Why I’ll wait to jump on the 3D TV bandwagon

Why I’ll wait to jump on the 3D TV bandwagon

April 8th, 2010 // 1:41 pm @ Terrance Gaines

I am admittedly an early adopter, but with a twist – I only rush out to adopt the latest and greatest only if it makes sense to me.

– Which is why I opted to wait for the Apple iPad 3G to drop instead of jumping on the wifi only version…I need the 3G for when I am at work and can’t access certain sites due to IT policy need to dig deeper into the intewebz when I am not at home on my own computer.

– Which is also why I won’t be too eager to request a day off to celebrate the newly adopted Virginian observance of ‘Confederate History Month’ – which in a roundabout way, should be the ONE day I actually relax instead of going to work and slaving over my computer all day with only an hour for lunch.

*What was the point of this post again?*

All that to say, I probably won’t jump into the new 3D TV phenomenon that has taken over current television technology. Why do you ask? A couple of reasons:

- My current rear-projection TV in my basement, picture tube TV in the living room, and small 23 inch LCD TV in my bedroom work just fine. I take care of my TV’s and as a result, they last a long time. So while I am eager to see if I can duplicate the 3D experience I witnessed when I saw the movie ‘Avatar’ last winter, I haven’t even been able experience the now old technology of a LED or OLED TV yet…baby steps (I still don’t own a blu-ray player either – which just might make my “early adopter” membership null and void)

– I route all my audio & video through my A/V receiver. With 3D being so new, A/V receivers aren’t on the same page as 3D televisions. A 3D signal needs HDMI 1.4 capability to pump the signal to the TV. Most receivers on the market are only HDMI 1.3. So I would either have to also shell out even more money to find and buy a receiver than can pass a 3D signal to a 3D TV, or re-do my current setup to route all the video directly to the TV and all the audio directly to the reciever…Right now, Mrs. Tech and I are expecting our 2nd child in June, and currently, I am knee-deep in re-doing two rooms to make way for the new addition (tip: spend the extra money to have the furniture shipped AND ASSEMBLED!)- So I don’t have the time to play around with my A/V equipment right now. And with three women in the house…nevermind, I don’t even want to think about it.

*sheds a tear*

– 3D Glasses. You can’t just go out and buy any old (or cheap) 3D glasses and expect them to work on every 3D TV on the market. Right now, you need compatible glasses with compatible TV’s. On the flipside, all you “brand matchers” who MUST have all their components be of the same brand should be happy with that. For the rest of us, each TV has a specific pair of glasses that you must have (read: we got more stuff you need to buy) in order to get the full 3D experience. Some of the TV’s come with one or two pair of glasses, but after that, look to shell out approx. 75+ bucks per pair to outfit your average 4 person family with glasses (not including any guests you have over). Until 3D technology allows for glasses-free 3D viewing, I think I will sit this one out. Plus, those glasses they handed out when we went to see ‘Avatar’ were lame and i’m too cool for all that!

- 3D Content. There just isn’t enough “native” content out there to enjoy getting set up with 3D now. By native, I mean content filmed with 3D cameras, and produced and broadcasted via 3D media. You do remember how long it took the FCC to force Cable/Satellite providers to get Digital signals into the home right? There are some stations/providers stepping up and trying to pump out some 3D content sooner than later, but not enough to warrant a serious push to get regular folks who are still scratching their head with HDTV to make the jump to 3D TV.

It would be nice to get all excited over all the new toys I would need to go out and buy & setup to get 3D in my home, but right now, I will just have to get all excited over all the cleaning (Mrs. Tech calls it “nesting”), painting, and baby shower registering that lies ahead of me within the next month or two. – Yay!?

What do you think? Is it too soon to go out and buy a 3D TV? Do you already own a 3D-Ready TV? if so, have you sucessfully watched an 3D signal, glasses and all?

If you like it, Share it!

Category : Home Tech