3D TV has become just about the only thing the industry is talking about these days. The hype of Avatar, combined with the product-pushing antics at the CES, has pushed the third dimension squarely into first priority.
Try it for yourself: Type “3D TV” into a search engine. If you’re interested in the new technology, you could get lost for days in the hundreds of thousands of pages dedicated to the consumer-electronics industry’s latest hot topic.
It might take a few years before we're all wearing these in the living room, but 3D is here to stay.
This week, for example, DisplaySearch published figures predicting big rises in sales of 3D-ready TVs. Admittedly, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to rise above 2009’s pathetic figure of just 200,000 units worldwide. And although the predictions still place 3D TV sales far behind those of other HDTVs, that’s sort of what we’d expect for a new technology – and one that’s likely to wear a very hefty price tag. Flat-panel TVs, for example, still only grace slightly over half of UK households – a good decade after they first hit the market.
But Avatar has kicked off a new trend in the cinema, too. 3D versions of a number of films are now expected, as Televisions.com reported in its Movie News section today. Even George Lucas was impressed with what he saw in Avatar, and he’s hinted at plans to rerelease his epic Star Wars films in 3D. So, even if 3D TV won’t become commonplace in the living room for a few years yet – and mind you, it’ll at least start appearing soon – we can still expect to see a lot more 3D films at the cinema.