Wimbledon to go 3D at this year's Championships ...

It has been announced by Ian Ritchie, Chief Executive of the the All England Club, that this year's men's singles semi-finals and the men's and women's finals will be filmed in 3D, to be beamed to cinemas along with national broadcasters.

Ritchie (who's background is in television) has this to say on the subject ...

"Starting way back, the first ever transmission in colour the BBC put out was from Wimbledon so we were innovators then," he told Reuters on Monday.

"Now there is an opportunity to expand into 3D broadcasts and it's very exciting. But as far as we are concerned it's that classic combination of tradition and innovation.

"Technically we like to be at the forefront of things and 3D is going to be a very interesting feature, not just for broadcasters but for cinemagoers around the world too," added Ritchie.

"Not everyone can be here during the championships so it's another opportunity for fans to feel a bit closer to the action.

"We see ourselves as the best tennis event in the world but we want to be seen as one of the best sporting events. If you stand still you fall behind."

As someone who has never even seen a 3-D film in the cinema, what say you about this latest innovation and does anyone have any experience of watching sports in this medium? If so, what can we expect as far as tennis goes??

Reuters - Wimbledon broadcast in 3D

I suppose I'm still struggling with the thought of sitting in a darkened cinema wearing 3D glasses during the height of summer.

But maybe I'm missing something, and need to be dragged into the 21st Century.

I've never seen a 3D film either Wooffs. What I'm wondering is - will you be allowed to cheer and make a noise in the cinema, or will you have to sit there quietly? If Rafa wins I might lead a conga down the aisle

I do like the idea of it though, it would be a huge screen and the 3D aspect would be brill.

I think you're able to watch 3D football on Sky TV now. But I'm still struggling to understand the concept of what sport would be like to watch in that way.

Rafa in 3D....well there's worse things in life I suppose it could be fun watching it with other like minded fans, as long as I could get up and holler my head off every time he wins a fab point

Just a mild warning to the uninitiated.

There has been no scientific human trials concerning the use of 3D glasses for games or films, they won't for fear of it being banned. Even Nintendo has issued a warning that children up to 8 yr olds should not use them as their depth perception could be skewed for life.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/29/games-ruin-childrens-eyes-nintendo-warns/

Even then play testers of Nintendo's "The Virtual Boy" which came out in 1995, told of having severe depth perception problems the longer and more frequently they played the games, sometimes taking hours to reverse the 2D condition back to normal.

Nintendo, citing poor reception to the console took it off the shelves within a few months.
".............................................................."
enter above the real reasons a big company that had spent millions researching and developing a machine like that would discontinue it after 20 weeks!

http://www.justeyewear.com/blog/technology/the-dangers-of-3d/

Anyway, tread carefully and do not use for extended periods without having breaks to check for any problems.

End of lecture

PS look up binocular dysphoria in wiki.

No good in for 5 sets or possibly 4+ hours for someone who already wears bi-focals, eh? Jubba??

I think I'll stick to the telly ...

LOL.......I know what you mean Wooffie, but I have vari-lens, so there.

the only thing I think about this whole 3D business, is that the big companies have not put any research or development into finding out just how old you need to be and how long it is safe to use them.

I am pretty sure if those results were ever forthcoming, no-one would touch them with a barge pole.

Its always profit before customer safety these days, a complete turnaround from 40 yrs ago.

Grrrrr, it makes me mad, WOOF!

I do myself an injustice ... I wear vari-focals !!

I suppose I just don't see how watching a sport in a dark cinema on a July day, wearing silly glasses, in a row full of other people, can lend itself to being atmospheric or hightening the viewing experience.

Jubbahey wrote:Just a mild warning to the uninitiated.

There has been no scientific human trials concerning the use of 3D glasses for games or films, they won't for fear of it being banned. Even Nintendo has issued a warning that children up to 8 yr olds should not use them as their depth perception could be skewed for life.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/29/games-ruin-childrens-eyes-nintendo-warns/

Even then play testers of Nintendo's "The Virtual Boy" which came out in 1995, told of having severe depth perception problems the longer and more frequently they played the games, sometimes taking hours to reverse the 2D condition back to normal.

Nintendo, citing poor reception to the console took it off the shelves within a few months.
".............................................................."
enter above the real reasons a big company that had spent millions researching and developing a machine like that would discontinue it after 20 weeks!

http://www.justeyewear.com/blog/technology/the-dangers-of-3d/

Anyway, tread carefully and do not use for extended periods without having breaks to check for any problems.

End of lecture

PS look up binocular dysphoria in wiki.

That's scary stuff Jubbahey and very interesting..........I did wonder about this but never thought any more of it but I'll have a read up on it when I get more time.
I'm busy right now looking into the dangers of using Power Plates (they're fitness machines in the gym). There's not enough space on the forum for me to lecture about those hideous things lol.

Solerina

Funnily (or not) enough, there was a story about a club member going on a treadmill after watching a 3D film and losing her step and falling ass over tit on the running machine.

OK, it wasn't that funny, but you had to be there.

The only problem I have with any new technology is that it is so quickly accepted into mainstream manufacturing, without there being any decent enough human trials to find out long or short term safety issues.

It seems to be a blind spot where developers do not take into consideration the public, but are more concerned with getting the moola into their bank account first.

Jubbahey wrote:Funnily (or not) enough, there was a story about a club member going on a treadmill after watching a 3D film and losing her step and falling ass over tit on the running machine.

OK, it wasn't that funny, but you had to be there.

The only problem I have with any new technology is that it is so quickly accepted into mainstream manufacturing, without there being any decent enough human trials to find out long or short term safety issues.

It seems to be a blind spot where developers do not take into consideration the public, but are more concerned with getting the moola into their bank account first.

Spot on Jubbahey.........it's money before anything else.....and it's a fact that being happy has absolutely nothing to do with how much money you've got, I can prove this, but that's a whole different subject lol.

Anyway re - treadmills........they're the one thing I hate in the gym.....they frighten me to death.......everyone else is so cool and chilled out on them. I won't let go of the hand rail in case I go flying off the back lol

Solerina

Jubbahey wrote:Just a mild warning to the uninitiated.

There has been no scientific human trials concerning the use of 3D glasses for games or films, they won't for fear of it being banned. Even Nintendo has issued a warning that children up to 8 yr olds should not use them as their depth perception could be skewed for life.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/29/games-ruin-childrens-eyes-nintendo-warns/

Even then play testers of Nintendo's "The Virtual Boy" which came out in 1995, told of having severe depth perception problems the longer and more frequently they played the games, sometimes taking hours to reverse the 2D condition back to normal.

Nintendo, citing poor reception to the console took it off the shelves within a few months.
".............................................................."
enter above the real reasons a big company that had spent millions researching and developing a machine like that would discontinue it after 20 weeks!

http://www.justeyewear.com/blog/technology/the-dangers-of-3d/

Anyway, tread carefully and do not use for extended periods without having breaks to check for any problems.

End of lecture

PS look up binocular dysphoria in wiki.

You're slightly overdoing it, aren't you? Nintendo did indeed take the virtual boy off the shelves early, but the sales figures back Nintendo's reasoning: it's their worst selling console ever by a country mile. The main complaint regarding 3D technology back then was that it caused headaches, and that was likely to be down to the fact that the virtual boys idea of '3D' was this mess here. I think my head would explode too if I was subjected to that for more than 5 minutes.

They've since released the 3DS, which doesn't look like that and hasn't raised complaints as of yet; i'm sure plenty of kids have already one and have been playing it for hours. I'm not saying 3D screening is something you can watch for hours and hours; too much of anything is bad for you, but I don't think 3D these days is going to do major harm to anyone who is sensible with it.

Of course TITN, and your opinion holds a lot of water, but the problem still exists that there have been no clinical human trials to determine if this technology is safe and if it is, what periods/lengths of time are suitable for young children.

As for Nintendo, they didnt give it much of a chance to realise good sales figures did they, so why take them off the shelves if all they were worried about was how many were being sold ? and you left out the important complaint, that of eye strain using the system. But the reports from the game testers stands far above that of the anecdotal evidence from the end-users.

As I said, you can have an opinion, but I wouldn't chance that on my children without there being clear evidence that the system is safe. Its the young eyes that stand to have the most damage done to them if the 3D effect can indeed harm depth perception.

I may be wrong, but isn't it better to err on the safe side ?

TITN, you did look at the first link ?

That was a statement from Nintendo, now why would they do that ?

And your link I think was an April fool, but whatever, you and me show the polarised views of the public about this technology.

Jubbahey wrote:TITN, you did look at the first link ?

That was a statement from Nintendo, now why would they do that ?

And your link I think was an April fool, but whatever, you and me show the polarised views of the public about this technology.

It's the picture in my link that is important, as opposed to the article. The red lines on the black background were well known to cause headaches, and people with migraines apparently struggled to play for more than 10 minutes, for seemingly obvious reasons.

The statement from Nintendo is nothing new. It advises children under the age of six don't play games on it and anyone older takes breaks after half an hour; read ANY video games manual, and I mean ANY, and you'll find precisely the same advice in there; take 15 minutes breaks per half-hour or hour, and young kids are generally advised not to play them for long if at all. That counts for all non-3D games and games consoles manuals i've ever seen. The reason for the warning, just like the 3D stuff, is because it can cause eye strain if you play it for too long. As I said, nothing new; you watch any TV for too long and you'll get eye strain. It just clears Nintendo's backsides in court should someone have problems. Seriously, read a games manual. It's like a health and safety booklet, and i've yet to see anyone whose suffered more than a briefly bloodshot eye.

Nintendo simply issued that stock statement as answer to media hype that 3D without glasses will make your eyeballs explode.

As far as official sources are concerned, try the american optometric association.

http://www.3deyehealth.org/ (Another link to the AOA website is at the bottom of the page)

They've also cleared the 3DS as safe for most of the general public, providing their vision is developing normally and they play in moderation.

It's fair enough if you don't want children playing on them, you never know at the end of the day, but the reality is that we're not suddenly going to see a sky-rocket in under 6's going blind, having severe eye strain, or not being able to tell the difference between what's half a mile away and what's in front of them.

"3D without glasses will make your eyeballs explode" LOL

Now I'm not advocating that happening, but I can only really go back to the experience of the game testers on the old Nintendo 3D console.

The main complaint from them, was the damage to their perception of depth that followed after playing the games for longer and longer periods of time. It was not eye strain, it was loss of depth of perception that hit them. It took some hours for the eyes to go back to "normal" and in the end, one of the testers told the company that he could no longer play the game, he was scared it might do permanent damage.

But this all rests on the fact that they were playing the games non-stop over a period of weeks and the effect was only noticed when they took the goggles off.

There are lots of scientific bodies that "suggest" 3D is safe, there are many that suggest it isn't.

This only arises from the fact that no real testing has taken place by any of the scientific community.

I'm not saying it is bad for your eyes, but when 3D is coming to schools and they watch a lot of curriculum subjects on the interactive boards now, shouldn't there be some kind of safeguard against anything untoward that might happen, isn't that our responsibility to make sure it is safe for children to use ? Its not asking much, just some clinical trials, why doesn't anyone want to do them ? then we can rest easy, well, at least me.

Looks like it may be available to freesat owners with a 3d tv. No need to go to the cinema then if you have one of these tvs

http://wotsat.techradar.com/news/wimbledon-3d-coming-bbc-hd-freesat-04-04-11