3D TV and technology beyond…?

The humble little screened box in the corner has come a long way since the first images were transmitted and received some 70 years ago. The TV has gone from black and white to colour, from analogue to digital and now it appears it’s only a matter of time until high definition (HD) becomes surpassed by 3D!

Sky Television revealed at the end of 2008 that they had the technology in place to transmit some programmes in 3D. As with any cutting edge technology, this will come with some limits at first, as, until recently, people were only just getting their head around HDTV and still relatively few channels are available in true HD quality. Nonetheless as sure as we are looking at the future, the demand is there to immerse yourself in the movie, sport event or concert of your choice. It seems a little odd however that they have developed this technology without any real evidence that they have taken the time in really speaking with the television manufacturers themselves, which seems a bit of a ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario.

The only two television manufacturers apparently taking the first tentative steps into the unknown 3^rd dimension are Hyundai and Philips. At this stage, Hyundai have taken 3D down the traditional route for the wearer requiring polarised glasses, whereas Philips have crafted a more sophisticated screen which displays everything in 3D without the viewer resembling Thunderbird’s Brains - FAB!

3D is nothing new for fans of the big screen, from Beowulf to Hannah Montana (spot the difference), we are able to immerse ourselves in this kind of entertainment. It was only ever going to be a question of time until our fascination with miniaturisation and affordable technology would provide the home cinema experience fit for a ‘virtual’ king!

As money is what greases the wheels of industry and innovation, and as HDTV is still in its infancy, no doubt this new technology will only trickle through when someone decides it will be a commercial success. As people are quite content watching TV (HD or otherwise), the progress for this 3D technology could take some time to evolve into something we are all going to have in our home – particularly in this economic environment.

As this technology is still a little while off (depending on where you look, it ranges from one to three years at least), for now, we will have to make do with television shows presenting themselves in 3D. Take for example The Simpsons which featured a Halloween Special: Homer 3D. For those unfamiliar with this episode, Homer managed to fall into the alternative dimension (the 3^rd Dimension) and Bart even explored this dimension too. In the end Homer ended up transferring from the TRON style graphic world and emerged in a street in some suburb of the US to the surprise of onlookers.

It is certainly the animation industry which is really embracing this technological advance more than any other within the entertainment business. With the likes of Toy Story, Hoodwinked and Madagascar all being big box office smashes, the stage is set for more productions appearing in beautifully rendered 3D as opposed to the traditional frame-by-frame hand painted work which synonymous with Disney. The reasons behind the close affiliation between the animation industry and the world of 3D graphics are largely due to them being developed by the same companies and the ability of computers taking out much of the time and labour involved with a production.

The desire to make things more real is not just the grey area which is being touched by the animators, but also the gaming industry. Atmospheric games like F.E.A.R. are not just trying to make the game gripping with a harrowing plot but also through the effective use of graphic images and cinematic tricks achieved through flashing images and mood altering music. In the space of only a few years, even staple popular titles like Electronic Arts’ FIFA have changed from rather basic figures to fully rendered, shaded and lifelike representations of the players themselves. Not only has attention to detail been paid on the looks but also the realistic kinetic movements of the ball when struck and yes, to the after goal celebrations too. In my humble opinion, if ever there was a reason for 3D being developed it would be for the gaming industry. I say this because animation in movies is one thing as it looks nice and so on and so forth, but it’s passive entertainment and as a game is interactive it should arguably be first in line for development.

The battle between games and films in general is a closely run race. In many instances, the money and equipment used in the production of a computer game are sometimes in excess of the budgets used to produce something for the silver screen. It’s not unsurprising then how much a game is when it’s launched in the high street – even though I still find that they’re excessively overpriced when brand new! I can only nervously anticipate the popularity and the cost of a next-generation style game in full 3D.

With more user interaction achieved with modern technology – e.g. the anticipated launch of kinaesthetic suits which allow the user to feel simulated sensations could easily be adapted for use with TV, cinema or computer. In light of this, the appearance of people wearing polarised lenses will seem quite un-intrusive and benign. The potential of being able to feel experiences as though you were in the programme and fooling the mind with images which are consistent with the sensations we’d feel would be only one step away from having the programme us being beamed or wired directly to our brains.

Perhaps in our lifetime we will see the progression of technology continue to grow so that rather than viewing the screen we will be walking into a room and interact with the world around us – much like the holodeck in Star Trek. The only thing these wizards of technology will need to make this possible is the research and introduction of ‘hard light’ (light which is made solid). I can only hope that if this is possible, when they test it, they use something more reliable than Microsoft Windows or Apple software because it could go horribly wrong otherwise!