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Nothing against good new technology, but it is best to let someone else buy first. I know, as my family has bought into a fair amount of bad electronic tech.

The quadraphonic 8-track tapes I bought from Maxell didn’t have much of a shelf life. Now that I think of it, the regular stereo ones weren’t much better.

My dad’s RCA Disc-O-Vision wasn’t exactly DVD, despite price drops. He also thought that giant magfying lens for his 23” RCA color TV was was going to make a true home theatre, and that a “voice canceller” device would be able to make his own karoake recordings with his LP/reel collection before there was karaoke (at least state-side). Heck, even my 4-hour recorded VHS tapes ( LP) weren’t compatible with the majority of players that were 2/6 hour only (SP/SLP) a few years later.

Then there were the attempts to create simulated stereo ... tinny sound came with it for free. And Mr. Turner was going to show us that Frank Sinatra looked better in green eyes and that Cary Grant favored baby blue suits with colorization.

Of course, RCA’s CED and the Philips laser disc were forerunners to DVD. The fuzzy projection TVs and magnifying glasses gave way to large screen LCD and plasma. QUBE gave way to the web. FM Simulcast gave way to true broadcast hifi stereo and later 6.1. UHF converters and Jerrold Traps and Channel Master signal boosters and set couplers gave way to cable, dish and 1080p digital. (Oddly, rabbit ears and roof antennas still have a role in urban and suburban settings).

Eventually something like functional 3D may come along, but I don’t think this system will be it. Color TV could not take off until a system that allowed both color and black and white sets to view both color and black and white programs. Short of a forced conversion, like we had with digital, I don’t see that happening any time soon. In the meantime, we have high-priced full-motion GAF ViewMasters.