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Sometimes there is a rapid development in technology which opens up a gap between the consumer and the industry. The consumer wonders what the new technology has to offer  and the industry see it as a quick way to generate an alternate income stream. In some cases the sad part is that the industry keep on beating on a dead horse even though the consumers have left it a long time ago. This is about 3d movies in cinemas and on your TV at home.

A few years ago a new technology hit the market called mini discs. It was a medium which could hold data as music or files and it’s storage capacity was large in relation to what was already in the market. Just about the same time it was released a better product was brought to the market, the writable CD. Since the industry had pushed money into the mini disc technology they went at it full monty and tried to get consumers to purchase mini disc players of different kinds in short time. Even though they knew there was a better alternative, consumers were thought to be easy to manipulate into buying an inferior technology.

The same scenario is playing once again. To watch a 3d movie today one have to use what can be the ugliest and most non-comfortable piece of technology we have created in a long time. I’m talking about 3d glasses.

3d glasses are still expensive to manufacture due to low demand so they can only come in two sizes. One for adults and one for children. This is true for the ones handed out in the cinemas as well as those delivered when one buy a new TV. If all human heads were the same size this would not be a problem but as we all know, that is not the fact. Most of the people watching these movies are doing so while wearing uncomfortable pieces of ugly plastics on their face which they could not chose in a size they wanted. It’s forced tech. In cinemas they even charge you extra to wear this plastic.

There is technology already present on how to provide the same effect but without the glasses but the question remain, is there enough consumers out there who actually want this technology or is it just the industry hunting for that new income stream since they dumped money into it? My guess is the latter.

I do not see the added value of 3d when going to the local cinema since it also means that I will be forced to pay about 20% extra on my ticket to get it. It’s just not worth it for me. I’m not sure I would get the value even if they could provide the effect without glasses. Not until the production companies have figured out how this tech should be used instead of just bouncing a ball against the camera lens now and then. A quick check with my closest friend give me a ratio of about one in ten who actually enjoy 3d movies. My guess this is the one tenth with a head of the correct size for the glasses.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the re-visits to old movies – now in 3d for a higher price then ever before!

Did I mention there is also a bouncing ball at this one place in the middle?