Conclusion

One might be tempted to draw a parallel between the development of high-definition television and the expected development of 3D stereoscopic television. Some have announced that television will move to 3D-s just as it moved to high definition a few years ago. The reality is much more nuanced.

This can be partly explained by considering two major differences between HDTV and 3D-s TV.

• Quality requirements

  The first difference lies in the imperative quest for visual comfort for the viewer. Broadly speaking, poor-quality HDTV generates images that don't look good, while poor-quality 3D-s TV generates images that hurt the viewer. So we've gone from a simple aesthetic problem to a public health issue. We can't take the risk of making part of the audience ill. The quest for visual comfort must therefore...