TV’s Future – 3D TV?

In the second of my articles looking at where telly is headed, I thought I’d tackle one of the biggest innovations around at the moment, 3D entertainment.

Well I say it’s a big modern innovation, of course 3D films have been around for a very long time, since the 1950’s. It’s come and gone several times throughout the last 60 years, each time looking like nothing more than a novelty. But the latest wave looks like it might be sticking around just a little bit longer.

Now we have the stereoscopic method using clear glassed (as opposed to the old magenta and blue lenses) we can see the visuals in the full colour they are supposed to be. And they can actually look pretty amazing. Avatar for example may not have the most original stories, but the 3D really brought the world of Pandora to life. I also felt more engaged in the world of Toy Story 3 thanks to the subtle 3D effect. It has been a very popular and impressive addition to cinema.

I love 3D, I think it can enhance viewing (as long as it’s not overused with objects flying into your face every few seconds) . But will it work on TV?

The cinema is a very different place to the front room of your house. In the cinema you are in a darkened room with a massive screen so your focus is entirely on this one point. At home you will most likely have lights on and a smaller screen. Maybe you will dim them for watching a gripping drama or film, but most of the time there will be too much light, likely to ruin the 3D effect.

There’s also the problem of where you are sitting. In the cinema, everyone faces forward at a fairly similar angle. But at home, I don’t think I have ever looked directly square on into a TV, doing so would be impractical due to the way our front room is laid out. So therefore you may not get the full effect of the 3D, rendering the technology a bot pointless.

But by far the biggest boundary to 3DTV right now is those pesky glasses. It just doesn’t feel natural to wear glasses to watch TV (unless you already do, but in that case you’d have to wear two pairs!). It’s not something I can see catching on and imagine if there is a group of over 10 people all watching the telly. They’d all need glasses and those things don’t come cheap.

Now there is of course developments being made in this field all the time and showcased at CES this year were a few TV’s which can achieve a 3D effect without the need for glasses. It’s this technology that we need to drive the idea of 3D television forward. As I understand, 3D without glasses is still in it’s infancy right now. It isn’t as good as what we have when wearing glasses and it is even more important to view it from the right angle. But give it time and this could be solved. The handheld console the Nintendo 3DS launches in March and I guess it’s at that point that we’ll start to get an idea as to whether this tech is ready for telly.

The other key factor needed to ensure 3D success is of course the programmes. Sky have been very heavily involved in driving this by broadcasting many premier league football matches in 3D to pubs as well as providing their own 3D TV channel at the end of last year. At the moment they are the only main provider of 3D content, but normally when Sky join a market, others are sure to follow. Certainly watching some of Sky’s sports in 3D does look pretty impressive.

3D TV has the potential to succeed, but it will be a tricky climb. There are many factors which could cause it to fail, but there is that little glimmer that it might be the way we view our favourite shows in a couple of decades time.

As for what I think, I love 3D, really enjoy the effect, but I wonder if it can ever be as powerful on the small screen as it is on the big screen, or whether it will just appear a cheap looking gimmick. I guess the March release of the 3DS will help us to see if this 3D wave really does have future the media believes it has.

Nintendo 3DS – The games console from the future!

We’ve known about Nintendo’s latest handheld wonder for a while now, but it wasn’t until yesterday (19th January) that the shroud was lifted and we finally got concrete details on what this system is, the games it will have and the release date.

And the Big N didn’t disappoint. The 3DS looks easily to be their most planned and slick piece of hardware to date. It keeps everything that made it’s predecessor great (except perhaps GameBoy support) and adds more bells and whistles than available at a bell and whistle merchants!

So what’s new, well the big thing is undoubtedly the 3D without glasses available on the 3DS top screen. This is an innovation I have longed for ever since I first saw 3D images in magazines in the nineties. Back then the boffins said it would be possible one day and now it’s finally here. Personally, I love the idea of 3D, not the images popping out so much, but the amazing sense of depth you can get behind the screen. From all hands on reviews I have seen, the 3DS handles this superbly. I can’t wait to get my hands on it and see. Oh, and for those of you that hate 3D, you can always reduce the effect or even turn it off all together, sorted!

But there’s much more than 3D to this little handheld. Nintendo have changed the button layout, opting for a circle pad instead of the traditional + sign for the first time in one of their handhelds. This should offer much better precision, but in case you enjoyed the little + pad, theres an additional one underneath.

The 3DS also offers not one, but three cameras to take photos facing forward, backward or even in 3D. This is pretty impressive when you consider 3D cameras available on the market are quite expensive just as stand-alones. Mind you, we haven’t got to the price yet…

The hardware now has SD card support built in and the software allows you to browse the internet straight from a Wi-Fi point without any extra installation. This is great news for those who suffered with the fiddly and extremely slow NDS browser that was previously released.

The software also includes a Mii creator (no surprises there, although this one can generate Miis from a photo), a built in camera game and access to the Nintendo online store. This, to me, is looking very similar to Apple’s app store from the icons used, right up to the info bar at the top of the screen. But this is of course no bad thing. The Nintendo store will give you access to virtual console games from the GameBoy and GameBoy Color as well as new content being released. It’s all very similar to what was already offered with DSi, but once again, it’s been very well refined.

One of the things I’m most excited is the augmented reality now being used on the 3DS. You may have seen my article in October where I mentioned my love for this technology. On the 3DS, you will be given paper cards which when looked at with the 3DS camera, become something else. A Mario block could appear for example and when you burst it, you enter a whole new game played partially in the real world. I adore these clever ideas and with three cameras, I think the 3DS could be the first console to make augmented reality really work.

The 3DS also boasts new wireless tech whereby the machine can go into a ‘sleep’ mode, but continue to transmit data with other 3DS users or the internet via a Wi-Fi hotspot, meaning you never know what you might find on your console when you next open it up.

All in all, the 3DS hardware is a very beautiful and well polished piece of work. It looks the part and does some very clever things. But it’s no good having this great machine, if the games are no good and here is perhaps why I’m still not excited.

The launch lineup includes Street Fighter, Nitendogs, PES, StarFox and Zelda, all have been very popular franchises. But none of them seem to be focusing on anything other than the 3D. The Street Fighter, StarFox and Zelda titles are all remakes or ‘greatest hits’ of games which have already existed on other consoles. And this is my major gripe with the 3DS and 3D in general. I don’t like the idea of studios being less creative, just because they can make it 3D. The visuals can be amazing, but at the end of the day, it is and always will be the gameplay that we crave. This is perhaps one of the reasons people have

And that’s why I wont be buying a 3DS on it’s UK launch of March 25th. Even with it’s incredible tech advances and relatively good price (pre-order for £220.00 at Play.com), there’s just not enough launch games that interest me.

However I can see me owning one of these things in the future. The games will come, they always do and they should play pretty aweseome on this new hardware. In a world where everyone thought Apple and Android were taking over the mobile gaming space, Nintendo have shone again and outdone themselves in a spectacular way. I fully expect the 3DS to be as successful if not more that it’s 2D predecessor.

Channel 4 Enters The Third Dimension

We’ve had 3D movies for ages now, it’s been dated back to the 1800’s! But despite this, it still seems to be veryrarely used. Enter Channel 4! In an attempt to be innovative and edgy (well that was the original point of the channel), they’re broadcasting a selection of programmes in 3D next week.

3D week runs from 16th – 22nd of November and will feature old clips, new shows and user created content all in three dimensions. It’s the first time in British TV that a whole week has been dedicated to 3D film. You’ll be able to watch the shows with the help of colourcode glasses available at Sainsbury’s stores (although from experience they’re not brilliantly easy to find!)

But what can you actually watch? The week will start at 5 with Paul O’ Grady going 3d at select points during his show. At 9 on the same night you’ll be able to watch The Queen In 3D including such events as the coronation. Derren Brown will be presenting the magic spectacular just after in what promises to be a very entertaining show. Wednesday and Friday are set to scare you with ‘Flesh For Frankenstein’ and ‘Friday The Thirteenth Part III’ both jumping out at you. The week ends with The Greatest 3D moments (well it is Channel 4) as well as Hannah Montana and T4 in 3D.

Certainly an interesting selection of programming. I’m really looking forward to Derren’s magical meddling and not so much to the thought of 3D JLS on T4, but I think it’s safe to say Channel 4 have found something for everyone.

So is this the start of a new 3D revolution? Interest is definitely picking up again with YouTube experimenting in the third dimension. Not seen any? Simply type the tag ‘yt3d:enable=true’ into the search bar and you’ll see loads of users are experimenting with the tech. And you don’t even need glasses for it, you can choose to view cross-eyed and still get a similar effect.

Channel 4 have jumped on this interest and are asking anyone with a spare moment to make a 3D video for them. They’ve even made a video explaining how it’s done. A selection of these clips will also be shown during the week.

But will this actually mean 3D TV will become reality.

Personally I still think it’s too early for that. We’re not in a nation that want to put on red and blue glasses to watch the box. But as time goes on, the technology is getting better and better (anyone who’s seen a disney 3D film will know they’ve got a brilliant system that does away with the red/blue tinge) and I do think that one day 3D TV could become the norm.

But for now it’s just a very interesting gimmick.

3D week begins this coming Monday.