End of 3D televisions?

[VJ]

I can only find articles on Dutch technology websites... so I don't know if this news applies overseas as well.

It concerns 3D televisions

http://tweakers.net/nieuws/108419/tp-vision-voorziet-philips-tvs-niet-meer-van-3d-ondersteuning.html

and it seems that Samsung confirmed that none of the 2016 television models supports 3D. TP Vision (which produced Philips) apparently issued a similar statement. LG is halving their support for 3D, while Sony only keeps it in the models in the ranges X930D and X850D.

The claim is that they will focus on 4K, HDR and better colour reproduction.

While I was never a big fan of the current crop of 3D, removing it is a surprising move IMO...

Any thoughts?

Jörg

[UtwigMU]

In 1960's there were dual "3D" film cameras and you had special viewers. It didn't take off. There was 3D cinema around in 1980's in amusement parks. Then in 1990s there was 3D for PCs with graphic cards and glasses which you plugged into them. Then in 2000's there was x3d and resurgence of 3D cinema. Now we had 3D TV. None of them took off.

I don't think 3D will become widespread until the experience is seamless.

[VJ]

Yes. Interesting how it all keeps on repeating... and every time it is presented as the next best thing. I just did not expect manufacturers to drop it at this point, just to for example not included 3D glasses.
For me, the 3D television does not look so nice... It still seems a bit like flat figures positioned at different depths. Also, it is tiresome for me (not sure why). In cinema's it works better, but I haven't seen many 3D movies and cannot say I was blown away by it.

[UtwigMU]

You should see star wars in 3d. It's great when star cruiser comes out from the screen within 1m of your nose.

[Elie]

I am not surprised. 3D was a fad that I knew was going to slow down eventually.
Another big issue I see is smart TV's, I bought a Sony Smart and never used any of it's apps because the processor are extremely slow. It's a waste of time and money. the problem is most TV's come with apps, so you can't avoid it.

[Umfriend]

I have a Samsung and I actually use a few of the apps. Processor is slow indeed but, well, the apps are streaming apps so they don't need much.

[UtwigMU]

Android / Linux TV sticks are all the rage now.

[Dr Mordrid]

We use Chromecast on our TV's and it's pretty nice.

Mobile devices run the comparable apps, and they control a mini-Chrome browser in the Chromecast device. If we pick a source in a phone/tablet app it tells the Chromecast to play it to the TV, and stop/pause/skip etc. are controlled from the mobile app. YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, NASA TV, CBS, Amazon tons of stuff.

Great for augmenting a regular (non-smart) TV, or if you have a smart Sony DVD-BR player whose YouTube or other useful app didn't get upgraded last fall.

Apps without Chromecast support can be displayed by casting the portable devices screen and going full screen in landscape.

The Fire stick is, IMO, junk.

[Marshmallowman]

Display connection and broadcast standards are really not ready for 3d 4k, to much bandwidth... and you also have all the VR stuff happening.

[Jammrock]

3D is mostly a fad that is already going away.

Though I've never been able to do 3D. My brain seems to adjust for the visual distortion and after ~5 minutes it's all flattened for me anyway.

[Marshmallowman]

I don't think its going away, perhaps there may less emphasis on passive 3d displays, but with TVs capable of a decent refresh rate 3d is almost a free addon just by adding active glasses.

I have been finding some movies with 3d very immersive, Gatsby was a surprisingly nice 3d movie, also the new spider man.
Fast action is hard to get right though it has been done quite well in some movies, I finally saw Avatar in 3d its a very well done 3d movie.

But I do think VR will eventually be the medium of choice eventually for content , but if the get glasses less 3d flatscreen perfected it will become ubiquitous

Bought a 3d Projector a few months back, still enjoy finding new 3d movies.

[VJ]

I don't think its going away, perhaps there may less emphasis on passive 3d displays, but with TVs capable of a decent refresh rate 3d is almost a free addon just by adding active glasses.

That is what I would guess too... so I'm surprised it is being dropped by manufacturers.

My parents will soon be in the market for a new TV (currently they have a 9 year old top model Philips, but there seem to be appearing issues with the backlight), so I started checking things... It would be quite an update from 36" to 55", and amazingly, the device would be more or less the same size (the bezels are that wide on the old tv).
It may require some rethinking in how everything is connected, to optimize the use of their home cinema receiver (via hdmi-cec), but it should be easier for them then...

Now just wondering: 4K or not... 3D or not... The set-top box from the TV provider does not support 4K, so they would have to be replaced first. There used to be some 3D test broadcasts, but they were cancelled about 3 years ago. No 3D broadcasts since. And they are not really the type to go out and by dvds, let alone blurays...

[Jammrock]

4K looks like it will succeed. Amazon and Netflix have 4K content, and adding more constantly. Major broadcaster studios are already recording in 4K in preparation for moving to 4K.

DirecTV and Dish, the two major US satellite providers, offer 4K service. The new ATSC 3.0 standard has support for 4K broadcasting. And 4K looks amazing on a large screen. No glasses needed.

[VJ]

Yes... I'm more worried about the compatibility of the device... h265 encoding, hdmi standards, ... Even if you don't care about 4K, you might need some support on the display side. Here, 2 channels are broadcasting using the HEVC codec (test channels on DVB-T). The one year old TV of my girlfriend's parents cannot play them back, it just sees the audio. At the moment, those channels are also available as full-hd and even as sd, but what if that changes?
Without proper support on the TV side (e.g. proper hdmi version, hdcp standard, ...), you might end up with an outdated TV faster than you anticipate. In my parents' case, the set top box should of their TV provider should handle the standards, but what if they require some higher hdmi version... It are these aspects of the current evolution I don't really like...