Loren Nielsen, president and co-founder of Entertainment Technology Consultants, addressed 3D content during HPA’s 3D Super Session.

On genres, she suggested that animation”must be” 3D, and now horror is taking off. “It’s a natural,” she said, “because the box office has been so much bigger for 3D with horror. Maybe this only applies to horror films that are $15 million and above. But some horror films are being made for $5 million. … Foreign distributors are willing to pay more for 3D.”

What has the industry learned from “Avatar?” Nielsen suggested: “If you are going to make a tentpole, you better consider 3D and certainly release in the 3D format. Most of that has to do with box office. If you can get an extra $3-$4 for a ticket, you are going to get an uptick of 15% on your revenues.”

She concluded:

–We have a creative demand that is pushing 3D.

–Deployment of the hardware and content is driven by the premium revenue.

–There will be more 3D, and audiences are willing to paying more for it.

–Expect premium pricing for 3D channels.

“Are You Guys Nuts?” David Wood, deputy director of the EBU Technical Group, asked the HPA Tech Retreat attendees this question during its 3D Super Session.

“I love stereo,” he said. “But I think there are some things that we simply don’t know yet and should think about.”

Wood asserted: “3D will never die, it keeps coming back like a politicians promise. But if it will succeed, its time is now. But is that enough? We owe it to ourselves to research the economic and behavioral issues. We owe it to the public to research the physical effects.

He raised many questions:

–Does 3D ever turn from ‘wow’ to ‘ho-hum?’, he asked, pointing out that there have been repeated cycles of 3D. Was it just sloppy image registration, or is it possible that the public got tired of it?

–How does 3D change the viewers’ behavior? For instance, do they view for longer or shorter lengths of time?

–Does everybody win? Different parts of the value chain have different key requirements for success.

–Who should make 3D TV standards? Is a common standard for 3D TV doable? Do they need to be worldwide or regional standards?

–Will Blu-ray and games lead to fragmentation?

–Do we “get” 3D production? And are we sure it will suit all sports?

–Will there still be eye irritation even after the left/right alignment? To this point, Wood asserted: “Is half a dozen people working on this enough for a billion dollar industry? There should be more. What we have is anecdotes. I think we should add a word of caution (to viewers), until we know the scientific evidence.”