Do we need 3D TV?
MANILA, Philippines - What has Pandora un-leashed? The land of hyp-notic whispering foliage, strange flying beasts controlled by ponytails, and tall blue cat people in James Cameron’s Titanic-sinking ex-threedee-ganza Avatar is a magical, magical place when viewed on a 72-feet wide IMAX screen, wearing specialty goggles. But when ripped on to a fake Blu-ray disc sold in the pirate’s den and brought home to your albeit fancy high definition home theater system, the movie’s shimmering layers literally fall away, revealing a shallow, multi-recycled plot line on a 2D plane.
But 2.5 billion dollars can’t be wrong, and Avatar is admittedly an exhilarating thrill ride that makes audiences ooh, ahh, gasp and squeal, probably not unlike when the first moving picture of a headlong train freaked audiences back in 1896 (incidentally, L’Arrivee d’un Train was reshot by the Lumiere brothers using a stereoscopic camera in 1933, making it one of the earliest 3D films). Avatar, and the burgeoning 2D to 3D conversion industry it triggered, had to find a home in home viewing.
And here is where Samsung, the world’s largest manufacturers of televisions, comes in. At the recent global launch of the first Full HD 3D LED TV (that’s a mouthful of acronyms) in New York’s Times Square, the world’s most ubiquitous hip hop group, the Black Eyed Peas, was joined by no less than James Cameron himself to usher in the new era of home entertainment. The television was first introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year in Las Vegas, was launched in Europe late February, and will very soon be available in the Philippines.
I got to try out, or rather “experience,” the 3D TV for myself, goggles and all. Being a skeptical lover of technology, I was uncertain of whether 3D was a completely necessary addition to the viewing experience — so far, in movies, they were just a gimmicky dimension that often left one with a headache — but I was intrigued all the same. I mean, a freaking 3D TV? How futuristic is that?
The LED TV Series C 8000 seemed like any other new-model Samsung set sleek, sexy, and shockingly simple. Just a brushed steel frame on a stand and 55 inches of screen. The pair of dark Active Shutter glasses that awaited invitingly on the table looked less like the goofy snorkeling goggles given to you in cinemas and more like what would have been cool skiing shades in the ’90s. These battery-operated babies are, as of yet, the only way to view 3D TVs. I slipped them on comfortably over my own pair of glasses and prepared to be welcomed to the “desert of the real.”
It turns out there were no actual 3D Blu-ray titles available here at the time (Samsung will throw in Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D when you buy a TV package, and DreamWorks, who struck up a partnership with Samsung, will be working round the clock to produce more films), so I was left to try out the arguably second-most intriguing feature of the TV, its 2D to 3D conversion capability. A football match was put on, the 3D switch activated, and voila, the action on the screen turned into a moving-pop up book.
Jan Roman, Flat Panel TV product manager, explained to me that this was just 2D converted to 3D.” The foreground is just separated from the background to give the illusion of depth, and because the 240hz speed panel has to send out 120hz to each eye to give the 3D effect, the picture quality is modified. Watching a car race provided better results, perhaps because of the way it was shot. The graphics, on the other hand (scores, logos, imaginary arrows) looked amazing, popping out at you in different layers and making the program seem more interactive.
Using the conversion tool on 2D material will therefore be a bit tricky. I think it will work especially well with video games, which are already created with multiple dimensionality in mind, certain sporting events, action and sci-fi movies, but particularly those with wide shots and slow cuts. And of course, animated films. It makes no sense to watch the news, or anything that requires a modicum of mental concentration, in converted 3D but you can if you want to.
That, actually, is the beauty of the Samsung Full HD 3D LED TV. Even without using the 3D software or the 3D Blu-ray player, it still provides an excellent picture. I watched the non-3D version of Monsters vs. Aliens, and the animation was so crisp and the image was so clear, it was practically 3D. Movies like Coraline and Up are already fantastic on their own, their release in 3D is merely icing on the cake.
The Full HD 3D LED TV also has a bunch of other features that make it indispensable, such as Internet@TV, with around 30 apps available like Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, Skype, and YouTube. For local content, Click The City can be accessed, and others soon to come. You can even record your favorite programs, doing away with laborious VCRs (do people still even use them?) and the inconspicuous USB slot in the back allows you to plug-and-play material from your laptop. “It’s the complete solution for TV,” Roman says.
Because Samsung has positioned themselves to be at the forefront of the 3D revolution, it does run into the problem of there not being enough content. But not for long; since Avatar, new movies like Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans have delayed their theatrical release date in order to be converted to 3D. Although 3D films have been around forever, it’s a different thing altogether being able to bring it home. Watching in 3D is a strangely personal experience, since you and you alone are completely immersed in the environment. And, you can reach out to “touch” something without feeling like an idiot, in the privacy of your own living room.
Even our favorite old-school director Martin Scorsese is all about the 3D. “It just seems natural that we’d be going in that direction, he was quoted as saying. “We see in depth, for the most part. We go to the theater, it’s in depth. Why couldn’t a film like Precious be in 3D? It should be.”
Imagine that.
