Tools : Eyes on the 3D ball By Simon Hendery The hype around 3D TV has well and truly arrived. Square-eyed punters reportedly queued up at Noel Leeming stores over a recent weekend when the retailer rolled out Samsung’s 3D television sets for the first time.
The chain reported early sales were brisk, but a spokesman admitted the early adopters snapping them up were probably more interested in simply “future-proofing themselves”. That’s because there isn’t a great deal of 3D content to watch at home just yet.
A few 3D movies are starting to trickle out on Blu-ray. But James Cameron is said to be holding off the Blu-ray release of Avatar until there is more of a market out there to buy it.
In the broadcast world, there are currently a handful of 3D TV channels in the US. Closer to home, last month’s [May’s] match between the All Whites and the Socceroos became the first Australasian programme to be broadcast in high-definition 3D. It was quickly followed by a State of Origin game.
Sports broadcasting looks like being a major driver for 3D uptake. Fans of the technology rave that it gives couch-bound spectators a whole new sense of immersion and interaction with their favourite code.
I can’t confirm that’s true for real sport, but I have watched women’s beach volleyball in 3D on a 50-inch TV and I was impressed.
The purveyor of my near-real volleyball experience was Panasonic’s product training manager, Andrew Reid, who invited me into the company’s Auckland HQ recently to show off a demo 3D TV. Reid said Panasonic’s aim was to make 3D an attainable technology
that became an almost ubiquitous component of most TV sets within the next few years.
The manufacturers accept that 3D viewing – with its requisite hi-tech glasses – won’t be something viewers want to do all the time, so the sets are designed to operate in both traditional 2D and 3D mode.
Given 3D is likely to remain an appointment viewing experience, its potential to shake up the advertising market seems limited, at least for now. No doubt we will see the emergence of a 3D TVC industry over time. And as an immensely immersive medium it will open the door to some pretty creative executions.
Another aspect of the looming arrival of 3D TVs into living rooms up and down the country is the impact it will have on computer gaming. While I was at Panasonic, Reid thrust a gaming console in my hand and let me experience some first-person shooter action in 3D. Again, I was impressed.
In-game advertising is already well established, so adding a third dimension to the medium would appear to be a relatively easy, but highly effective
enhancement. And if others are as taken by 3D volleyball as I was, perhaps it’s also time to take another look at the signage and sponsorship opportunities associated with that particular franchise.
www.twitter.com/SimonHendery
simon@businesswriter.co.nz
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