Chuck in 3D – Advancing technology, or cheesy gimmick?

We’ve all had a look at Chuck in 3D now, and it has left me pondering a question. Is this latest 3D excursion an advancement in our TV technology, or just a cheesy gimmick? Truth be told, I started thinking about this post during the Super Bowl. And the answer I arrived at then was something different than where I’m at now. The fine folks down at Chuck HQ won me over with their presentation. That’s not to say there aren’t issues with 3D television, which we’ll get to in a moment, but overall I have come away from the episode rather impressed.

OK, now, to the problems. First up is what I call the HD trade-off. Yes, the technology actually works really well, and the 3D effect is fun. But if you are like me, you watch the vast majority of your television in HD now. And unfortunately, one of the prices paid for all of that 3D wonder is a drop in clarity and definition. The picture quality of a regular Chuck is just better. Enough so that, at this point, I wouldn’t want 3D to be a regular thing. It’s fun as a special event, but good old fashioned HD is still where it’s at. I don’t actually have a standard def set anymore, so I’m not sure how those two compare. I’m assuming it’s a similar trade-off.

Chuck actually did quite a bit to lessen my second complaint. I ran through the 3D presentation from the Super Bowl a couple times during half time, and what I noticed was that without the glasses it really looked like ass. That worried me, because TV doesn’t have the luxury that the theatres enjoy. They can just hand you your glasses as you walk in the door. Here, the onus is on the viewer to track them down. And given that the vast majority of the people I work with never bothered to pick them up, despite shopping at the same grocery store that I do, I worried that a jacked up episode could turn away those viewers without the proper goggles. Fortunately, the crazy outlines were relatively minor. The screencap from the top of the post was about as bad as it got. It didn’t look as good as a regular episode, but was still watchable.

The third issue may just be me, but one hour long episode of 3D was about all I could take. My eyes were a bit wigged out at the end of the show, and there was the sneaking suspicion of a headache coming on. If this became more widespread, I think I would have to pick and choose my 3D poisons. Of course, that could just be a matter of getting used to it. I do manage to stare at computer screens for approximately 37 hours a day (or so it seems), so I may be able to adjust.

At the end of the day, I’m going to side with advancing technology. What we saw with the Chuck episode was impressive enough that it warrants more exploration. For the moment, 3D still feels like it is at home in the theatres, or as the rare special event on TV. With a few more improvements though, I could see it being a bigger part of our television landscape. What say you?

Clacked by Brett Love
on Feb 03, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT