Where Are All the 3D Blu-rays?
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With 3D displays garnering more and more customer interest, where are all the 3D Blu-ray movie titles?
Full HD 3D displays and 3D capable Blu-ray disc players started hitting store shelves back in March. Displays are currently available from Samsung and Panasonic, with models from Sony, LG and others coming later this year. 3D is by far the biggest buzz-word in the industry right now and consumer electronics manufacturers are hoping to ride it to increased sales as economic recovery slowly comes our way. Unfortunately, there’s one major part of this equation missing: CONTENT!
Going on two months into the 3D revolution there is exactly one theatrical release available on digital native 3D Blu-ray disc. And that release, Monsters vs. Aliens, isn’t even available in wide release. The only way to get it is in Samsung’s 3D Starter Kit. Sadly, there have been more announcements of popular 3D theatrical releases that will not receive 3D Blu-ray releases than those that will. No Avatar. No Alice in Wonderland. My fingers are crossed for no Clash of the Titans.
So, how can manufacturers, retailers and installers expect to sell 3D displays and players when there so little actual content available? On the flip side, why would studios go to the effort of producing digital 3D content when there’s no installed equipment base? It’s hard to sell 3D discs when no one has the equipment to use it.
The reasons for buying a 3D display are a bit easier to rationalize. If you’re buying a display anyway, why not be ready for what’s next? Comparing similar displays with and without 3D capabilities (like the 2D Samsung UN46C6500 and 3D Samsung UN46C7000), you’re looking at paying around a 20% premium for the 3D capabilities. Beyond viewing native 3D Blu-ray content, you’re also able to convert 2D-to-3D on the fly which can provide a surprisingly impressive effect. If you’re buying just for future-proofing yourself, you don’t even have to buy a 3D Blu-ray player and/or glasses until you feel there’s enough content to justify.
These types of arguments won’t, however, push early-adopters to upgrade. To get people to upgrade specifically for 3D, not just pay a premium when buying a display anyway, you’re going to need content. Without it, there’s no way to justify the upgrade. This is the market that is going mainly untapped. To push people to upgrade, the content is the reason and right now it’s just not there.
So why is the content missing? It’s not because 3D content doesn’t exist. The rising popularity of 3D theatrical releases should be all the proof you need of that. The sad truth is the James Camerons of the world don’t want a 3D Blu-ray release to languish on shelves because no one has the equipment to view it. 3D Blu-Ray content is backwards-compatible with 2D Blu-ray players, but the studios will surely want to charge a premium for 3D content. Content providers aren’t going to release discs no one will buy because they haven’t upgraded to a 3D display, player and glasses.
Egg, meet chicken. Chicken, meet egg.
So how can the 3D industry as a whole break out of this impasse? There looks to be two courses of action currently being taken by the equipment manufacturers and studios. The first is the exclusive pack-in. Samsung has Monsters vs. Aliens and, in the second half of the year, should be offering the first three Shrek movies as exclusive pack-ins with their 3D gear. In the U.S., Panasonic is including a generic nature and travel demo disc with their 3D display packages, but European buyers will be treated to Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Coraline.
Pack-ins will become more varied and prevalent as more manufacturers bring new models to market. While not content you can walk in Best Buy and pick off the shelf, it’s a start and gives potential buyers something to view out of the box as soon as they get their shiny new thing home.
The second strategy seems to be a ramp-up in the quality of available content. While not Avatar or Star Wars, there have been Q3 and Q4 announcements for several 3D Blu-ray titles including Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, A Christmas Carol, Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D, and two Magic series travel logs. These aren’t the kinds of titles that will make a format successful or directly sell displays.
What these kinds of titles do offer, however, is shelf space and customer awareness of 3D. As awareness and interest grow, so will display sales. As display sales grow, so will content catalogs. It’s a vicious cycle, but it’s one we might just have to churn through for the next year before we start seeing high-profile theatrical releases getting the 3D Blu-ray treatment.
As much as I love 3D for the fun and immersion it brings to movie viewing, I can’t jump up on a soap box and tell you that you’ll see your favorite film on 3D Blu-ray any time soon. It’s going to be a slow ramp up, just like Blu-ray, HDTV and even DVD. You’ll need to make your judgment on when it’s the right time to jump in the content/equipment meat grinder, but sooner or later we’ll get a really tasty 3D meatball.
by Stephen Hopkins
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/where_are_all_the_3d_blu-rays/
Custom Installation Services, LLC – Charlotte and Boone NC’s Source For Samsung, Panasonic & Sharp 3D HDTV Sales, Support & Installation!
Posted in 3d movies, 3D TV, Blu-ray, Flat Panel TV's, Home Theater, Media Rooms, Music and Movies, News, technology
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Samsung 3D Glasses Interoperable When Worn Upside Down
CIS - Charlotte NC's Source For 3D HDTV's & glasses From Samsung & Panasonic
Samsung and Panasonic 3D active shutter glasses rely on the same technology.
Ever since consumers realized active shutter glasses would indeed be the law of the land for 3D TV, they’ve begged for interoperability from brand to brand.
Judging by a recent comment from Samsung R&D chief Simon Lee, it looks like Samsung and Panasonic‘s glasses are so close, but so far away.
First reported by Home Cinema Choice, Samsung and Panasonic 3D active shutter glasses rely on the same technology, but the right and left eye sync are reversed. This means you can actually use one brand’s glasses with the other brand’s displays as long as you flip them upside down.
This almost seems like a slap in the face. There’s no real technical reason the two systems couldn’t be inter-operable. The driving factor, like so many things in our industry, boils down to accessory sales and the associated ancillary revenue. There’s still hope, though.
“I think that it’s likely that the different manufacturers will come together, possibly as early as next year, to agree a common standard for Active Shutter glasses,” says Samsung’s Lee.
by Stephen Hopkins
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/samsung_3d_glasses_interoperable_when_worn_upside_down/
Custom Installation Services, LLC – Charlotte and Boone NC’s Source For 3D TV Sales & Installation with HDTV’s From Samsung & Panasonic!
Posted in 3d movies, 3D TV, Blu-ray, Flat Panel TV's, Home Theater, Media Rooms, News, technology
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10 Reasons 3D Will Succeed
CIS is Lake Norman's 1st Choice For 3D HDTV Sales & Installation!
Why 3D will find an important niche in the home theater experience.
Our good friends over at eCoustics.com offered “10 Reasons 3D Might Fail.”
I was a little surprised to see such a forward-looking A/V news source predicting such blasphemy. It’s been a long time since a tech trend has generated as much buzz as 3D, and theater hits like “Avatar” and “Alice In Wonderland” have heightened consumer interest in 3D.
Here are my counter points as to why 3D TV will find an important niche in the home theater experience.
Glasses – Consumers have shown they’ll don 3D glasses in large public venues (i.e. theaters and theme parks). Why wouldn’t they do so in the privacy of their own home. Glasses are also a stop-gap as auto-stereoscopic technologies develop and the associated price tag softens.
TV Watching is Social – While 3D viewing may alter the social atmosphere, it also heightens immersion. The times 3D will be most interesting are the times you’re so immersed in the content that you won’t want to talk to the person next to you. It’s not for the news, SportsCenter, or AMC.
Compatibility – Nearly every major upgrade in home theater content has had associated hardware upgrades. Dolby Digital? DVD? HDTV? Blu-ray? All required new hardware to varying degrees. Some early adopters will abandon perfectly good equipment for the latest and greatest, while others upgrade through attrition. It’s all happened before and will happen again.
Lack of Content – Hardware and software are like the chicken and the egg. But in the A/V world, hardware almost always comes first and languishes a bit until some killer app (like “The Matrix” on DVD) pushes people to invest. Once the seal is broken, the trickle gains momentum and becomes a flood.
Confusion – The launch of HDTV in the U.S. caused more consumer confusion than any other technology roll-out of all time. While HDTV was slow to ramp-up and had a big government push behind it, it’s a success regardless of the confusion, and not every Joe Six Pack even saw the benefit of HDTV’s resolution, aspect ratio, and digital video/sound. It’s hard for anyone to say they physically don’t see what 3D offers.
Health Risks – It’s true that some people can’t see stereoscopic 3D effects. Another small minority can experience some discomfort or eye strain from extended viewing. The percentages of people affected by both categories vary wildly based on who you ask. Some warnings have been issued by electronics manufacturers, but you can find similar warnings for everything from cell phones to supermarket plastic bags. Until there is some substantial evidence to actual risks, these kinds of allegations are best left to Fox News.
Unwatchable 3D Footage – 3D content can easily be viewed in 2D. While it’s an either-or proposition (either everyone watches 3D or 2D), displays and content devices offer the ability to “flatten” 3D content to 2D. Since the 3D effect is generated by separate 2D images for each eye, showing only the left or right image effectively renders 3D content in 2D.
Just Good-enough Syndrome – While HDTV content and Blu-ray content haven’t replaced SD or DVD as de facto standards, saying they haven’t “taken off” is disingenuous at best. 3D isn’t meant to replace 2D, but augment it. Every major new technology has early adopters and those who hold back. 3D won’t be any different, but that doesn’t mean it will fail. DVD didn’t, surround sound didn’t, HDTV didn’t, and 3D won’t.
Discs are Dying – While 3D can require more storage space or bandwidth, it’s not reliant on a physical medium much, if any, more than HD video.
History Lessons – While the term “HDTV” may have been around 20 years before it reached market saturation, the digital HDTV broadcast in the U.S. occurred in the summer of 1996, and the ATSC standard wasn’t finalized until the fall of 1998. By 2001, HDTVs were becoming common place in big-box retailers. Twenty years is a huge stretch. Consumers have a short memory, and far more people are likely to remember their 3D theater experience and become interested in replicating it in their home (unless they see “Clash of the Titans”).
by Stephen Hopkins
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/10_reasons_3d_will_succeed/C155?utm_source=eh&utm_medium=side
Custom Installation Services, LLC – Charlotte and Asheville NC’s Source For Samsung & Sharp 3D HDTV Sales, Service and Installation!
Posted in 3d movies, 3D TV, Blu-ray, Flat Panel TV's, Gaming Systems, Home Theater, Media Rooms, Music and Movies, technology
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