Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, The Shock Labyrinth, How to Train a Dragon and Clash of the Titans. The link between these movies and animation productions is that they are all appealing to moviegoers using 3D technology.
When Avatar was released in Taiwan last December, it was such a blockbuster that movie buffs insisted their friends go see the 3D version instead of the traditional 2D format.
“A growing number of consumers are into 3D movies nowadays,” said Shannon Kao (高婉綺), public relations manager of Vie Show Cinemas Co (威秀影城).
“The sound and visual effects make you feel like you are actually in the movie,” she said.
Vie Show has five theaters in Taipei’s Xinyi District that support 3D movies and its remaining 13 theaters will do so shortly. To cope with more 3D releases, the company plans to procure 500 to 600 more pairs of special-effect glasses, adding to the 8,000 it already has, Kao said.
Despite the widely held view that there will be no great increase in demand for 3D TVs in the short term, a horde of companies are currently working on the technology in preparation for the next technological revolution.
Problems that currently prevent the uptake of 3D TVs include transmission in a bandwith that provides seamless recording and playing, the high cost of the devices and the hassle associated with using the special-effect glasses.
Insight Media has forecast that the size of the global market for 3D TVs will grow from 10 million units next year to 50 million units in 2015.
Samsung Electronics Inc recently introduced Taiwan’s first 3D TVs, priced at NT$129,900 (US$3,940) and NT$189,000 for 46-inch and 55-inch models respectively.
Although doing away with the glasses to enjoy 3D TVs is not yet a viable option, Samsung believes LED TVs that incorporate 3D will take center stage in people’s living rooms in the future.
Consumers can look forward to more than just 3D TV, however, as the technology is also going to be introduced to projectors, notebooks, smartphones and digital photo frames.
Taipei-based projector maker Optoma Corp (奧圖碼) is convinced that 3D is the way to go. The company was the first in Taiwan to launch 3D projectors in March and a total of 300 units were sold within a month, said Charles Chen (陳勇嘉), Optoma’s product manager for the Asia-Pacific region.
The company introduced its third 3D projector last month and Chen said 60 percent of all the projectors made by the company this year would have 3D features.
Consumers can just sit back at home and link up any DVD player to a 3D projector, play non-3D DVDs and put on the special-effect glasses to indulge in their own 3D home theater.
Movie buffs wanting to get hold of 3D DVDs will have to wait a bit longer.
Chen said the easiest way to obtain such DVDs is through Amazon.com, but there are currently only 10-plus titles on sale, but he believes consumers are likely to become more invested in 3D as Hollywood production houses start releasing more 3D movies.
DreamWorks Animation SKG, for instance, is releasing two more 3D movies this year — Shrek Forever After scheduled for release this month follows the release of How to Train Your Dragon in March.
Wistron Corp (緯創), the world’s third-largest contract notebook maker, is also banking on 3D TV shipments to fuel growth.
The company makes 3D monitors, 3D desktops and 3D TVs for other companies, products that are expected to start contributing to the company’s bottom line in the second half of the year, chief executive Simon Lin (林憲銘) said on April 23.
“We will continue to invest heavily in 3D TV solutions, in software, hardware and chips,” Lin said.
US chipmaker Broadcom Corp is equally upbeat about the prospects of 3D.
“This is going to be an exciting area and 20 years from now, all of us will look back at the 2D pictures we took and feel strange ... just like we now look at black-and-white photos and movies,” Broadcom chief executive Scott McGregor told reporters during a visit to Taipei in March.
He said 3D might take off quicker on portable devices, such as tablet PCs and games consoles.
“Now the technology for small devices that support 3D doesn’t require glasses. I hope we find a solution for large screen TVs … I hope to watch Avatar on a large screen without those glasses,” he said.
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