Just a few years ago nearly all TV manufacturers were promoting their 3D TVs are being the next big thing. But come January 2017 and two top TV makers Sony and LG have announced they are to stop manufacturing 3D TVs, this follows on from Samsung who announced they would stop producing 3DTVs last year. This means that you soon won’t be able to buy a new 3DTV from a major brand.
So where did it go wrong for 3D tellies? Well it was a combination of factors that meant 3DTV would never be more than a gimmick. Firstly was the fact 3D televisions costs more than 2D TVs but didn’t really offer much extra in the viewing experience, sure films such as Avatar look great in 3D but for most of the time people are watching regular programming which isn’t filmed in 3D and so weren’t getting the benefit of the extra cost. Even Sky who were a big pusher of the tech have given up on it with Sky cancelling their 3D channel back in 2015 and no longer showing premiership matches in 3D. If you have Sky and a 3D telly you are now relegated to watching 3D content through the on demand service.
Another issue with the 3D tech is that it requires you to wear uncomfortable glasses for long periods and this caused some users to report that they would suffer headaches and nausea afterwards. Some of the glasses were also expensive to replace if you broke them.
The final nail in the coffin is that there was no killer content for the tech which made it a must have many movies just seemed to add in unnecessary scenes to film in 3D which added nothing to the story.
So is it the end for 3D? There are still movies due out this year that will be released in 3D so you won’t run out of content yet if you already have a 3D telly. But most of the TV manufacturers are now pushing HDR and 4K tech now as the next big thing and as these technologies improve picture quality without needing the watcher to wear silly glasses there is more of a chance these will take off. You never know though 3D had its first try back in the 80s with the red and green glasses tech, then tried again in the 2000’s, so perhaps it will be 3rd time lucky and there will be a tech breakthrough which will allow 3D on TV without glasses and it will finally become mainstream in the home.