3D TVs Selling Better Than HDTV Did

There is some welcome news for the 3DTV industry as Futuresource Consulting announced global sales of 3DTVs are expected to exceed four million this year.

Western Europe will account for 1.2 million of those which is expected to reach three million by 2011. Five million American households are expected to ride the 3DTV wave next year.

It is suggested that 3DTV will continue to provide premium brand TV manufacturers with a way to differentiate themselves from the competition and add value for consumers. For systems that use active glasses technology, manufacturers are now able to embed 3D chipsets at a relatively low cost, allowing them to increase their margins while still keeping 3D affordable. Passive glasses technology, as used in cinemas, is still more expensive to produce for the home and will remain costly for some time, as the TV requires a polarised screen. In addition, passive systems are unable to show 3D in full 1080p, as the picture on the screen is polarised, with half the image delivered to the left eye and half to the right.” Bill Foster, Senior Technology Consultant at Futuresource Consulting.

As the television market continues to be commoditised, with traditional factors like screen size, display thickness and the quality of image reaching their peak, 3D capability will increasingly be bundled with other features like connectivity, web services and energy efficiency to add a new dimension beyond the battle for price point.

Toshiba’s announcement about its autostereoscopic (glasses-free) 3DTVs, combined with a number of optimistic predictions across the industry, may be discouraging some consumers from investing in the current generation of 3DTV,” says Foster. “However, Futuresource research shows that autostereoscopic technologies are at least four years away from a large screen solution for the home, and it will likely be a few years beyond this before sets reach mass-market pricing. Bill Foster

At a smaller screen size, auto-stereoscopic 3D devices are commercially viable as they are viewed close-up by a single person. The highest profile device to be announced so far is without doubt the Nintendo 3DS, due for launch in early 2011 and featuring a 3.53-inch display, but the developers of these small displays readily admit that scaling to larger sizes for a living room environment presents a significant technical challenge.

Source: Futuresource Consulting

Although the fact 3DTV is selling faster than HD did is good news, we must not forget that high definition services did take an extraordinary long time to get where it is today. However, the implication is that, as high definition is finally going mainstream, that might be the eventual case with 3DTV but I do not believe HD and 3DTV can be compared in anyway. HDTV does not require any commitment from the viewer to wear glasses and does not receive the negative reaction that 3DTV sometimes does (you don’t hear people saying the picture is too clear!).

Also, I suspect that the majority of those sales and predicted sales are from and will be from people who were in the market for high spec televisions rather than for their 3D functionality. The real good news is for 3D content producers. Nearly every new high spec television has inbuilt 3D functionality. If this trend continues, then it is reasonable to expect most people to own a 3DTV in ten years time – a massive potential audience for 3D programing.

What Bill Foster from Futurescope did not say in his report was that full HD passive televisions are likley to come onto the market next year and whilst they will be more expensive than current 3DTV’s , I believe this will be the start of a larger acceptance of 3DTV if viewers are not required to wear expensive active glasses.

3DTVs have already reduced dramatically in price. For example, Amazon sell the . It was not that long ago that regular 50 inch 2D televisions would have cost more than that and look how cheap they are now.

Overall, it is clear 3D TVs will find their way into most living rooms around the globe as did HDTV but the questions remain – will people be watching 3D content on their sets? Will people pay a premium to view 3D content like they do in the movie theatre and will there be the high quality compelling 3D content available? They reckon 2011 will have the answers!

Do you agree or disagree with me? Leave me a comment!

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