Despite a plethora of 3-D films and television options, consumers aren't buying many 3-D TVs. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Despite Hollywood’s continued onslaught of 3-D films hitting the big screen, not many people are buying 3-D TVs.
Whose fault is that? Panasonic’s marketing director Andrew Denham blames Hollywood for making such bad 3-D movies.
“Hollywood damaged 3-D by rushing so many badly converted films out in Avatar’s wake,” Denham said at the recent Intellect Consumer Electronics 2011 show. “What we need now is the next level, the next Avatar. And that’s a big ask, I think.”
But according to an April report from NPD Group, a market research firm, prices of 3-D TVs and the need to wear glasses top consumers’ complaints about owning sets in the home. A June SNL Kagan report also pegged 3-D sets’ higher price points, as well as lack of content, the need for eyewear and issues about universal standards, as reasons for 3-D TVs’ failure to populate consumer’s homes in 2011.
In 2010, 3-D TVs were billed as the breakthrough technology of the year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But consumers only purchased 1.1 million units that year, and the Consumer Electronics Association projected sales of just under 2 million this year.
Unfortunately, eye strain, nausea and fatigue (not to mention the need to wear glasses just to watch TV) have historically made consumers weary of bringing a 3-D TV into their home.
Despite a growing number of offerings at reduced prices (dropping from $900 more than a comparable HDTV in 2010 to only $400 more in 2011), and more attractive 3-D eyewear offerings, the popularity of 3-D in the home continues to lag.
And it looks like — for now — Hollywood is at least partly to blame.
“3-D is right smack in the middle of its terrible twos,” said Dreamworks animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “We have disappointed our audience multiple times now, and because of that I think there is genuine distrust — whereas a year and a half ago, there was genuine excitement, enthusiasm and reward for the first group of 3-D films that actually delivered a quality experience.”
Of course, Katzenberg is primarily talking about box office sales, but a box office flop (particularly a 3-D blockbuster flop) is pretty unlikely to score big when it finally makes it to Blu-ray.
Both manufacturers Sony and Panasonic hope that increased broadcast television content will also spur interest in the technology. 3-D sports offerings, such as ESPN 3D, which is now in its second year, may be 3-D’s best hope.
But of the 2,000 respondents who were interested in 3-D TVs in the NPD survey, most were potentially interested in watching films. Approximately 68 percent cited Blu-ray movies as the type of content they would want to view on the displays.
Although the general outlook is cloudy, not everyone is down on consumer 3-D adoption. Market research firm iSuppli projects sales will expand 5.5 percent this year, and top nearly 160 million units by 2015 since “brands are marketing 3-D not as a must-have technology but as a desirable feature, similar to the approach they have taken with internet connectivity.”
Regardless, nobody’s going to buy a TV if there’s nothing good to watch on it.
