Virgin Media launches 3D movie rentals Virgin Media is to join Sky and launch a channel of 3D content for the one bloke who bought a 3D TV. Having lashed out a grand or three on said screen, plus a couple of hundred pounds more for the specs, he can now have the pleasure of paying VM for a subscription and V HD or V+ HD set-top box. The operator's 3D movies with …
A couple of weeks ago in Amsterdam the IBC exhibition was absolutely crammed with 3-D tv technology. New developments, new displays, and lots and lots of production systems either designed around or extended to work with 3-D material.
And the overall buzz? It's absolutely doomed for in the house viewing. It works for games, it works in the cinema, and it might work for films in the house. But it's far too immersive for general viewing. The viewer needs to *concentrate* on the images, and people just don't watch TV like that.
Add to that the difficulty of getting good 3-D material to the viewer in the first place, and TVs that make people ill after they watch for a while... I'm not putting any money into this one quite yet.
They do 1080i and 720p, with "each channel choosing the most appropriate resolution for their content".
In practice, I think that means that the movie channels are in 720p from what I've read in other forums.
I don't have Sky myself, so I can't confirm. But you're right, it's probably going to be a bit of a waste of bandwidth.
(Especially since, as noted elsewhere, it'll be for about three people on the network.)
Until I get my "Help us Obi-Wan, you're our only hope" type holograms, 3D-TV is dead to me. It's bad enough that I have to dance around in front of my own TV to make my console work these days, now I have to look like Roy Orbison to watch my TV!!
Better still, if I have photo-sensitive epilepsy, I can buy some 3D glasses that flicker the images between the eyes alternately. Seizure-tastic!!
.... concentrate on getting more HD content to those of us that have bought HD ready sets instead of this 3D fad.
After spending almost £1,000 on a 46in Panny Plasma there is more chance of Jobs allowing Flash to run on the Jesus phone than there is of me buying a 3D TV, Besides, who really wants to sit in their lounge wearing 3D glasses (that can easily be lost or broken and cost £££ to buy) just for the occasional moment when someone points an object / drives a vehicle / throws something towards the camera.
3D deserves to fail.
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