Comments on: 3D coming to Blu-ray?

The Blu-ray Disc Association has started looking to officially integrate 3D technology with the Blu-ray standard, potentially giving Blu-ray another leg up over standard DVDs.

[drevman]

3-D was a gimick when it first came out and it still is. Better quality, but still not essential. I suppose the next cheap thrill is when the villian shots at the protagonist you end up with the life threatening wound. Sounds like fun to me.

[AnthonyNYC]

Actually, you are right, most people do get tired of wearing the glasses for more than 15 minutes at a time, that is why in Superman 3D, they flashed when it was time for everyone to put them on, then 10-15 minutes later when the effects were done, they let you take them off for a rest. I think that was pretty smart!

[loufoltzer]

I see 3D as an imperative next step for both HDTV and blue ray entertainment. Today's' sound systems would also benefit because the total effect would eventually lead to a virtual environment when amophorous screen displays can be wall papered within a room; sort of a holodeck.
I would be willing to pay the price as soon as the system were available.
Lou

[xophaser]

Just say UP in 3d and wondered why they couldn't encode a 3d version on the opposite of the Blu-ray disc. I took my movie theater polarized 3d glass home to check it out on normal broadcast, needs that double vision effect, which I don't image is too hard for Studio to do. The technology is there, we don't need new tvs, I can live with the goofy glass and double vision broadcast.

[Antjel]

Dude those glasses are polarized, don't believe me take two pairs then lay the right lense over the left lense it will block out all light. The dual images reflecting off the screen in theatre are actually polarized 90 degrees apart. Your tv can easily display two images but if the images aren't polarized the glasses won't work.

[xophaser]

oop, "saw" not say

[cbcdesign]

Why is wearing glasses for a movie any more inconvenient or dorky than wearing sun glasses on a hot summers day? Nobody batts an eyelid when people put on dark glasses in the summer and nobody will do so to watch a 3D movie when it becomes mainstream either.

As for the argument that 3D is a gimmick, go and see a modern state of the art 3D movie then make a judgement. I am quite convinced that people who state it was a gimmick in the 80's and still is have been nowhere near a modern 3D cinema and are merely speculating. Modern 3D is stunning!

[sonjaforty]

Count me in as a 3D advocate. I've seen all the latest digital 3D movies and they have given me a reason to return to theaters (as did digital 4K in general). I can't wait to have 3D on the same scale at home. I don't get headaches or nausea nor does my wife. I'm glad 3D is prospering at theaters also. Long live 3D.

[HDholic]

Uh, I don't know about you, but 3-D from Hollywood has usually meant the "3-D effect trumps acting, story, and excellent cinematography" phenomenon... when Hollywood has run out of good movie ideas: BAM! Let's reel 'em back with 3-D.

Most of the films being released in 3-D are also created more for the "thrill" than the quality of the writing and acting. Even PIXAR is, unfortunately, starting to fall into this trap with their latest fare.

Couple this with the expense of replacing not only the TV or projector or monitor, but the receiver or pre-amp/processor, the Blu-ray player, and all the HDMI cabling you can see why many are more than a bit skeptical.

Plus... I, like many, wear glasses and know just how cumbersome and awkward it is trying to put on yet another pair of glasses on top of the glasses already being worn, which can also lessen the 3-D effect. Are the studios going to offer free laser correction surgery with the purchase of an all new HT system?

And what about the Blu-ray video and audio bitrates with this new two channel AVC codec? If they don't do anything to increase this limitation created by 3-D then basically you end up halving the bitrate in order to shoe horn in two simultaneous 1080p video streams and possibly effecting the audio quality as well to gain more of the bit pool budget necessary to carry this out.

Unless they plan on giving us two Blu-ray discs with fully optimized video and audio encodes for a 2-D and 3-D version, I'm even more hesitant to embrace this until an even beefier optical format is ready for prime time (maybe with 4k resolution and 36 bit color). Though, I wonder if BD discs may be the last time we see physical, pre-recorded media. Crappy, compressed all to hell internet downloads seem to be king these days.

[deecee]

Internet download will get better quality when the bandwidth gets larger. Many people (myself included) don't care to see a sit-com or TV show in 1080P glory, so internet stream is just fine. Honestly, I don't care to see most movies in 1080P resolution if I can just click on the HTPC and watch a movie without having to get out and buy a goofy disk to put into my BluRay player, people consume a lot more casual video content than stuff that demands high resolution. BTW, if I am 10 feet away from my TV, BluRay and DVD makes relatviely little difference if the video content is live action (not computer rendered). BluRay definitely show a compeling resolution advantage on animations, that's why almost all the BluRay demos in the stores show the latest Pixar or Dreamworks Animation flicks.

[Antjel]

Go watch Avatar, it's not a gimmick film, story is great, 3d is suttle and immersing like tiny floating dust particles sparkling in the sunlight.

[idogis1]

At E3 didn't Sony show off 3D on the PS3? They said that all you would need is a TV that has the ability to display 120Hz to use it, which is most HDTVs sold in the last couple of years. Maybe you won't have to buy a new television.

[Antjel]

Correct but you will need shutter glasses which are electronic glasses to synchronize with your 120hz television. Do a search for Nvidia 3dVision and you can see the best pair out there used mostly for PC gaming. I got them and love them but would prefer a polarized television so I only need to make one expensive purchase (the tv) as opposed to multiple purchases of expensive glasses for everyone sitting on the couch.

[canuckski]

after already purchasing 2 flat screens a 50 inch and a 37inch I don't think I'll be buying another for a while. Even for 3d. there's a limit to how many pieces of my home theatre equipment I am willing to replace before they are really obsolete. Just to say I have the latest.