3D TV fails to take shape

Despite an enormous amount of investment from both manufacturers and broadcasters, it looks like 3D television is probably going to remain a bit of a novelty for the foreseeable future.

Industry analysts are expecting the technology to proliferate, but be used on an occasional basis. Widespread frequent use is going to be curtailed by a lack of engagement with this new viewing experience. Informa Telecoms and Media predict that by 2016, 22 million households in the US and 11 million households in the UK will have adopted 3D TV technology, but fewer than half of those households will be regular users of the equipment. At the moment, more than 90% of the people who have already bought 3D TV say they watch it regularly from the comfort of their recliner sofas.

Part of this apparently shocking statistic is down to technological development. Sooner rather than later, all new televisions will have 3D capabilities, so anybody buying a new television will technically have bought a 3D TV regardless of whether they actually want to watch 3D broadcasts. It’s likely that older generations will be slow to pick up this completely new technology. This will contribute to the 5.5m 3D TV sets which are expected to be dormant in 2016. The reason why 90% of current 3DTV-equipped homes are watching 3D TV quite regularly is because they were generally already interested in the technology and bought the televisions with watching 3D TV specifically in mind.

Enormous corporations like BSkyB have thrown their weight behind 3D TV, but the technology has still received mixed reviews from consumers. A lot of people had difficulty adjusting to the new way of watching video, and the lack of 3D TV material either broadcast or recorded makes it difficult for 3DTV users to get the most out of their equipment. Plenty of pubs in the UK show sporting events in 3D on large screens, but uptake has still been relatively slow – 125,000 private homes have the technology. BSkyB has been largely using 3DTV to broadcast sports and documentaries, because the whole idea of watching anything else in 3D hasn’t been met with much enthusiasm. The BBC is currently broadcasting Wimbledon in 3D, but has been quite slow on the uptake despite a consistent commitment to embracing new technology.

We reckon that Informa Telecoms and Media are right on this one, and that 3DTV is going to remain a bit of a novelty until the technology reaches maturity. For the time being though, it’s barely more than a gimmick to most people and lacks the credibility required for real success.

Below are a few examples from the illustrious crowd of technology which, for whatever reason, never quite took off. We reckon 3D TV will join this party over the next few years.

The Amstrad Emailer

This snazzy-looking bit of kit was the brainchild of Sir Alan Sugar himself, and basically allowed you to send basic e-mails from where you kept your telephone. Released in 2000, it was far too late to the market to be of any real use and at £80 it was too expensive as well. What’s more, it would add over a hundred bucks to your phone bill if you used it frequently.

MiniDisc

In 1992, the solution to everybody’s problems arrived on the scene. The tape was quickly being overtaken by the CD, but the CD was a delicate object compared to the MiniDisc’s hard plastic casing. There was no reason for it to fail, until the CD-R became incredibly popular and then everybody started using MP3 technology instead.

Microsoft Spot

This was going to be the real deal in so many ways. We were going to be surrounded by intelligent, communicative devices. Billfolds which would talk to our alarm clocks, pens which would talk to our key chains. There was even a coffee dispenser which would tell you the weather. This foray into futuristic computing was superseded by smartphone software which can do it all better.