2010 will be an exciting year for 3D as display sales push content generation and content generation increases display sales, said the panel of industry experts at Thursday’s ETC discussion on emerging 3D devices. But challenges remain to educate consumers, maintain high quality, and create industry standards.
The three panelists agreed that the recent string of theatrical 3D successes, timed with the release of 3D displays at CES and retail, has finally pushed 3D to a place of critical mass. Now the challenges really begin, said Josh Greer, president of RealD.
“It’s gotta be really good, it’s gotta be really, really easy to use, and there has got to be a lot of content,” he said. “We no longer have to sell 3D to the big producers, they all get it. But when you start talking to TV content producers and gaming guys, they always say, well, where’s the TVs? The more good content offerings we can get for 3D, the more TVs we’ll sell.”
“This is the year we have the products you can go out and buy. 3D is happening,” said Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, CTO of Panasonic. “Our philosophy is, 3D is not a feature, it’s a platform, and eventually everything is going to go into 3D. And our company is crazy enough to try to make everything ourselves!”
LG has the same commitment to offering quality displays for consumers, said Nandhu Nandhakumar, SVP of advanced technology. “Last year we announced we would launch it, and we did,” he said. “This year we have a variety of 3D displays available, and our priority is making sure it is available at the right price and right format for our customers.”
There remains a challenge to keep displays, eyewear, set-top boxes and other 3D peripherals at a high quality.
“We’ve seen a lot of mediocre product, and that doesn’t help the consumer experience,” said Greer. “People have a bad experience and they walk away, and it’s hard to drag them back.”
CEA has a standards group working on standardizing infrared signals to glasses, and hopefully other work will develop to ensure a great consumer experience. Another key challenge is forming standards for compatibility that ease 3D use for consumers without undermining companies’ competitive efforts.
“The hard work’s just begun,” Greer said. “We’ve got to make sure that Panasonic’s flavor is compatible enough with LG’s flavor, but they’ve still got to have enough of a competitive edge… These are fantastic companies, and they’re all competitive with unique ways to doing things for legal and cultural reasons. Can we just get together and agree to make one product that consumers can know will work on all kinds of TVs?”
The ultimate goal, the panel agreed, is to make a simple, excellent 3D experience for consumers.