This new decade will be the glorious dawn of 3D TV and movies apparently. Um...no...it won't be.
I went to see Avatar earlier this week, but that isn't what prompted me to get hot under the collar about this. Sure, it's the poster child for the 3D 'revolution' and was quite impressive in 3D. The film is well worth seeing and enjoyable enough (if a little predictable) - in 2D or 3D, that extra special spare dimension doesn't add that much to it...apart from £3 to the ticket price.
That isn't what gets me though, I'll leave it to Mark Kermode to rail against 3D in cinemas. It's 3D TV sets for your living room, in particular the idea this will haul consumer electronics companies out of the recession. Am I the only person entirely uninspired and a little sceptical about this? The hype has gone too far if company high heid yins are pinning economic recovery on this gimmick. Remember Terminator 2-3D? A theme park ride. A gimmick. You can thank James Cameron for that as well I suppose. The 3D raising its head now is the same thing in disguise.
When the time comes the watch your shiny new film or TV series on your sofa, can folk be really bothered cracking out the glasses that make you look like the lovechild of Bono and Woody Allen?! Everyone watching needs a pair, surely. What happens if you lose them? You can't watch until you get a spare set? I thought the point of new technology was to make things simpler, not infinitely more long winded and complicated. It seems to be a lot of development and expense to bring what is essentially an anti-piracy device into the living room.
What happened to the drive to get everyone with HD 1080p television sets? I still don't know a lot of homes with HDTVs There's no need to foist 3D on the world with all the associated gubbins. We're still in a situation where swathes of consumers still haven't quite sussed out HD, Blu-ray, (legally) downloaded films and shows, may well not be inclined to do so and are not very well catered for with regards to being able to play what they own on what they want - TV, iPod, PC etc...who gives a toss as to whether spears and fingers can point out of the screen at them?
