Yup, sales of 3DTVs have been lower than what some people have predicted, or that what manufacturers had hoped for. The reason is not the goofy glasses or the high prices. You now pay little more to get 3D support in a television, and people are just fine with wearing the glasses in the local [...]
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HDTV Almanac - Five Rings in 3D
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alfredpoor
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Roger Halstead
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Re: HDTV Almanac - Five Rings in 3D
I have to admit I agree with you in that lack of compelling content does noting for compelling me to purchase a 3D TV. My 40" Samsung HDTV was one of the first with wide angle viewing and can be viewed from any where in the living room with curtains open of closed, day or night. BTW we didn't go larger simply because a larger set would not have fit anywhere except in front of the fireplace. I could now purchase a state of the art 50" for about a $1000 less than that 40" cost back then. course if I figure the $4000 our first color set cost way back when, it'd be over $30,000 in today's dollars and it had a huge 21" CRT! Typically those old tube sets only need a tube or two replace once every year of two.
But out of compelling content, it not only would have to be good 3D it's have to be something that interests either me, my wife, or both. Even with all the hours of Olympic broadcasts there *might* be 10 or 15 hours we'd find interesting. Not enough to replace a good TV that gives all the response we desire.
Another problem is that with smart TVs and streaming (and throttling) you may need one of the higher tiers of service. IOW more expensive. A few months back I had the following conversation with my provider (paraphrased due to poor and aged memory) . Provider: Did you know you had over 500 gigs of downloads last month? Me: Probably, Why? Provider: That places you in the top 5% of users. Me: And this means what? Provider: Your service only provides for 250 Gb per month. Me: Since when? If I'd known about it I'd be happy to upgrade too something better if you have it. Provider: We sent out notices several months back advising of our service changes. Me: If it's not a bill it goes in the trash unopened. BTW I only use cable for the high speed internet and haven't watched cable TV in two years so I'd like to cancel the basic TV. Provider: In that case we have a special with 60 Gbs bandwidth and for 5 dollars more we can include basic cable and the limit is 500 Gb per month. So, for $5 more I kept the basic TV although I'm not sure why. We also have Satellite and OTA although it seems I have to move the dish up the tower another 5 to 10 feet every few years to stay ahead of my neighbors *huge* willow tree.
With movies running from a bit over 1 Gig to over 10 gigs and if you have teenagers streaming stuff it does not take long at all to hit that 250G limit. Your favorite series may run 30 to 50 Gigs if in HD. Course you rarely find the entire series in one month, but as of late I see more and more playing the entire previous season just prior to the new season.
"I expect" to see pay for view on TV shows that are streamed in the not too distant future. We are adding lots of bandwidth to the Internet with streaming. I don't think they can keep providing it for free, forever even with advertizing.
But out of compelling content, it not only would have to be good 3D it's have to be something that interests either me, my wife, or both. Even with all the hours of Olympic broadcasts there *might* be 10 or 15 hours we'd find interesting. Not enough to replace a good TV that gives all the response we desire.
Another problem is that with smart TVs and streaming (and throttling) you may need one of the higher tiers of service. IOW more expensive. A few months back I had the following conversation with my provider (paraphrased due to poor and aged memory) . Provider: Did you know you had over 500 gigs of downloads last month? Me: Probably, Why? Provider: That places you in the top 5% of users. Me: And this means what? Provider: Your service only provides for 250 Gb per month. Me: Since when? If I'd known about it I'd be happy to upgrade too something better if you have it. Provider: We sent out notices several months back advising of our service changes. Me: If it's not a bill it goes in the trash unopened. BTW I only use cable for the high speed internet and haven't watched cable TV in two years so I'd like to cancel the basic TV. Provider: In that case we have a special with 60 Gbs bandwidth and for 5 dollars more we can include basic cable and the limit is 500 Gb per month. So, for $5 more I kept the basic TV although I'm not sure why. We also have Satellite and OTA although it seems I have to move the dish up the tower another 5 to 10 feet every few years to stay ahead of my neighbors *huge* willow tree.
With movies running from a bit over 1 Gig to over 10 gigs and if you have teenagers streaming stuff it does not take long at all to hit that 250G limit. Your favorite series may run 30 to 50 Gigs if in HD. Course you rarely find the entire series in one month, but as of late I see more and more playing the entire previous season just prior to the new season.
"I expect" to see pay for view on TV shows that are streamed in the not too distant future. We are adding lots of bandwidth to the Internet with streaming. I don't think they can keep providing it for free, forever even with advertizing.
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alfredpoor
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Re: HDTV Almanac - Five Rings in 3D
Thanks for the comments, Roger. We're not far apart on how we see things.
I do believe that we'll move into a metered delivery of bandwidth eventually, but I still expect to see content production and distribution subsidized heavily by commercial interests. Keep in mind that what you pay for the average magazine subscription couldn't cover the cost of mailing you just the cover; there are lots of businesses out there that are happy to pay for our information and entertainment. And I still believe that the Internet is going to make personalized content more granular, which is going to mean more cost effective marketing to smaller and smaller market segments. We won't have to rely just on beer and luxury cars to pay the freight in the future.
Alfred
I do believe that we'll move into a metered delivery of bandwidth eventually, but I still expect to see content production and distribution subsidized heavily by commercial interests. Keep in mind that what you pay for the average magazine subscription couldn't cover the cost of mailing you just the cover; there are lots of businesses out there that are happy to pay for our information and entertainment. And I still believe that the Internet is going to make personalized content more granular, which is going to mean more cost effective marketing to smaller and smaller market segments. We won't have to rely just on beer and luxury cars to pay the freight in the future.
Alfred