3D Technology: A Review for Home and Business
Written By: Chase Christian
It seems like there’s hardly a new movie released to theatres now that isn’t featured in 3D. With the huge commercial success of Avatar last year, many movie studios are jumping at the opportunity to get onto the 3D bandwagon. Commercials on television have been saturated with companies trying to sell 3D monitors and TVs, even Nintendo is making a 3D version of the Game Boy. But is 3D truly a technology that’s ready to take its place next to HD in our homes and offices?
The key detractor of any 3D implementation is that it reduces clarity and image quality to achieve the three-dimensional effect. Just as we can’t have our cake and eat it too, you can’t have both HD and 3D at the same time. You have to sacrifice the progress that technology has made towards HD just to experience 3D. Until the capability of monitors and televisions catch up, most people will prefer experiencing a clean HD image in most settings.
While 3D may make a particular movie more exciting, it also takes more effort from the viewer. The current technologies that are in place to make 3D work require your eyes to work harder than they would watching the 2D version. This can cause eye strain after long periods, and can make it uncomfortable to watch things in 3D. For certain people, the strain is so high that 3D actually hurts them to watch. Researchers are constantly looking for better ways to give us a 3D experience, but at the same time they want to make something that a consumer will buy. The stereotypical 3D glasses may give us a better experience, but users have firmly stated that they would much rather have 3D technology that doesn’t use glasses. This dichotomy between what the science can do and what a person will buy has left 3D in an tough position.
Ultimately, the benefits of 3D technology on a home or office level are non-existent. Anything 3D-capable costs more than the 2D alternative, and the new features provided are often just a few simple gimmicks in a Hollywood movie. While the industry may be pushing 3D with its marketing blitz, there’s really no advantages to 3D over 2D, especially if image quality is a concern. 3D has a lot of catching up to do before it’s ready for the mainstream, and until then, you can leave the 3D glasses at the movie theatres.