3D “Mostly Hype,” says Researcher

Many are still unconvinced of the profit power of 3-dimensional technology in games, despite its rampant successes in recent film releases. This year’s CES show, however, sported quite a few 3-D enabled technologies, many companies attempting to push the tech on consumers as early as later this year. James McQuivey, Vice President and Principal Analyst at the Forrester Research firm, steps back from the marketing blitz and decries 3-D technology as “mostly hype” in his op-ed piece on paidContent.org.

“If it took 10 years for HD to go from one home to reach more than half the U.S. population, it will take 3D just as long. Which is an easy bet to make. The real trick is figuring out how long we languish in the low-single-digit millions,” McQuivey writes.

“The major obstacles right now include the fact that many, many people just recently upgraded to HDTVs (40 million were bought in the U.S. between 2007-2009) and will not shell out thousands on a 3D set; 3D is only good for a handful of viewing experiences; and of course, the industry itself has to make a huge investment in the technology. McQuivey explains: “First more 3D content has to be created—that means new (expensive) cameras, new satellite uplink infrastructure for live sporting events, and an entirely new cable infrastructure to consume more bandwidth to deliver Full HD 3D content (where each eye sees a unique 1080p 3D image). And if you think consumers are reeling from the effects of a down economy, you don’t want to sit in that meeting where you explain to a fatigued cable network or cable operator that after just completing a massive transition to HD, they now have to go 3DHD. Ouch.”

Do you agree Elder-Geeks? Or is there room (and money) for 3-D in the consumer electronics world? Let us know your thoughts below!