Was 3D TV actually poo?

The hype machine for 3D was so strong that it made Nintendo create a whole console based off of it which is wild.

3D could have been amazing AND the next big thing, but all the companies making cheap 2D to 3D conversions and the theaters not having the required brighter bulbs killed off interest. I will never forgive them for this. Watching Avengers (2012) in 3D in the theater was a wonderful experience and I'm glad I was able to see it that way.

Linus forgot to mention one of the major killers of 3D was the proprietary format wars with TVs. Companies had different formats for how they did 3d movies in the beginning, they then either bought or already owned the rights to specific movies which they released as exclusives only in their specific format. This meant that not everyone could watch their favorite movies on their device.

I think it's kinda sad that 3D died, considering that we have high refresh, high resolution displays everywhere now. I would at least like having the option to play my favorite games in 3D. And as a game developer, I would also love it if the engine I'm using had a stereoscopic viewport.

The face tracking 3D on the new Nintendo 3DS was actually pretty impressive.

One of the big things for me that absolutely makes or breaks 3D is: Was it shot/rendered in actual 3D, or was it post-processed 3D? Because the latter always causes an extremely noticeable cardboard cutout effect for me and I hate it with a passion. But some things, like Ton Legacy, it's amazing because it was shot and rendered, and also because they use the 3D as a way to help separate the real and digital worlds.

The movie which had the best use of 3D for me was Dredd. Filmmakers clearly thought about 3D as part of the way they shot the film, and the SloMo drug sequences are incredible. Nothing is 'WOW LOOK AT THIS FLYING OUT AT YOU', it's all properly there for a cinematographic reason. The focal plane stuff Linus talks about is used with that, and it's an absolutely gorgeous experience. Seriously made me consider sticking with my old 3D TV just for that film. Seriously, was so bummed LTT didn't have that as one of the films they tried, particularly when they even scrolled past it at the end...!

As someone who used to do 3D mapping, we wore a set of active 3D goggles 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Having that experience, I can point out a few other issues with the set up for repeated long time wear. The biggest one.... build quality of the 3D goggles/glasses, especially for active systems. 1: The nose piece. It always seemed whomever made and designed the plastic of the nose piece, had never worn glasses in their life. Tapered and nice soft and just the right kind of material is what you see on prescription glasses. This material and these edges make contact with your sensitive bridge of the nose every waking moment. They need to be comfortable. Whoever designed the 3D goggles, and the subsequent glasses models, used a hard plastic, with sharp edges.... This alone could bring on a headache, want to see how it feels, press your fingernail into the bridge of your nose for 25 min, see how you feel. I wanted to have some very strong words with that materials expert for the sets we had. 2: Weight. Our goggles used large medical batteries, think 0.75in in diameter, 1/8 in thick. Added into the frame of the goggles, the emitter receiver... we're up to almost 1 lb... That is heavy for hanging on your face, ineffective ear pieces wrapped around your head.... also made out of the cheepest plastic. They barely stay on. Got a slippery nose? good luck. Long hair getting into the ear pieces.... add on that weight.... never enjoyable past 30 min. You start to feel the weight on your nose and ears, your whole head feels extra heavy... then you realize a gap in the plastic is tugging on your hair, now you need to get your hair untangled while the entire thing falls off your face with the weight of a box of crackers. Try taping a box of crackers to your face, then use some extra tape and Popsicle sticks to hold it on.... that's what it feels like. Why didn't they just hire the people who make real glasses dammit! 3: Over glasses retrofits: I wear glasses.... so take every issue from number 1-2, and then multiply it. Just watching this video, I could only imagine the discomfort our glasses wearing host was experiencing. There was a reason we got a 15 min break every hour at that office... so we could avoid wearing a brick over glasses. Even the passive systems never fit over glasses.... and there are so many points of failure that a paralax can encounter. One biggie is how the glasses and individual lenses sit in front of your eye or added glasses lenses. Like a fighter pilot can have multiple axis, yaw roll pitch.... there are multiple axis for those lenses over your eye and/or glasses. If your own prescription pair is out of wack, it hurts... but factor in the build quality of the 3D set, and have one lens 1mm too close and the other 1mm too far... or up and down, or front to back... tilted as well... No fun... I spent an entire 3D movie once just testing out 20 different pairs of passive 3D glasses to see how they fit.. and only 1 set really even came close to tolerable. 4: Low power When that battery or internal power supply goes on an active set.... it hurts, your eyes start to feel overwhelmed... you don't notice it right away either, it sneaks up on you. And you better hope you have a good supply of batteries if they are battery powered. 5: Power switch. Some genius, decided to put the power switch in the temple piece. Idea was.. you can't leave them on.. so let's have a power switch. But I bet people will forget... so let's make it part of an automatic.. or semi-automatic process. People will take off the goggles, then fold up the ear pieces.... great, they turn off with a little switch that is physically moved with the temple piece. But.. let's make it out of cheap plastic, and since it's technically a moving part activated by a moving part... it'll hold up for.... oh about 55 days.... and slowly get more and more loose and twisted. Suddenly, your glasses won't be active... then they are... then not... as that damn switch now is a wobbling mess. Replacement = a full new set of goggles..... great.... 50ish days. It's to the point now... if you want me to look into a paralax on an active or passive 3D... you better be paying me an hourly wage and full vision and health coverage.

Just from my own experience, Tron: Legacy's 3D wasn't so much about giving a pop-out 3D experience, but rather depth to everything. In some of the establishing shots, The Grid stretches for miles and miles on that flat screen. Also, my favorite 3D experience was Up, where a actually jumped out of the way of one of the "Dog"-fighters. And yes I was embarrassed by it.

The New 3DS fixed many of the OG 3DS' pitfalls. Not the resolution problem, but the head tracking is quite good on the New 3DS, which fixed the viewing angle issue.

As someone with a passive 3D TV, I love it. It's a shame it never really took off. I will be super sad when my 3D TV stops working and I have to hunt down a used one...because I love it.

The split view does work well for passive 3D; our family got one because of that feature lol Instead of making you close one eye, they just gave you (or you could at least buy) a set of glasses where both the lenses are the same polarization!

When I worked in Sony's tech support, I recall that Active 3D glasses were a real pain to troubleshoot. It went to the point where if anyone asked about what TV to get with 3D, I would recommend one with passive glasses instead.

I love how Linus’s final task for Taran after the toilet paper reveal was to have him “liberate” some 3D glasses from the movie theater. Only now, in the end, does he realize Taran’s true potential.

Fun fact: you can watch 3D content in PSVR and it looks AMAZING. It's probably the best experience I've ever had viewing 3D content and it makes me frustrated that this function doesn't exist for polygonal games that aren't intended for VR. It's still immersive without inducing motion sickness.

I just revisited this video after seeing Avatar 2 in Dolby 3D, and am now convinced that 3D should be a thing again. The confusing standards, display options, and poor content really destroyed 3D's chances before. But give me a modern TV with the new Dolby tech and I'd buy it in a heartbeat. The movie looked absolutely gorgeous in theaters!

I bought a 70” passive 3D tv back in 2013 (still have it and use as our main TV). I invited a bunch of friends over and had a handed out whole box of glasses I had saved from the theater. We watched all of the best scenes from pretty much every 3D movie that was available at the time (Avatar, Top Gun, Jurassic Park, Pacific Rim, etc), but when we got to Finding Nemo… the 3D effect was just so good we ended up forgetting to change the movie and watched the whole thing 😂

I personally like the 3d experience on my TV. For me the problem isnt the 3D, its the lack of 3D content thats the issue.

I just found out a few weeks back I could play Virtual Boy games on my passive 3D as RetroArch has a Side-By-Side output option for the Virtual Boy core. Playing Red Alarm in a comfy chair, with a modern controller, having freedom of movement, being able to see the rest of the room and play on a big screen is actually pretty amazing. With the original console, you had to sit at a table, couldn't move your head, and couldn't see the rest of the room.

It depends on what your preference is for 3D as well. For this you guys seem to love the pop off the screen 3D for me I really love the depth of 3D. Stuff like Titanic doesn't pop off the screen but it has some incredible depth that I just love and cinematically pulls me more into the story