Chronicle of a revolution that there was: the big turn their backs on technology and in 2016 will be very few new models with 3D features
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(Photo: Milo Sciaky)
He It had to amaze us with special effects, offer handy visions and allow us – or at least give us the impression – to touch the blue-skinned Na’vi of the Avatar or embrace a player after a goal. Directly at our house. Not at all. The TV in 3D, great promise of ‘ home entertainment of the future, is proving a failed dream of the past. If the signs were clear for some time, 2016 stands out as the ultimate landing year for a technology never really took off .
This has been breathing understood the indifference of the CES in Las Vegas (the same show where in 2010 you were listening style phrases “I have seen the future of television, his name is 3D”), it can be seen wandering among the shelves and offerings the e-store, it reads it especially in the strategic plans of the major manufacturers, Samsung and LG in the first place. Among the new models launched on the market in the coming months, Only a small percentage will present 3D features . And it will be the most expensive products, reserved to high-end consumers.
The noisier back – for blazon and market share – is to Samsung. After months of speculation on the presence (or absence) of the three-dimensionality of the functions of its new screens, a spokesman for the Korean company has confirmed a turn even more radical than expected, “None of the new models to be distributed in 2016 will have 3D functions.” Same for Philips. Complete with a capital sentence available in 2D broadcast worldwide on Vimeo. “The 3D TV is dead,” says Danny Tack, head of product strategy and planning TP Vision, the company that produces and distributes the Philips televisions in Europe. “There are produced in 3D programs, no one wants 3D. It is a technology that only complicates things and does not satisfy any consumer need . ” More open – but not too much – is LG, as confirmed to Wired Paolo Sandri, director of home entertainment LG Electronics Italy. “In fact, the 3D seems no longer an element able to push the consumer to purchase. Until a few years ago, in the shops there was a queue of people who wanted to try this technology today is no longer the case. For this reason we too will reduce its presence in new products. ” To what extent? “The 3D will remain more or less in twenty percent of the new models . But only in those of top range, intended for the public high-end. ” From mass to niche, then you’ll see.
But what are the reasons for the failure? Because the promises have not been kept just six years ago, when even a newspaper is not subject to disproportionate technophilia as the Guardian he wrote that “the arrival of 3D television promises a revolution in home entertainment”? The list is long and involves all stakeholders in the large tv game: from producers to consumers, through intermediaries, ie the network of (few) content providers. It is not just Danny Tack to point the finger at the media company. The “ reduced amount of programs available in this format ” is also among the reasons that led Samsung to turn their backs on technology. “There is a mismatch between producers and broadcasters,” added Sandri. “Manufacturers have been quick to develop a technology that interested the audience, but – apart from a few exceptions, such as Sky – broadcasters have not so equally in creating content.”
the same Sky now seems to have realized that the game is not worth the candle . The first television channel in the world dedicated exclusively to 3D programs, inaugurated in Great Britain and Ireland in 2010, was closed in the middle of last year and all its contents were transferred into the large basket undifferentiated-Demand. In Italy, it takes hard: the 150 of Sky 3D channel is still open, with its mix of documentaries, cartoons for kids and action blockbusters. However, even the pay TV Rupert Murdoch appears to be largely oriented towards other advanced technology horizons. Especially virtual reality, the new eldorado that is tempting the entire political spectrum of the XXI Century entertainment: Facebook video games producers, through Hollywood. After tests at the Venice Carnival, Sky announced the production of special consumables in VR content, starting with initiatives related to sporting events like the Grand Prix of Formula 1 and the Tour de France.
(Photo: Getty Images)
the shortage of available content is not the only reason for the lack of success of 3D. From the point of view of the audience, according to many commentators, the real obstacle was the requirement to use the lenses, or better, the glasses : Appendix needed to be able to prove the close experience of the Third Kind. Echoing and expanding claims of Danny Tack, the special viewers have made it a habit immediately more complicated so simple that it can be condensed in the “Chair & amp; remote control”. The decision to focus on sport has not accorded too well with the rites of the collective vision of a football match: it is one thing to sit in front of the TV together with friends and with a beer in his hand, another isolate itself behind a couple of dark glasses.
“For many people, the tv is something that remains in the background, while you are cooking, embroidering or surfing the Internet on a tablet is not a medium that requires a complete immersion, like the cinema, “he said a few years ago the presenter and disseminator British architect Sir Richard Attenborough. “I do not think that 3D will fit well to stay in the background. You need to wear the glasses, and when you do you’re immediately isolated. Do not you realize even more account of the person who is near “(it must be said that Sir Richard then realized 3D versions of some of his documentaries).
For the same reasons even a successful marriage between television and virtual reality is far from obvious. The various Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Lives and Playstation VR promise amazing emotions to gamers, but what can they give more to the viewer of the Champions League or Masterchef? When in doubt, manufacturers of televisions seem to have learned the lesson of 3D and are focusing on other directions related to the improvement of a more traditional use. In the lexicon of the technology, the keywords of 2016 – those that, unlike in 3D, there are the specifications of any new model – have thus become 4K and OLED: “In terms of quality, there is no comparison between the old models in pixels backlit and new products such as the 55 “OLED flat screen we have just presented,” says Paolo Sandri LG. “For the first time we offer the public a chance to see the” perfect black “». Without the obligation to wear a pair of glasses.
In the scenario of the contents and its suppliers, is instead accelerating the handover of the digital terrestrial all’accoppiata satellite / web. With the terrestrial band now in danger of saturation, the networks are starting to shift their high quality broadcasts on satellite (where RAI has announced for 2016, the distribution of eleven channels). Meanwhile, thanks to the Netflix autumn landing, even among the Italian public’s growing appetite for streaming on demand via the Internet. Inevitable that the producers of television screens to adapt to innovations, increasing the distribution models that allow direct access to the Internet (in this case the key word is “Smart TV”) and launching of winks strategies and partnerships with online services (see Recommended Netflix TV page, where from mid-March, the US site suggests some TV models distributed in 2016 and compatible with its service).
in short, the three-dimensional door for a few years it was opened in our living room now seems blocked. And this does not seem to worry too much neither the public nor the companies. To paraphrase an old song by Gil Scott-Heron, one could say that “the 3D revolution will not be televised”, still survive to the cinema. At least in the short term. The world’s top in the room in 2015 most popular films, the first five – those that have passed the billion-dollar collection – have all been distributed also in 3D. The format appears irreplaceable, in particular when it comes to action & amp; animation, and several new blockbusters are announced for 2016. However, even by the parties in Hollywood you start to think about the technology costs and benefits. The peak of growth in the sale of tickets seems outdated and what is happening in the television industry could have repercussions on the studio’s choices. For thirty years, the home video occupies a considerable slice of the pie of the profits of movie producers. If the TV renounce definitively to the three-dimensional format, which means that the only useful channel to recoup the investment in new 3D film will remain the box office. A reality which could further reduce the production of a few successful titles.
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