UK says no to 3D TV this Christmas

Any hopes of 3D TV being high on consumer’s Christmas wish lists this year appear to have vanished as a new survey suggests that the appetite for the technology in the UK is almost non-existent.

A study from price comparison site Twenga, reported by Reg Hardware, which polled over 3,000 people, claims that just one per cent of the UK population owns a 3D TV. Further more, just one per cent plans to buy one over the Christmas shopping period.

The only good news was that 48 per cent of respondents said that given a choice they would like a 3D TV set. Of those who said they had no interest, price was cited as the biggest grievance followed by concerns about the core technology.

Indeed, the want of manufacturers to stir up some enthusiasm for 3D TV has even become a topic of jest, with TV pundit and former games journalist Charlie Brooker basing a recent Guardian column on the subject.

Have you experienced 3D telly yet? Don’t worry if you haven’t, because so far it’s powerfully underwhelming: the very definition of a step backward disguised as a leap forward. Consider this a warning from the future,” he wrote.

To watch TV in 3D you need to sit around indoors wearing a dumb pair of polarized sunglasses, like you think you’re Billy Idol. On top of that, you need to stay as close to the centre of the screen as possible – sit further than 30 degrees to one side or the other and the image starts to concertina in on itself, like the pages of a pop-up-book in mid-turn. The horizontal plane isn’t the only problem: the screen also has to be positioned roughly at eye-height – which means you shouldn’t stick a 3D TV halfway up your living-room wall unless you plan to watch it standing up.

Oh, and forget lying sideways on the sofa while watching the bloody thing. Doing that knackers the picture up, too. Instead, you have to keep your head level throughout – sitting there, bolt upright, like an obedient prisoner, watching Noel Edmonds ask quiz questions in 3D.”