What do 3D televisions have to offer the AV rental market?
I was thinking to myself and considering my own opinions on the 3D television market and whether it will have an impact on the AV rental market. As most of us AV owners are, we are skeptical when a new emerging technology arises and forces us to buy the latest and greatest equipment to satisfy our new is best clients versus our need for a return on investment.
The question is, what type of clients will this serve? Home consumers throwing parties featuring movies in 3D; Gaming events featuring 3D video games; trade show booths featuring 3-D specific media? I’m not sure how 3D will catch on. HD won the general public over with its constant barrage of advertising HD is better. Will 3D have the same success? I just don’t think so.
The main problem I have with HD is not the gimmick of it all because I think the idea of 3D is fantastic, but the idea that you need to alter the image of the consumer by forcing them to wear glasses to enjoy the content. You as the consumer must consciously put on a pair of glasses to fool yourself of the optical illusion. This to me, is self defeating and distracting. The same way when people watch CGI get taken out of the movie when too many laws of nature are broken. I’d be interested to hear from glasses wearers to see if they have that same problem with the unnatural awareness of the 3D.
At the moment, 3D content is rare but is slowly being embraced by the movie industry and by sports.(Recently a Yankees game was broadcast in 3D) Will this translate to the business world? Will we see graphs, diagrams and powerpoint in 3D? Not anytime soon. To be honest I don’t see that ever happening unless the big boy of Microsoft decides to integrate 3D functionality into their industry standard Office product. At this point, HD content hasn’t yet been embraced by most slide builders and I see that happening well before 3D. So unless Microsoft decides to make a product that makes 3D content for people who don’t think in 3D, it will not happen.
In the end 3D will always have limited application in our industry reserved for limited application. The upside is that 3D technology will be integrated as a standard feature in our televisions for those that need it and eventually it will no longer be a premium feature. So enjoy the ride tech fans and hold on for the smell o vision TVs.
