Why 3D TV Is Idiotic and Will Never Catch On

You have likely seen commercials and read internet buzz regarding the advent of 3D TV TECHNOLOGY. The enormous success of movies like Avatar and Alice In Wonderland have pushed TV makers, cable companies, and media conglomerates to jump on the 3D bandwagon.

What they're banking on is that the consumer is willing to pay for new television sets and additional cable services for a supposedly superior viewing experience. An experience that enhances ones senses and augments the realness of what's being watched.

There is a problem with this though. A BIG problem. It's idiotic. It's idiotic for so many reasons and I'll try to address all of them in this article but I'll undoubtedly fail as miserably as the companies that are investing so many resources and dollars into trying to make 3D TV a mainstream home entertainment medium.

The most obvious to me is this - 3D Glasses. People don't want to wear 3D glasses. I sure as hell don't. They are heavy, ugly, and worst of all EXPENSIVE. I haven't seen glasses that were included in the cost of TV's...yet. It costs roughly up to $150 dollars for one pair. The issue is that no one is going to have just one. That's like having one Wii controller. You need AT LEAST two, if not four sets of 3D glasses. That's $600 bucks for ugly, shitty, heavy, uncomfortable glasses that you can use at best once in a while.

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When you're at the movie theater watching a 3D movie like Avatar, that is ALL your doing. You paid for the admission and you are sitting in a dark room and the ONLY thing your doing is watching that movie. When you're at home it's a different story. You're not just watching your 3D TV. You're on Facebook stalking people, you're feeling up the person next to you, you're looking at your cell phone. Not to mention the advertisements during TV broadcasts. Will they be in 3D? Will you give a shit? The only option is to continuously flip your glasses up and down numerous times. People watch TV because they DON'T want to do extraneous stuff.

The big companies investing time, money, and effort trying to make 3D TV something that is easily accessible may not realize that many people, including myself, do not want to watch things in 3D. Remember the few minutes after Avatar ended? Although it was one of my favorite movies, I had a splitting headache and dizziness after constantly zeroing in on certain aspects of the screen. Now imagine doing this with frequency, which I'd assume you would after shelling out thousands of dollars for 3D capabilities.

So if you can tolerate the vertigo, I ask you this? Are you excited to watch The King of Queens in 3D? How about Wheel of Fortune? "OMG Vanna is sitting on my lap right now bro!" There is only a handful of programming I can realistically see watching in 3D - sports, action movies, and trippy cartoons. Other than that, I can confidently say that no one is pining to see Jon and Kate plus 8 coming right at them.

Do you know much money and time it costs for the TV networks to encode in specific 3D standards? It makes taking footage of something in HD seem like snapping a disposable camera. Speaking of standards, there is none of it. All of these greedy companies involved need to get on the same technical page in order for it to scale and I will put all my money on black and say that is never going to happen. A company isn't getting into to the 3D business so it can create a fair and balanced platform that encourages competitive balance. Sorry, it doesn't work like that. The only way standards get imposed and adopted is if one company takes a substantial market share lead over its competition forcing the other companies to adapt to their "standards" in order to survive.

It all comes down to the cost-benefit. The cost of spending $1000+ on a TV, $500+ on glasses, and $20-$50+ on extra cable per month. The benefit of occasionally watching programming in 3D, if its available, and if you feel like it at that given moment, Will some people do this? Of course. Will enough people do this to sustain a new medium? No.

Did I miss something? Are there other benefits that I neglected to mention? I'd love to hear in the comments section.

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Sources: Wiki MSN Money PC Mag