admin

Unless you’ve been living in a tree it’s unlikely you have not experienced the buzz around 3D technology this year. However a recent poll has put a dampner on the enthusiasm for this format and especially on 3D Tvs.

A recent report carried out by Deloitte surveyed over 4,000 Brits and found that only 89 respondents were likely to spend money on a 3D-enabled TV set over the coming year. That’s just 2%! 2% … we bet the likes of Sony, Panasonic, SKY etc were hoping for a higher penetration than that.

Unsurprisingly those aged between 25 and 34 were the most likely to say they were planning to buy a set; however only 5% said they would invest in a set over the next 12 months.

There are a number of reasons why people aren’t contemplating a 3D tv set. Firstly, the prices are still exceptionally high ie the new LG 50PX950 3D tv starts from £1,570 and some Tvs can easily get to the £3,000 mark. Secondly, the wearing of glasses is still a barrier. People are complaining about levels of discomfort and their cost (circa £50) and if you are in a large family there is sure to be fall out if little Jimmy isn’t fast enough to snatch up a pair. Finally the fact that there is little to no content/media for you to watch at this moment in time does not make the act of spending an extra large amount of cash on a 3Dtv particularly appealing.

Dr. Sean McCarthy, a fellow of the Technical Staff at Motorola said “There are no major technology barriers anymore. The TV displays are good. The glasses are good. The digital infrastructure is in place. What I see happening now is a move from simply enabling 3D TV towards making 3D TV a compelling home experience for consumers. Compelling 3D TV means that home viewers will be able to experience the director’s original intent and vision without the technology of distribution getting in the way, and will seamlessly switch from 3D back to 2D viewing.”

Let’s not be too negative though. Firstly, it’s not just 3D Tvs that have had a hard time, the survey also mentioned that consumers weren’t interested in upgrading to internet connected TVs or PVRs either. Also it is not yet known how many people nationally have bought a 3DTV but retailers are reporting significant interest. Bob Darke, Comet’s commercial director recently said they had sold 1000’s of 3D Tvs adding “3D TVs have been selling very well at Comet since their launch, with the biggest spike in May, which we can attribute to the World Cup. While the games weren’t shown in 3D it is typically a time where people look to upgrade their set to the best available TV on the market, which at the time and still is 3D.”. We also believe that the 3D gaming market still has some way to go and will certainly help boost the sales of 3DTvs.

We’ll summarise this with a quote from Deloitte media director Paul Lee “It is remarkable how conservative people’s predictions for their own technology spending habits over the coming year were,”. We couldn’t agree more Paul and hope to see a good percentage of 3D Tvs and gadgetry in people’s homes over the next couple of years.