10 Reasons Why People Won't Watch 3D TV

tvpredictions.com ^ | July 6, 2011 | Phillip Swann

[MrEdd]

I haven’t owned a TV since March of 1995.

I guess I can start not watching 3D about as well as I don’t watch 2D now.

[Nowhere Man]

11. If you have astigmatism, you can focus only one eye at a time watching 3D TV. Migraine, anyone?

12. If you have floaters, all you can see are the floaters. AIEEE!

Raises hands on both, that's me too. Anyhoo, the last time I bought a new TV, Michael Jackson went #1 with "Thriller," "The A-Team" just started, "M*A*S*H" had the their last episode, and Yuri Andropov was in power for a few months. I was 16 and a high school sophomore. I turn 45 tomorrow (July 8th) and I still use the same set to this day.

[Nowhere Man]

I still have my cue-cat! B-)

[Nowhere Man]

This may be a little OT but it is still on 3D TV. Anybody remember when they tried 3D TV in the early 1980’s, 1981 to 1983, where they used the old red/blue glasses? I remember here in Pittsburgh, Channel 11 (WPXI) aired a few of those 3D movies. Did they do this in other cities? I remember watching them on our 1971 Zenith Chromacolor (I still have it), it worked a little as long as I had the convergence adjusted right. It was a bit better on the 1982 Zenith that I have now but not spectacular. IIRC, they showed “Creature From the Black Lagoon.”

[Nowhere Man]

This may be a little OT but it is still on 3D TV. Anybody remember when they tried 3D TV in the early 1980’s, 1981 to 1983, where they used the old red/blue glasses? I remember here in Pittsburgh, Channel 11 (WPXI) aired a few of those 3D movies. Did they do this in other cities? I remember watching them on our 1971 Zenith Chromacolor (I still have it), it worked a little as long as I had the convergence adjusted right. It was a bit better on the 1982 Zenith that I have now but not spectacular. IIRC, they showed “Creature From the Black Lagoon.”

[Nowhere Man]

Sorry about the double post. BTW, I have glasses, I’m very nearsighted so those glasses are a pain for me too. Three members of my family are blind in one eye too, my father, his sister (my aunt) and cousin (same side of the family) so I think 3D woulds be out for them.

[Nowhere Man]

I so agree. I'll take it a step further and say it's a deal killer. I completely lose interest in a film once the gaudy computer generated special effects appear. I still think the best special effects I've seen in a SF movie were in Forbidden Planet (1956).

Being the 1980's era geek that I am, I admit I like computer graphics, my favorites were "Tron" (1982) and "The Last Starfighter" (1984). However, I do agree with the special effects on "The Forbidden Planet." If I may, another good film with special effects was "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), I think that has held up quite well too. I liked the computer graphics they used when they were working on the circuit boards in the space station as well.

Most funny 3D movie experience was "Friday The 13th Part III." I remember the gang was sitting around and passing a joint around and you saw this arm and hand passing this huge joint towards you. Everyone in the theater, including us, reached up for it. It was hilarious! B-)

[Nowhere Man]

the only 3D movie I have ever seen was Jaws3D. It was horrible. I had a headache from Hades after 10 minutes. Of course that could also be attributed to the utter stupidity of the story also.

Well, that's one thing "Back to the Future II" (1989) got right about the world of 2015, 3D movies. I remember Marty McFly watching a 3D shark come at him from the ad at the movie theater where it scared him and then he said, "I still think the shark looked fake."

[Lazamataz]

The newest thing in 3d.

[Lancey Howard]

And then there are people like me who are so one-eye dominant that 3-D simply never works, no matter what kind of glasses I wear.

[Welsh Rabbit]

This may be a little OT but it is still on 3D TV. Anybody remember when they tried 3D TV in the early 1980’s, 1981 to 1983, where they used the old red/blue glasses? I remember here in Pittsburgh, Channel 11 (WPXI) aired a few of those 3D movies. Did they do this in other cities?

I vaguely remember this happening in Highland Falls, NY around that time, but I seem recall that the 3D movies were shown by one of the premium movie channels, like HBO or Disney. I could be misremembering though (I about 8 years old), but it was definitely around the same time cable first came to town. We also had an old '70s TV with the knobs, and the cable box had an individual button for each channel (no remote then). The 3D didn't work that well on our TV either, so I only watched a portion of one movie (some early '60s horror movie about a guy who finds a cursed mask, total MST3000 material).

[mowowie]

Here in the Boston area we had the summer of “Gorilla at Large in 3D” around 1980 or so.

This movie was super hyped for 2 months through our local UHF indi channel 56.
All the Convenience Stores were giving out free glasses.

FINALLY the BIG night arrived!!!!

it sucked, the 3d sucked, the movie sucked.
oh well....

[Nowhere Man]

I vaguely remember this happening in Highland Falls, NY around that time, but I seem recall that the 3D movies were shown by one of the premium movie channels, like HBO or Disney. I could be misremembering though (I about 8 years old), but it was definitely around the same time cable first came to town. We also had an old '70s TV with the knobs, and the cable box had an individual button for each channel (no remote then). The 3D didn't work that well on our TV either, so I only watched a portion of one movie (some early '60s horror movie about a guy who finds a cursed mask, total MST3000 material).

We had cable since 1971 although the community had it since 1966. It was owned by a local family and it was called "Astro Cable," I went to school with a few of the kids. Later they sold it to New Channels, then it became Time Warner, TCI, back to Time Warner, and then Comcast. I missed a few steps, it was a long story.

I remember we mainly used the VHF dial for the channels, we did not have premium service although in 1978 we had HBO on channel 6 and you had a small box with an on/off switch to tune it in. I still have it. I remember the next step was an 8 button box where you could get Cinemax and a handful of other cable channels, MTV comes to mind. I remember going to my buddies house as a teenager and we used to watch all those dirty movies they had. B-D Then came the Jerrold converter boxes. BTW, Jerrold electronics was started by former PA Governor (Democrat) Milton Jerrold Shapp.

We got the 1982 Zenith, the set I have and we could tune in cable channels for free since it was cable ready.

As to 3D movies, most of those were MST3K material. To be fair, it sort of worked, not great, but not bad, you needed a darken room of course but it was fun since we were kids.

[Nowhere Man]

All, I found a 1982 reference to 3D movies here in Pittsburgh.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O-EhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=x10EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6946,7061026&dq=three+dimensional+wpxi&hl=en

[Ramius]

If you buy a 3D HDTV, can you disable the 3D function for 3D films and shows?

Yes. 3D movies that come on Blu-Ray also have a 2D version included. At least... all the ones I've gotten have had this.

My new 54" Plasma has 3D capability. I've tried a few 3D movies just to see how it works. For some things, it's pretty neat. I've got a 3D "tour" of the space station that's really very well done and it looks great in 3D. I think it might work well for sports, too.

But I don't like it for movies-- and I finally figured out why: It ruins otherwise great cinematography. A HUGE element in the way directors and cinematographers set up a shot involves the use, no... ~depends~ on the use of depth-of-field to move the focus front and back in the shot. The whole art of a shot is in moving the point of focus to bring different elements of the composition into and out of sharp focus. The director moves the point of focus to force the viewer to move their eyes according to what he wants the viewer to see at the moment. That's all key to what the director is trying to build into a scene.

But 3D means that the ~whole~ depth of field is ~always~ in sharp focus. What it means is that the viewer is moving their eyes all around the screen. It's physically tiring on the eyes. It makes the shot too "busy" with too many things to look at-- and it spoils the effect that the director was building. It ruins the composition.

It might work well for sports. Football... baseball... any time they could get a 3D camera down into the action it might be a useful thing. But not for movies.

[savedbygrace]

Thank you. I agree.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

YES.

Compare the effects of the original three Star Wars films with that of the new trilogy.

The old animatronics/puppets and models are far more realistic than the CG stuff.

[Moonman62]

Compare the effects of the original three Star Wars films with that of the new trilogy. The old animatronics/puppets and models are far more realistic than the CG stuff.

Those were the films I was thinking of along with 2001. The only thing about Star Wars is space doesn't transmit sound, but they wouldn't be the same otherwise. Forbidden Plant from the mid 1950's was pretty good and even the original Star Trek series considering its budget.