I noticed that Randall Newton, in his Graphic Speak newsletter of 16 July 2012, commented on the Dimension 3 conference in Paris that focuses on digital 3D. He stated that “not all is well in 3D Land, reports Kathleen Maher; total revenue from 3D movies is dropping, despite blockbusters that do well. 3D in the home is still an expensive novelty, with few choices for consumers.” http://gfxspeak.com

I want to give you some feedback on my own experience with 3D TV and how it changed my perception.

On a recent trip to visit my son, it turns out he had a room added to his house and was in need of a new HDTV. He asked me to help him make a selection. Being somewhat of an electronics geek, I happily agreed, particularly since he was paying.

Off we went to Costco to browse their selection of LED TV’s. One that instantly struck our eyes was a new 3D LED HDTV by Samsung, a 55 inch TV from their new ES Series. While this was almost $400 more than we expected to spend, after looking at it and the rest of the offerings, my grandson lobbied hard for this TV. Even without seeing 3D on this set it blew away anything else in the store. He coupled this with a 3D blu-ray player by Samsung. My contribution was to buy a 3D movie (John Conner 2012) so we could test it out at home.

The hookups were easy, so after about half an hour of moving everything around and connecting all the wires, we turned it on and were literally blown away by the 3D experience! Lightweight active glasses seemed to avoid headaches I typically have gotten from passive glasses.

The picture was crisp and with amazing 3D. I didn’t quite flinch when things appeared to come out of the screen, but came close a few times. I had seen the movie before in 2D and was amazed by the difference. More lifelike. More compelling. Great images.

My conclusion: the next TV I buy will be one with 3D. I wonder why all CAD vendors don’t fully support 3D? We have 3D input devices. We have 3D printers. Yet, few vendors offer 3D display software for graphics design. Why?

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