3D or not 3D - that is the question.

booyaka

booyaka

booyaka

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Over next few months I will be converting my double garage into a "Family Entertainment Suite".

Basically and office and TV/Cinema room!

Anyway - choices about amp/speaks/tv/projector etc are all in the offing soon.

What I would like to know is should I consider 3d tv/projectors etc?

Who has one?
Is it any good?
How much time do you spend watching 3d stuff?
Is it a gimmick?

I must admit at the moment - it would be nice to have but personally for me, not essential. I've not seen any 3D material so I am only going on the thoughts of it being gimmicky (been to IMAX for 3D stuff but never in home or pub etc)

The additional cost of the TV for instance.
50" 1080p NON 3d tv's from around £600.
50" 3D versions start around £1200-£1500 plus the cost of glasses if needed.

I appreciate the AV reciever etc will be 3d ready if needed but the projectors are really a non starter for a decent 3D one your talking £2k plus. Where as a good low end 1080p projector can be had for sub £1k.

Thoughts??
 
I haven't got a 3D tv, but I have seen a couple. For me personally, in its current state, I would have to say its a bit of a gimmick. I cant help but think that you lose a little clarity when watching 3D. If it wasn't so much more expensive then I would most likely change my mind. In my opinion, your best bet would be to just get a good 1080p tv and then say 5/6 years down the line when you need to upgrade, hopefully the 3D tvs where glasses aren't required will be available and not stupidly expensive. At that point, sky will probably have a lot of 3d channels too. Judging by the fact that your converting a double garage, im guessing that there will be a few people watching the TV? If so, the cost of glasses cannot be ignored. Another point to remember is that not everyone likes wearing glasses, especially in a dark room. Nothing worse than getting a headache in the middle of a movie. Spend some of the money you will save on better speakers, which will be a great upgrade with undeniable benefits, that you will enjoy for years.

Just my opinion, but best of luck anyway - really does sound like an epic project, have fun.
 
I'm not convinced that it's going to last. I've already read reports that cinema go-ers are starting to lose interest due to motion sickness etc. Personally, when it works it looks good but there are too many times where I lose focus and it just looks blurry. That plus the 30% loss of colour when wearing glasses make it a definate no for me. I remember watching 3D IMAX Avatar and taking off the glasses to compare and the colours were soooo much more vivid without.

Edit: regarding 3D ready components - am I right in thinking that they just need to have an HDMI 1.4 spec rather than the standard 1.3? I wouldn't have thought the additional cost would be much so it might be worth buying 3D ready hifi / Bluray components just in case? Also, consider building an HTPC and ripping all your movies - mines connected to my server. There's nothing better than selecting from a load of movies using XBMC and going straight into the film, rather than being forced to go through all the warning screens etc :)
 
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IMO it's a novelty. I watched one 3d film on my panasonic tv when I got it. I managed to keep the glasses on for the 90 minutes, then packed them away where they have been ever since.
 
Personaly I would invest in better 2D components then waste money on 3D in it's current form.. I like my image quality too much to have to sacrafice it for a feature that distroys image quality and adds nothing more then a novelty that quickly wears off... To me it is no better this current 3D technology then the 3D with red and cyan glasses (anaglyph).. As we all know that died a horrible death too and so will this passive and active shutter technology.. Spend your money wisely and invest in 2D equipment with higher picture/audio quality you will enjoy your system more and never regret you wasted money on a technology that is already dead.. Before anyone rants back at me it will die because new 3D that does not require glasses will put a huge nail in it's coffin in no time... I see them dead in 5 years at most in their current form. The only 3D I think is worth investing in is the gaming stuff for pc's (and only if you are a serious gamer, but again it's not for me) that shows it works well and adds to the gaming... but same applies to what I said about TV 3D it will die too once the non-glasses version comes out. I tried Imax 3D and all the cinema versions, Real 3D, etc.. and they all are fine in a cinema for a bit of novelty fun but not at home...

Only thing I can advise is go to cinema and watch a 3D movie... See if it's worth the investment to you or try Avatar which is the best 3D movie on someones 3D TV or a show room and remember to try active shutter and passive glasses with the TVs and you decide if it's worth that investment for what you may realise is nothing more then a marketing gimmick.
 
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personally never understood what all the fuss is about with 3d , ive just recently got myself a new tv , had the choice of a 3d set but went for a standard 2d lcd instead
 
The best 2D tv's available will usually support 3D so I don't see how you cannot get 3D anyway just by getting the best 2D display. I bought my lcd last year because it was suppost to have the best 2D picture quality of any available lcd and having it support 3D was a nice bonus, I have been impreseed with the 3D experience but only have about a dozen 3D movies including Avatar and Tron.
 
Jed Shields said:
I'm not convinced that it's going to last. I've already read reports that cinema go-ers are starting to lose interest due to motion sickness etc. Personally, when it works it looks good but there are too many times where I lose focus and it just looks blurry. That plus the 30% loss of colour when wearing glasses make it a definate no for me. I remember watching 3D IMAX Avatar and taking off the glasses to compare and the colours were soooo much more vivid without.
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The 3D version of the film will have a different grade to counter the fact that glasses darken the image, so of course it's going to look brighter when you take the glasses off.
 
Nexus said:
The 3D version of the film will have a different grade to counter the fact that glasses darken the image, so of course it's going to look brighter when you take the glasses off.
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As you say they try to optimise the picture for people who are wearing the glasses, when my 3D tv is displaying 3D content it automatically increase the backlight level to maximum to help counter the loss in brightness from using the glasses.
 
The best TV's usually have 3D anyway so you might aswell have it as an extra bonus, I got my 3D TV 2 days ago (LG 47 inch LW650T) and it's awesome. It adds a whole new dimension to viewing (literally!). The 2D-3D conversion is decent, but 3D content is amazing, really fun to see, the next few years will be full of thousands of 3D films so it won't go to waste and it will be more widely used so definitely go for it!
 
I would go for a TV and projector long before considering 3D. a 90" screen will have far greater impact than a 50" 3D one.

If you do ever decide you want 3D you can invest in the 3D-XL box.
 
Thanks for the input.

At the moment I see it one of 2 ways.

I can get a 50" LG or so for around £550 PLUS a 1080p projector @ £1000

Or

I would be spending probably about £1000-£1200 on 50" 3d TV and not really have enough in the budget for a projector on top of that. I may do but would have to lower my expectations in terms of less budget for an amp or speakers.

Not sure I'm sold on the whole 3D thing either. I've not seen it so will try and demo it but not sure.
 
sHo0sH said:
This.

Everyone knows you look like a pratt with sunglasses on indoors :D

Until the tech is glasses free I'm sticking with my G15 Plasma
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This from me too.

3D should stay in the Cinema where it belongs. :p

I agree about getting a decent 2D telly or 1080p projector though.
 
That's pretty much settled then!!

Good Big 2D TV and a decent 1080p projector!!!

Now just some serious reading/reviewing/testing to be done with all the various amps/speaker options.

Will get a thread up for the whole project when I sort out a builder for the bulk of the work.
 
I would also def go for the 2d options.

Looking forward to seeing build pictures - thats a much better use of a double garage than putting a car or a load of junk in it.
 
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