Alioscopy at CES: Is 3D in Our Future?

As you may have been able to tell from my

But now for the disappointment: It's nowhere near as watchable as good old fashioned 2D television . That's because the technology still has problems with image ghosting and jumping. It's not crystal clear; you can see little semi-transparent images off center from time to time and sometimes moving images seem to jump a little as they cross the screen. It's cool tech to demo but there's no way I could stand to watch a TV show or movie with those problems (see UPDATE below).

The reason it does that is in part because of the way the TV displays in 3D. There are 8 images of the same thing that are offset ever so slightly, then all that is shot through a lenticular lens. Remember those little cards you used to get in cereal boxes that have ridges on them and when you swivel them back and forth, the image seems to move? That's a lenticular lens. Remember how those moving images seemed to ghost and jump? That's similar to how the Alioscopy TV performs. Granted, this TV is far more advanced than those cards and looks WAY better, but the latent problems are still there.

Another potential problem is that the image has a range for optimal viewing distance (although the distance can be changed depending on what it's for and the size of the screen), so if you're too close or too far away, the image becomes very distorted.

But as I stood at optimal viewing distance and pondered the future of Alioscopy, I became even more disenchanted with this huge push for 3D video (see UPDATE below). Even if the image looks like it's sticking out of the screen, it will never reach beyond the edges of our TVs. And when you watch things on the screen, you can definitely identify the spacial relationship between objects, but our brains already do that with regular 2D images.

I just don't really see any advantages in the viewing experience with 3D unless something is thrown directly towards the camera. But the novelty of jumping when it appears something is coming out of the TV will wear off quickly, and unless you're prepared to watch movies where somebody throws something at the camera every 30 seconds (I defy you to come up with an interesting plot where that would plausibly happen without getting old fast).

Ultimately, it doesn't matter how cool Alioscopy is for throwing out the 3D glasses. We need to stop and ask ourselves, is viewing stuff in 3D really that much of an advantage over what we've got now? Especially when high definition is so ubiquitous. Because, let me tell you, current 3D technology (with or without 3D glasses) will eventually claim to display in 1080p, but it's not even as clear as old analog television. There will have to be major technological advances in clearing up the image before people will want to sit through more than one 3D show.

*UPDATE (1/14/09)* I was contacted by a representative from Alioscopy a few days after posting this blog. She pointed out that Alioscopy has no plans to enter the 3D home entertainment market in the foreseeable future. This alleviated a lot of my concerns about Alioscopy because I can see a lot of great uses for this technology even if I don't think its forte is home entertainment. I really do believe that Alioscopy has made a huge leap in 3D technology and I'm excited to see what happens as they refine the technology even more. Now, having said that, my opinions about the future of 3D home entertainment haven't changed. I still think it's a lot of hype that won't provide enough benefits to outweigh the annoyance of wearing 3D glasses, etc. I'm worried that everybody will be so excited about the novelty of the technology that we won't notice how cumbersome it is until it's too late.

Ultimately, the extra input from the Alioscopy rep hasn't changed my excitement over finally finding a 3D system that doesn't require glasses and my dread over the over-hyping of other 3D media. I sincerely hope that Alioscopy can navigate that minefield of technical development and public acceptance because, when it comes down to it, I can't help but root for the innovative underdog.

For more information about 3D hype read these other blogs:

Alioscopy to Show 3D TV that Doesn't Require Glasses at CES

Panasonic CES Press Conference Coverage

Gadget Watch: iZ3D Monitor