I had the opportunity to see a new Samsung 3D capable TV. In a word, not so impressed.

When we saw AVATAR in the theatres (in 3D of course) I found the 3D effect distracting. Please note that while the movie theatre uses polarized glasses to achieve the effect, the active-shutter glasses for the Samsung TV were no better… exhibiting the same effects:

1. The 3D effect was too pronounced for objects near the “camera”.
2. I found that the edges of the 3D objects to exhibit a kind of prismatic shimmering (best I can describe it). The more blurred the object, the worse the effect
3. Being a photographer, I understand a little about depth-of-field. When a camera takes a shot (photo or video) the area that is focused is sharp and anything in front of and behind goes blurry. The larger the aperture (lower number) the shallower the sharp zone, or “depth-of-field”. Now with the 3D, your eye is tricked (via stereoscopy) to believe it is seeing a real 3-dimensional object. Well, with my eyes thinking that, when looking at other parts of the screen that are not in focus, my eyes attempt to re-focus. Of course, since these objects are not actually 3-dimensional my brain gets confused… basically distracting.

All in all I think that technology is nowhere near close enough yet. I’ve got my doubts this will take off any time soon. I get the impression that the push to 3D from manufacturers is really them trying to re-energize the consumer market that has suffered from the economic setbacks. Basically they’re trying to rev-up our “consumption machine”. As far as I’m concerned, we’re still in theme park and novelty territory here.

I’m not buying yet… it’s just not worth it, and frankly is a distraction from the videophile and cinematic experience.