“3D Ready” to replace “HD Ready”?

The phrase “3D Ready” hasn’t been thrown around commercially yet, due to there not actually being any “3D Ready” televisions in the shops (in the UK at least). The problem with “HD Ready” was that nine out of ten people had no clue what that meant, knowing only that HD is a good thing. They’d plug it in and be astounded by the HD quality that they believed to be receiving. Manufacturers could get away with advertising “HD Ready” years before any high definition content was actually available because most of their customers didn’t know what they were looking for. “3D Ready” is great for consumers because of its see-through nature, if you aren’t seeing 3D then you’re not set up.

3D was all the rage a few years ago, what with the hype of high definition, 3D has been pushed into the sidelines. Sky is planning to revive the perception of 3D video by introducing a 3D TV service (eventually, sometime in the future). This does in fact mean that you will be required to wear those funny (polarising) glasses in your own living room. Tom Dunmore, the legendary UK editor of Stuff Magazine visited Sky HQ a couple of days ago to be one of the first to observe the ins and outs of the 3D service, stating,

“This stereoscopic technology isn’t new, but what’s impressive about Sky’s demonstration – which included footage shot at a football match and the latest Ricky Hatton boxing game – is that it works with the current broadcast technology and an unmodified Sky HD box. You’ll need a 3D-compatible TV, but these are already on sale in Japan and the price premium is only around £250.”

Sky are already recording content in 3D, all it requires is a two cameras at slightly different angles recording the same thing. Don’t be expecting this in your home anytime soon. Some big improvements need to be made before this is consumer ready.