Home 3-D setups have lived in relative obscurity so far, but Panasonic hopes James Cameron's upcoming film Avatar will spark interest.
The electronics company has inked a deal with 20th Century Fox to sponsor the movie, according to Twice. Panasonic will use the film, which will hit theaters on December 18, as an opportunity to promote televisions and Blu-ray disc players that support 3-D.
This fall, Panasonic will give demonstrations of the technology, playing the movie in specially-designed trailer vans in the United States and Europe. It's not clear what Fox is getting in return for Panasonic's involvement.
Panasonic North America's executive vice president said that when the company releases its own home 3-D products, there will be roughly 100 movies availble to support it.
Today's 3-D technology uses a stereoscopic display to create two alternating images in 1080p, with slightly different angles in each. The viewer wears a special set of glasses that blocks out one of the images from each eye, creating the illusion that the movie is popping out of the screen.
It seems that a marketing blitz for 3-D is on the way. In addition to the Panasonic deal, Mitsubishi and the video game Web site IGN.com unveiled a promotion of the technology today. The two parties will be giving away a 3-D home theater setup as a promotion.
I remain somewhat wary about 3-D. As a gamer who suffered the Virtual Boy, I know this technology runs the risk of being worth only a few cheap thrills followed by unnecessary eyestrain. Clearly I'm not the only one who thinks so.
So it's somewhat amusing to me that Panasonic and others seem to be pushing full steam ahead with the technology. I know they need to innovate, but how about focusing on a working OLED big-screen instead?
