LG: watching 3D films at home is growing in popularity (again)

At this year’s CES show, traditionally the first showing of new TV technology for the year, the focus very much on Ultra HD/4K and OLED TVs. You could be forgiven in thinking that 3D, once the biggest feature of all new TVs, was merely a passing fad. LG seems to disagree – according to David Choi, VP of LG’s Display division, viewer support for 3D films has never been higher.

A recent customer satisfaction survey revealed that only 25% of customers with 42in Full HD TVs and digitally converted 3D content were happy with the quality of 3D video at home. However, changing the TV for a larger 65in model, which fills the viewer’s vision to the same level as a cinema screen, and swapping out the footage for films natively shot in 3D like Avatar and Gravity brought satisfaction levels up to 90%.

With most 3D films now available on 3D Blu-ray within two months of a cinema release, and the number of films being shot natively in 3D on the rise, it is possible that people are now happy to sit down with the family, put on a pair of glasses and watch a 3D film at home rather than head out to the cinema.

These findings should be taken with a pinch of salt, as the test compared 1080p content on a small screen to Ultra HD video on a much larger set. However, if customers truly are getting excited about 3D again it will naturally come as good news to LG; the company has a comprehensive number of 3D-ready TVs, with more on the way in the coming months, and one of the cheapest costs of entry to buying additional pairs of glasses. Because LG TVs exclusively use passive technology rather than expensive active shutter glasses, you can pick up extra pairs for friends or family for a few pounds each.

A renewed interest in 3D will hopefully mean an end to the digitally converted films that clogged up cinemas in 2009 when 3D films made their resurgence, although we aren’t convinced the technology has been perfected yet. At this morning’s InnoFest Europe trade show in Venice, we were shown the latest version of LG’s Cinema 3D TVs, and while it’s difficult to argue that the company has flicker free 3D images we think it will need to solve the crosstalk issue we spotted during the demo session before it can categorically say it has the best 3D system.

Do you have a 3D TV, and have you ever watched 3D video on it? Let us know if you think 3D is going to be big in 2014 on Twitter