By Gabriel Perna: Subscribe to Gabriel's RSS feed
June 23, 2010 10:08 PM EDT
As the World Cup soccer game between Germany and Ghana played out on a Sony 3-D television at the Consumer Electronics Association Line Shows, the progress from idea to reality became evident.
During his speech at the event's 3-D Summit, Chris Chinnock, president of analyst firm Insight Media, put it best, "At last year's NAB Show (National Association of Broadcasters) everyone was talking about the idea of 3-D television. At this year's show, everyone had a product."
Attendees agreed that there are kinks to work out, mainly lack of content and standards. But the consensus from the 3-D Summit was that for a market usually geared to early adopters, 3-D televisions have done quite well. Chief Economist for the CEA, Shawn Drubavac, said it expects up to three million 3-D TVs to ship out in 2010. "That's a pretty solid number for a new technology," Drubavac said.
Like other recent technology conferences, 3-D televisions were the big ticket item at this year's Line Shows, as most of the manufacturers in attendance displayed their version of the new technology. The only one without one to display, AOC, said their 3-D television is in development and will be released next year.
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Furthermore, Chinnock said the response from early adopters have been overwhelmingly positive. He said Insight's informal survey found most 3-D TV consumers thought the pricing was fair, the glasses were not a problem and the limited content experience was enjoyable.
One of the factors preventing widespread adoption of 3-D is the glasses, which differ for each brand. "3-D glasses and their lack of unification are a big issue. The industry is working hard to fix that," said Rick Dean, head of strategic development of new technologies at THX and chairman of the 3D@Home Consortium. The consortium is made up of several major 3-D TV manufacturers, content providers, software and hardware makers and distributors, and is working on creating standards.
A possible solution to this problem may come from Monster Cable. Known for their HDMI cables, the company showed off a set of universal 3-D glasses. Monster says they can be used on all active 3-D TVs and use a radio frequency rather than infrared signal. This means they do not need to be worn directly in front of the TV.
The lack of content is another issue. AOC spokesperson Alec Rosen pointed to this as one reason his company has yet to produce a 3-D TV. Currently, there is no dedicated, continuous 3-D television network. Discovery, IMAX and Sony will produce one in the coming year while ESPN's 3-D network shows sporadic sporting events.
"This is clearly the early years of the technology, there are no continuous channels and limited content," Chinnock said. Movies, sporting events and video games are the main source of content for 3-D televisions. Chinnock added that there are other features to attract buyers. "All 3-D TVs are really good HDTVs. 3-D happens to be one of the features. They all come with internet connectivity, Skype capability and other features."
Still at their premium price points, it's unclear if mainstream consumers would be willing to spend for an HDTV that can only play limited amounts of specialized content.
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