3D Movies

[The Burgomaster]

The system with the "flicker lenses" (sorry, I'm too lazy to look up the real name of the system) is actually pretty good.

That's field-sequential 3-D. Red-blue is anaglyph 3-D. As I understand it, the big disadvantage of field-sequential is it uses image interlacing, which is fine for a CRT set but problematic if you have LCD or plasma.

On the plus side, there seem to be more and more titles available on DVD for both kinds of 3-D.

I don't think I'll buy any more red/blue DVDs if the movies are in color.  The few I have are headache inducing.  Black and white DVDs using the red/blue system are a bit better.  I have THE BUBBLE, and it's not great 3-D, but it's better than COMIN' AT YA! or FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 3.

[AndyC]

I don't have very many 3-D titles at this point, and what I've got is in colour, so it doesn't work all that well. The best 3-D I've had at home was back in the 80s, when some broadcasters were doing it for Halloween and such. Those were all old movies, even then. Black and white, and fairly high contrast.

And there was usually a host to guide you through adjusting your set and positioning yourself for maximum effect. The test pattern was extremely helpful. I think I still have a tape kicking around of The Mad Magician, Gorilla at Large (which was in colour, but worked OK), and The Three Stooges in Spooks. The Stooges are fantastic in 3-D, since they just went nuts with it and had shot after shot of stuff flying at the camera.

But what made those work, I think, is that the broadcasters knew showing anaglyph 3-D on a TV was tricky business, and they had limited control of it. So they made sure everybody knew how to set things up. These days, the 3-D is just tossed on the flipside of the DVD as a bonus, you get a few pairs of paper glasses and you're on your own.

And even under ideal conditions, the anaglyph DVD just can't compare to the polarization systems in theatres today, and that effect can't be produced without some pretty expensive equipment. So yeah, 3-D at home still has a long way to go.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Has anyone seen COMIN' AT YA! ?  I was wondering if it was worthwhile outside of the 3-d gimmick.

Yes and no. Having seen it in the theater, the best parts for me, were the non-3-D parts.

As for having a problem with watching 3-D films with regular eye glasses, no. I've never had that problem, as that goes back to watching "House of Wax" in 3-D in its re-release. Of course, every 3-D film I've seen, I've seen on the big screen. While I have seen them advertised, I've never watched a 3-D film on dvd.

And for those board members who might be hearing impaired, or know someone who might be hearing impaired, they are now trying to create subtitles for 3-D films. It looks like the first film to get this treatment will the the latest remake of "A Christmas Carol."