways to get old conventions to fit into the new structure, but film visualization needs to adapt to the 3D effect. There needs to be some structural work to make cognisant sense of 3D, but I fear by the time a filmmaker goes beyond making 3D exciting and actually makes it revealing, a new technology will be coming that makes everyone think its predecessor has no merit for continued investigation.

Stanley Kubrick believed digital effects would have the major effect that 3D is having. He felt a new structure of visualization needed to be imagined to house the new fully visual film. He tried to make A.I. the perfect introductory film, but he was never happy with the results, but he felt what Steven Spielberg did in Jurassic Park was the launching pad to something new. I think the story on digital effects (with hindsight as our teller) is that it has made standard films look more believable for the fantastic. I think 3D has more potential to change our visual understanding of story and entertainment at its basic levels. In some ways that could be good because film is already too proud of its history when it should be more excited about its future, but I still have many worries.

In the 1960s, Parker Tyler made a career of reviewing underground films that broke with all forms of structure. He wanted to believe in the films, but often he believed their garage upbringing and minuscule budgets made for lackluster attempts to convince the viewer to believe in the film the way they would with a larger budgeted film. He saw underground film's attempts at exercising out of convention before he saw the themes and feelings they were trying to convey. He didn't flatly say it, but his reviews were asking for a better future in film. These technical updates are exactly what the doctor is asking for because they are forcing more filmmakers to think outside the conventional with purpose, but I fear our new obsession with technology will get in the way of good art.

[Pubrick]

i can't wait til books are 3D.

South Korean scientists make books go 3D
source: Reuters

   * New technology animates books
   * Reader wears 'goggles' to see 3D print
   * It took scientists three years to make

POP-up is so passe: South Korean scientists have developed 3D technology for books that makes characters literally leap off the page.

The popularity of 3D entertainment has been given a boost by a slew of recent films, including sci-fi blockbuster Avatar and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Several companies are also offering 3D TVs and a 3D video game console will launched soon.

At South Korea's Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, researchers used 3D technology to animate two children's books of Korean folk tales, complete with writhing dragons and heroes bounding over mountains.

Pictures in the books have cues that trigger the 3D animation for readers wearing computer-screen goggles. As the reader turns and tilts the book, the 3D animation moves accordingly.

"It took us about three years to develop the software for this," said Kim Sang-cheol, the team leader of the project.

Mr Kim said the technology could be used for any type of book and sees it eventually being used for images displayed over smart phones or at museums to enhance exhibits.

But those waiting for 3D books may have to wait long.

"It will take a while to market this technology to the general public," he said.