Is 3D video all that it’s cracked up to be?

At this year’s CES, there was plenty of 3D demonstrations. I got to see both Sony’s and Mitsubishi’s 3D technologies. Panasonic also had its 3D video which I was unable to see first hand.

The difference between this crop of 3D and the old red and blue glasses-style 3D is depth perception. Older movies used gimmicky events like throwing objects at the screen or objects protruding out at you. This latest version of 3D requires polarized glasses and is like looking through a window.

Watching the demos, you can really tell how far away objects are in relation to others. A college football game was shown and it looked terrific. Watching the football go from the quarterback to the receiver you could get a sense of how far away the receiver was without seeing field markers.