Do you have a pair of those fashionable 3D glasses? This technology has been around for some time in movie theaters, but only recently has it made it to technologies that are closer to home. Let's explore the latest technology phenomenon called 3D.
3D has been around since the dawn of photography. Before moving pictures, still photographs could be viewed in 3D using a stereoscope device. However it never really caught on and was later used in the military by arial photo interruptors. Once motion pictures were invented several attempts were made to produce 3D images, but the technology was lacking. In the early 1950's several attempts were made to show 3D movies, but still the technology was at fault and movie goers became frustrated by the quality. It really was not until the mid-1980's that 3D technology was good enough and select classic films like Jaws 3-D and Amityville 3-D were made that audiences got a feel for 3D. However, the effects were annoying and these movies were expensive to make. Only recently, in the last 5 years, has 3D caught up with the viewers expectations and Hollywood has gone crazy making almost every action movie in 3D.The main reason for this has to do with money. With the introduction of inexpensive, good quality home theater systems and HD and BlueRay people have stopped going to the movies. It's more relaxing and cheaper to stay home and any number of movies can be viewed with on-demand offerings. Hollywood needed a new gimmick to get people to come to the theater and this was 3D. With the combination of 3D and stadium seating, movie theaters could offer a better experience than could be found at home. What they didn't count on was that home theater manufactures were right behind them.
Enter the home 3D solutions. Almost every major manufacturer has one and combined with 3D BlueRay the home theater experience again outweighs the movie theater experience, or does it? From the beginning everyone recognized that the glasses were going to be an issue. The costs were high and having to wear glasses to watch say a football game with five friends could get pricy. The other issue is limited programming. It costs more to produce programming in 3D and there is not much advantage to watching your favorite sitcom or police drama in 3D versus HD. Yes football or a nature show on Discovery might look better but is it worth the cost? I think not. There has been talk about 3D TV without glasses using a method called auto-stereoscopic-technologies. The biggest issue I see is that the manufactures working on this problem say they will not be able to mass produce large screen models like the one in your home today and that the initial screen resolution will step back to 720P (yuck). I am not sure I would invest in a 20 inch 720P 3D TV to watch football. So if you really need to see football or nature shows in 3D (without glasses) you'll be one of those leading edge investors that will most likely have to throw the entire set out in a few years. 
Personally, I'll leave 3D in the movie theater and hope they start to invest more in 4D. If Hollywood and movie theater owners are smart, they'll start thinking now how they will captivate theater goers once 3D or something else (see below) is commercially available in homes. This might be 4D. 4D just adds another dimension to 3D. Some of you may have experienced 4D if you have ever been to Disney World or Universal Studios (think It's Tough To Be A Bug at Disney's Animal Kingdom). Adding the 4th dimension with special effects like rocking seats, spraying water or smell (think smell-o-vision) to the theater experience would offers a much richer experience that one would never be able to duplicate at home (although a Japanese manufacturer is working on a smell-o-vision attachment for your TV).
The next experience after 3D could potentially be holographic technology. Holographic images use to be the stuff of science fiction or laboratory science. To create a holograph takes a number of cameras and some heavy computing power plus the frame rate is very slow; thus a choppy picture. However, recently a group of MIT researchers took an Xbox Kinect system and were able to modify it to increase the frame rate near what is required for continuos motion (24 - 30 frames per second). What this means is that by using off the shelf equipment and a little brain power, producing a holographic image that is more life like and can move continuously is nearer than we think. We're still quite a ways away from the holodeck of Star Trek, however the first use of holographic technology may come in the form of video conferencing. This video from Cisco Systems illustrates this vision.
One last word on 3D. One place that may have immediate use is with gaming systems. Nintendo is about to release the Nintendo 3DS, a 3D handheld gaming system that uses different images to trick the brian into "seeing" 3D, could provide an exciting update for the gaming enthusiast. Set to release in Europe this month, (see this news article) will have to wait and see how well the technology will be accepted. Clearly it will depend on how video game manufactures decide to take advantage of the 3D effect and the built-in 3D camera. Traditionally Nintendo has done a good job at controlling how games are developed for their platforms, so I suspect it will be no different here. It seems Sony is holding out on a PSP 3D; although there are loads of rumors. So for now it seems Nintendo will hold the market on 3D handheld gaming systems (see video below for a virtual tour). As for the larger gaming consoles, they'll require 3D monitors or TV's with or without the glasses.
A word of caution concerning 3D, especially gaming systems. The medical community is very concerned about the effects of long term exposure to 3D, especially for children. Children will tend to play these games for hours at a time and there are concerns this may injure their eyes. Of course they have said that about other visual technologies so it will be important to follow up on this and potentially limit the amount of 3D game play for young children (good luck with that).So for now, I'm going to leave 3D to the professionals and make room for a personal holo-deck in my retirement home.
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