Bendable Media

This story first appeared in Vegas Seven

The local movie theater isn’t the only place you’ll be able to see an action-packed blockbuster in 3-D this summer. The “you are here” feeling of 3-D is now available for your living room, as well.

These Panasonic 3D glasses cost $150

Still, you will need to spend a lot more than a $10 movie ticket to experience 3-D at home. Indeed, it will take roughly 300 trips to the theater—or 150 if you bring a date each time—before a 3-D TV in your living room equals the cost of going to a show. That doesn’t include the cost of buying or renting a 3-D DVD — or the cost of popcorn.

Televisions capable of showing 3-D fare are arriving at electronics retailers, with models from Panasonic, Samsung and LG already for sale and Sony sets expected this summer. Others will soon follow, including options from low-price leader Vizio.

If there ever was a technology primed for early adopters willing to pay to be first, it is 3-D TV. To watch a 3-D movie at home, you’ll need a new TV, a new Blu-ray player and at least one pair of glasses (or two if you have a date). And forget about stealing a pair from the movie theater; you’ll need specially powered glasses to make 3-D work on your home TV. Most manufacturers include at least one pair of 3-D glasses with new 3-D TV sets.

Unfortunately, the involved set-up won’t necessarily make deciding what to watch any easier. In fact, it might make it more difficult, considering that right now, there aren’t many 3-D channels or movies offered. Only a handful of movies are available (how often can you watch Monsters vs. Aliens?) and the slate of 3-D broadcast programming expected from Discovery and ESPN is months away. Still, some cable systems and broadcasters have started to broadcast select sporting events, such as the Masters golf championship, in 3-D.

Nonetheless, you can forge ahead if you want. To entice buyers and soften the blow of the high prices, this new living-room technology commands, retailers are “bundling” plans for 3-D TV equipment. Best Buy, for example, is offering a Panasonic bundle for about $3,000—a 50-inch 3-D TV, a 3-D Blu-ray player and one pair of glasses.

Initial prices for 3-D TVs are expected to cost $400-$800 more than comparably sized HD TVs; 3-D Blu-ray players will cost about $400 (twice the standard price); and each pair of glasses will cost about $120, which means if you have a family of four (or a bunch of friends who want to come over for 3-D movie night), you should expect to spend $600 on glasses.

Those prices will discourage many of the curious but they won’t turn away all of the first movers.

Estimates vary about how quickly 3-D TVs will be adopted in U.S. living rooms. Sony hopes that 10 percent of the TVs it sells over the next fiscal year will be 3-D models (after they arrive in June). Meantime, the Consumer Electronics Association believes at least 1 million 3-D sets will be sold in the United States this year.

“In a few years, I do think that 3-D TV capabilities will be integrated into TV sets, much as we expect Web connectivity to be a part of most displays,” Kurt Scherf, principal analyst for Parks Associates, writes in a blog post. “I heard other [consumer electronics] manufacturers at the Consumer Electronics Show indicate that 30 percent to 40 percent of their displays may be 3-D capable in five years.”

If you are curious as to how 3-D technology will translate from the big screen to your living room’s (relatively) small screen, head down to an electronics store and check out a demo. I recently visited two TV retailers to test sets from Sony and Samsung. The 50-inch Sony was a production model while the 40-inch Samsung was available for $2,000.
In my demonstrations, 3-D looked as good on a TV as it did in the theater.

Clips from a European soccer match (that Sony included on its demonstration roll) were particularly stunning in 3-D. There was real depth of field that made the action feel much closer than it actually was, particularly from field-level shots.

The in-store tests made me think of how cool it would be to put a 3-D camera behind home plate to get a clear view of the ball as it leaves the pitcher’s hand and heads toward your TV at 90 mph. I’d love to watch that. Another thought: The NHL needs a 3-D goalie cam!

Other items on the Sony reel included a clip from Wheel of Fortune (although that’s probably not why you’d want 3-D TV) and a few video games.

Watching a movie in 3-D was like watching a 3-D movie at the theater. Things jump out at you, objects float in space and you feel the movie surround you. I had to force myself to stop watching because I felt that I was being sucked in.
I had mixed feelings about the two 3-D video racing games I test-drove. The first one featured a brightly colored, futuristic track where race cars floated above the course. It was too much visual stimulation; I started to get a headache. The other video game featured a dune buggy racing through a sandy and sparsely forested landscape. This was much better, and it felt a little exhilarating when the dune buggy caught big air after a jump.

Gaming will likely be key to 3-D TVs integration into the home. Knowing this, Sony already plans to offer a free 3-D software upgrades for PlayStation 3 owners. When Sony launched the PS3, it played Blu-ray discs, not standard DVDs like previous versions. That was a factor that led to the demise of the rival HD-DVD format. With the PS3 supporting 3-D gaming, game-makers are more likely to invest in the technology.

Likewise, since the PS3 doubles as a movie player, you won’t need to buy a new 3-D Blu-ray player if you already have a PS3. But you’ll still need a few of those funky (and pricey) glasses if you want to invite any friends over to play those cool 3-D games with you.

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