by DMEC Careers Della Huff and Chris Finegold

Internet and Social Networks

Content and Distribution

Mobile

Hardware

At this point everyone has heard about 3-D TV. It made a lot of noise at CES with some companies announcing their hardware and with some content providers announcing programming in 3-D. But when it comes to actually talk about it: will someone use it? Is it useful? Is it entertaining?

A few facts so we are all on the same page:

- This technology is going out really soon since all major manufacturers are announcing their releases and talked about it at CES 2010.
- You WILL have to use glasses and manufacturers WILL charge for every extra pair (around $50 Mmmm).
- There are already content providers that have promised to have content around June 2010 (DIRECTV will have three channels on air). This content includes live sports events (world cup included) and obviously movies.

Okay so let’s talk about good things and bad things about this technology.

Something good is that this it’s not the usual technology that we see currently in some products. For example TV shows that offer 3Dscenes with those awful red and blue glasses or DVDs like Coraline. 3DTVs will be able to reproduce the 3D content in HD and with the flickering technology, the same one that we see today in Avatar for example. This means a huge quality increase for what we already identify as home 3D. Actually another good thing that we mention before we’ll have content to enjoy in a few months.

But where is the added value of a product like this? Why is it going out now? The reality is that the new boom of 3D at theaters is boosting the release of these devices. The problem is that there are many issues to solve yet and we have already seen that we need sometime to see what happens. A good example being Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. There are no clues that is going to be the next standard (yes, there will be different 3D standards too) so my recommendation is no, don’t buy it yet.

Who will enjoy the most this product and it’s a large enough market? There are some numbers that say in 10 years we’ll have 200 million units in the hands of eager 3DTV fans. I don’t think is that easy.  Let’s start thinking about potential users and the content that will be available: sports. The world cup it’s a good example and it applies to my knowledge. Basically since I live the US I watch all my soccer on TV and I can assure you that there is no added value to what a fan is looking for when watching a game in 3D capacity. It just doesn’t add value. It’s a cool feature and nothing else. You don see the plays in a better way, you don’t obtain a better perspective of the game, etc. And I think this apply to almost every sport that is broadcasted.

Other users? Movie fans. Yes, there could be a market there, but again. There is almost zero content. Studios are just trying to release 3D versions of films and just one big hit won’t assure that this will go on. Still not a huge market.

So, where there will be a market for this product to be successful not immediately but faster? My best guess are video games. Yes, as gamer I see some cool features in having a 3D game in front of my eyes. Gamers usually value visual improvements more than other TV users. But the downside is that there are almost zero news about game studios taking advantage of this new technology. Why? They usually wait to see what happens, which is a wise decision.

We’ll have to wait to know how 3DTV enters the market but in the meantime, let users figure out for you if this will be a worthy technology. For me, once I’ll be able to play winning eleven in 3D, I surely get mine!

…brought to you by the geniuses at The Daily Show. I’d rather post the link to this clip on YouTube (you’ll see why) but since Jon & Co. are under the Viacom umbrella, I figured the clip will be deleted soon. That and because I fear the wily band of ninjas that Viacom might send after me.

A group of DMECers just got back from our annual trip down to L.A. We are grateful to the companies who hosted us:

Fox Interactive Media
Warner Bros.
20th Century Fox
Yahoo! Media
Universal Music Group’s eLabs
Vivendi Games

For me, the highlight of the two days was contrasting the different ways the two News Corp. subsidiaries think about distributing content.

We had a great turn-out for our Thursday night happy hour in Santa Monica. A big thanks to everyone who came out!

I can’t wait for our next trip to LA. The town grows on me more and more everytime I visit. If you have suggestions for companies in the greater Los Angeles area worth visiting (maybe yours) or want to be sure we include you on the invite list for next year’s happy hour, just drop us a line.

(If anyone who was on the trip wants to add things to this post, feel free to edit it.  Of course, comments by all are always encouraged.)

I found this service the other day, Streamick.com- It’s basically a free online cable network with channels that include the BBC, Fox, CNN, ABC, Animal Planet, and others. Much like real cable, it’s ad-supported.

 http://www.streamick.com/index.php

 Now, this service also acts like real tv, in that you can’t pause, rewind, fast-forward or even select particular segments to watch. But for those of us who don’t want to pay $100 for cable AND internet, it could be a good choice.

I’m still exploring the service, and it has enough professional content right now to keep me entertained…but only time will tell if this service really will make the cable companies scared.

Now, it’s off to watch some good ol’ SumoTV…