James Cameron says he knows what led to the downfall of 3D TVs

Thread: James Cameron says he knows what led to the downfall of 3D TVs
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Grisham

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James Cameron, the world-famous director and #1 advocate of 3D movies, says 3D TVs failed to take off because—get ready for it—audiences watch movies at home differently than they do in the movie theater.

"I know why all that failed because there was—what they did was they jumped into 3D trying to cash in on the boom at theaters and treat it as a feature," Cameron said to IGN (opens in new tab) in a recent interview promoting the re-release of Avatar in movie theaters.

"So, they did 3D, but they did it with glasses that needed to be recharged and all that. Whereas just over the horizon was glasses-free, large flat screen TVs which actually look pretty good."

3D TVs were the talk of the town when they made a big splash in 2010 during CES (opens in new tab). Those sets required using 3D glasses that needed regular charging in order to operate. They were also a bit of a pain to wear, especially for anyone who wore regular glasses. Interestingly enough, the Avatar: Limited 3D Edition Blu-ray's home release spearheaded the 3D TV craze, with most department stores using that movie to demo a TV's 3D support.

So what was it about 3D that didn't catch on? Cameron blames the "imperative to manufacture [glasses-free TVs], and the additional cost required got out of step with the market demand." The Terminator 2 director explained that home viewers "don't want anything that distracts them from multi-tasking and/or socializing with other people that are in the room with them."
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Could 3D TVs make a comeback? Cameron has some thoughts. "I think it could but can't say because the home viewing experience is fundamentally different than the theatrical experience," the Oscar-winning director said.

Cameron is currently promoting the re-release of Avatar in movie theaters this month, and he made no bones about how he thinks audiences should see it, saying he's "perfectly happy if the only place you can really get it [in 3D] is in a movie theater because it speaks to that specialness of the cinematic experience."
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www.pcgamer.com

James Cameron says he knows what led to the downfall of 3D TVs

The filmmaker blames rechargeable 3D glasses and an industry trying to "cash in" on a feature.
www.pcgamer.com www.pcgamer.com
 
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TBH it makes sense. No one wants to put on these glasses that block you out from your phone friends gay porn....er i mean eating....
 
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I still have and use my 1080p one as my main home theater display. I stopped caring about 3D content not long after using it because the hardware and experience just weren't that good.

It's strange, though, even after it the TVs failed, it still felt like everything was continuing to come out in 3D in theaters. Now that rarely seems to be the case.
 
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I was one of the assholes that fell for the hype. I bought a 3d plasma Samsung for like 2gs over 10 years ago. I used the 3d exactly twice. It was underwhelming to me. My dog ate a pair of the 200 dollar glasses and I had to just laugh at that point. I still have the TV in a spare bedroom but it has a weird railroad track like burn in across the bottom of the screen.
 
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Yeah I remember when the first 3d tvs hit and they were active with $100 glasses that required charging, heavy crosstalk and the "system seller" Avatar was exclusive to Panasonic.

The home market never really took off though it went for a few years as a niche and technically still exists as a mega niche. I was just happy Friday the 13th part 3D finally got a real 3D release. I had wanted to see that movie in true 3d (Not red+blue) forever.

Bolivar said:
It's strange, though, even after it the TVs failed, it still felt like everything was continuing to come out in 3D in theaters. Now that rarely seems to be the case.
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That was partially because 3D was still popular in China so they'd made the conversions the with their market in mind. That coupled with whatever extra domestic revenue they got for the higher priced tickets.
 
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It's clear there's a market for 3D, what doesn't exist is the technology to make it financially feasible. Just the overhead of needing to provide glasses is the entire point of why technology isn't or never will be there.

Same problem with VR in that prolonged use of a VR set will hurt your neck

As soon as Avatar 2 comes out and is another 3D Masterpiece the hype will start up again but the technology still isn't there.
 
It was a strange time though. Everyone and their mother trying to push 3D on you. Even Nintendo with the 3DS. Imagine James Cameron never made Avatar, so no 3D hype, 3DS is 2DS but maybe more powerful with a way better/bigger screen. Could have been more like the VITA. Oh man Sony even made a 3DTV lol. The market really tried to make it into a thing.
 
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cryptoadam said:
Even Nintendo with the 3DS.
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That system was so underwhelming, sometimes I forget it even existed. Nintendo chasing after the 3D hype was a terrible decision.
A stronger 3DS could indeed been more like the VITA with higher resolution and a second control stick... games such as Kid Icarus or Montser Hunter would have profited from that. Instead they sold an extra control stick as an ugly extension piece, and the 3DS support of shaders was wasted on a 400x240 screen.
 
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Bunta said:
That system was so underwhelming, sometimes I forget it even existed. Nintendo chasing after the 3D hype was a terrible decision.
A stronger 3DS could indeed been more like the VITA with higher resolution and a second control stick... games such as Kid Icarus or Montser Hunter would have profited from that. Instead they sold an extra control stick as an ugly extension piece, and the 3DS support of shaders was wasted on a 400x240 screen.
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I simply turned off the 3D as it felt more like playing cross eyed and the moment you didn't have your hands/eyes perfectly aligned it showed it's limitations. Cool gimmick concept but lame end result
 
Interesting he mentions glasses free 3D. A colleague, formerly a relatively senior guy in Weta, told me ages ago he'd heard the planned gimmick for the new Avatars was glasses free cinema 3D.
 
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My friend's stepdad had one of those early 4K TVs with 3D on it. We tried watching Avatar on it one night and got bored 30 minutes in. The 3D effect was good, but the movie was so boring on a rewatch.
 
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Cameron should call the Ghetto Mermaid for an Avatar sequel since she has that derpy face that fits the role. Just paint her blue. No cgi needed
 
Grinchy said:
My friend's stepdad had one of those early 4K TVs with 3D on it. We tried watching Avatar on it one night and got bored 30 minutes in. The 3D effect was good, but the movie was so boring on a rewatch.
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The story is a legit ripoff of Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves just replace the indians with aliens
 
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Hinedorf said:
I simply turned off the 3D as it felt more like playing cross eyed and the moment you didn't have your hands/eyes perfectly aligned it showed it's limitations. Cool gimmick concept but lame end result
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Same here, I don't remember using the 3D at all after the first few weeks. I often change position while sitting/lying down when using handhelds, causing the 3D to desync.
 
The 3DS's problems were all basically solved by the n3DS, and there are some amazing games on the system, and even some fantastic older titles given a fully 3D port that are the definitive way of playing them.

I'm not saying 3D was worth it, but the n3DS is, I would argue, the zenith of 3D technology and that form of entertainment generally. The n2DS genuinely feels like a step down from it, I spite of it being such a gimmick in most games, by the end of the systems life
 
teezzy said:
Is Avatar 2 supposed to be 3D even?
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That was my understanding. I thought it was suppose to be a big push for the format again. And most theaters are equipped for it. Just might need to order some new glasses. Also 3D means upcharges on tickets which means a higher gross!
 
Arkam said:
That was my understanding. I thought it was suppose to be a big push for the format again. And most theaters are equipped for it. Just might need to order some new glasses. Also 3D means upcharges on tickets which means a higher gross!
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Big push for the format again? It feels like 3d never really went away, most major releases are in 3d, including kids movies. Jurassic World Dominion in 3d. Saw Sonic 2 and the new minions in 3d as well.
 
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