We have some bad news for 3D TV aficionados (all three of you). LG and Sony have both confirmed they will be abandoning 3D TV support in 2017. These two companies were the final holdouts. In other words, it will soon be impossible to buy a 3D TV from a major manufacturer in Australia — and 3D Blu-rays are sure to follow suit.
As reported by CNET, Sony and LG are pulling the plug on 3D video playback, presumably to concentrate on the Next Big Thing. This follows similar announcements from Samsung and Panasonic who have already stopped manufacturing 3D TVs. (Indeed, Samsung abandoned ship all the way back in March last year.)
It will still be possible to find 3D-capable TVs from budget manufacturers and last-gen sales, but the format is essentially dead and buried. We've known this was on the cards for a while now. For the past few years, 3D has been conspicuously absent from TV marketing — including on the box. This is despite being enthusiastically touted as revolutionary back when Avatar was tearing up the box office.
Despite its success in cinemas, 3D never took off at home as anything more than a curious gimmick. Simply put, consumers didn't care and manufacturers have given up trying to convince us.
If you're one of the few genuine fans of the technology, 3D Blu-ray releases are sure to dry up very soon (and it was only a trickle to begin with). The same goes for potential 3D content from streaming and broadcasting services in Australia.
On the plus side, you'll still be able to scab 3D glasses from the cinema for a few years to come — these work fine on most passive 3D TVs.
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