Need to play catch up
TVs are ahead on the technology to play 3D content, but many PCs are not ready.
Comcast earlier this week said it will stream live 3D footage over the
Internet
from The Masters golf tournament Samsung said it will streaming 3D
movies over
the Internet starting in the fourth quarter of this year. While these
streams can be played back on 3D HDTVs with Internet connectivity,
but some major hardware changes are needed for 3D playback on PCs.
Ironically while PCs have shedloads of power, most people have monitors
and
graphics cards which can't manage it. John Jacobs, director of notebook
market research at DisplaySearch. Except for
enthusiast buyers like gamers, 3D displays are in low demand. Asustek
Computer and Acer are already shipping laptops with 3D capabilities for
less than US$1,000, but for now those are just fringe features.
The other problem is that 3D glasses do not work for all viewing
devices. While lots of cash is being spent on 3D research it will take
a while before it
ends up on PCs. The irony is that with its always on connection to the
Internet, a PCs is ideal
for storing and watching 3D content.