Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

This installment focuses mainly on 3-D technology. He had FORTY-EIGHT Red cameras shooting at 5,000 lines of resolution and 48 frames a second. It looks like the end result should be quite amazing, but I'm wondering if today's projectors can project at 48 FPS or if it will have to be down-sampled.

Still, pretty cool.

I am not a fan of 3-D as my readers know, but he's going to some great extremes to do it right, so maybe it'll be worthwhile.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/11/peter-jackson-geeks-out-on-3-d-in-latest-hobbit-video/

Roger Ebert has a wonderful article about how much a scam 3-D is. Very good read, and the last paragraph about Disney really sucks: "Disney recently announced it will make no more traditional films at all, focusing entirely on animation, franchises, and superheroes." Animation = 3-D = surcharge = more profit!

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/30/why-i-hate-3-d-and-you-should-too.html


Jason Hiner writes about the scam:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/stop-being-duped-by-the-3d-scam/7983?tag=nl.e010


And the frequently appearing Slashdot page:

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/11/04/23/1139258/Why-People-Should-Stop-Being-Duped-By-the-3D-Scam


I'm writing a letter to my local theater chain saying that I'm boycotting 3-D movies.

Maybe I'm becoming the curmudgeon that I've been looking forward to becoming. I'm not a fan of 3D movies, I'm one of those horrible people who usually prefers good stories over effects. I love digital movie theaters because the light level is more balanced, you also have as good a print if you see it three weeks after release as if you saw it opening weekend. But I don't like 3D movies. I wear glasses, and I don't like wearing 3D glasses over them. But I don't have much of a choice as there's only one movie theater (a ten-plex) within 75 miles of where I live, so if a movie is simultaneously released in 2D and 3D, odds are that we're only going to get the 3D. If we drive to Las Cruces, 90+ minutes away, we MIGHT get a choice between 2D and 3D, but it's a crap shoot.

Well, it turns out that 3D can do funny things to your eyes. And if the under 7 crowd watch 3D movies, there's a strong chance they can end up with damage to their vision and long-term problems. It isn't quite as bad in adults, but now we're looking at 3D TV and at an included technology that lets the TV interpolate 2D source material up to 3D. So now you can spend more hours than you would watching one movie in 3D watching a 3D TV at closer focusing distances. And children will have access to this, quite possibly with little or no supervision.

We also have 3D computer monitors on the horizon. I spend an hour or two playing Warcraft during the week, more on the weekend. I can't imagine what is going to happen to young hardcore player's eyes.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/warning-3d-video-hazardous-to-your-health/

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/06/26/2059205/3D-Displays-May-Be-Hazardous-To-Young-Children?art_pos=9


Perhaps I should just embrace my inner curmudgeon like I've embraced my inner snob. Get of my lawn, dammit!