3DTV's likely limp in crowded Asian market

Updated August 27, 2010 20:54:49

We've had flat screen TVs, LCD plasma TVs, digital TV and internet TV - and now Asian firms are locked in battle to produce the next generation of 3DTVs that work without special glasses to see the effects. And 3DTV is about to get a whole lot more interactive. A Japanese research team says it's developed the world's first 3D TV that allows users to touch, pinch and poke the images floating in front of them. But will it sell?

Presenter: Joanna McCarthy
Speakers: Yoshihisa Ishada, senior vice president, Sony Japan; Steven Bellman, deputy director, Interactive Television Research Institute, Murdoch University

MCCARTHY: Once again, North Asia's TV giants are in fierce competition to deliver the next big thing in home entertainment.

And whether it's Japan's Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba or Korea's LG or Samsung, they're all banking on 3D.

This week Sony and Toshiba sought to win the PR war.

Both announced work on 3D screens that don't need special glasses to view, even though neither were able to say when the new TVs would be ready.

Yoshihisa Ishada is the senior vice president of Sony.

ISHADA: Once all the technical elements are ready, I think the ultimate shape of 3DTVs should be the one watchable without the glasses as it is easier. But, before we reach that stage, we will have to solve the technical matters as well as the price issue. With that in our mind, we will consider the timing of putting 3DTVs into market.

MCCARTHY: It's the latest salvo in the race to secure a leading edge in an overcrowded market.

Steve Bellman is the deputy director of the Interactive Television Research Institute at Murdoch University

BELLMAN: Well, I think the main thing is they're trying to get people to buy new TV sets, because once you've bought a fairly expensive flat screen TV, you probably don't want to change it for quite a few years, but these companies need to keep selling TV sets continuously, so I don't know what they're going to do after 3DTV, but this is the latest thing to try to get you to change.

MCCARTHY: But will it work? Investors say it's still too early to put money on 3DTV.

Earlier this year Japan's Ichiyoshi Investment Management said it was waiting to see which firm gained the technological edge.

After all, as the firm's fund manager pointed out, it took a decade for the cost of colour TVs to fall low enough to find a market in the US.

Steve Bellman agrees that 3DTV could be a hard sell.

BELLMAN: Apart from Australia, most countries are still going through a bit of a recession at the moment, so most people wouldn't want to make a big investment if they've already done it only a few years ago. So yeah, it will be tough.

MCCARTHY: And that's confirmed by two independent surveys this week.

In the US, more than half the consumers polled revealed they were unsure about the potential health risks of watching 3DTV.

And a UK survey found just two per cent of households were planning on making the switch to 3DTV this year.

But it hasn't deterred the Japanese research team at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

They say they've developed the world's first 3DTV that allows users to touch, pinch and poke the images floating on them in front of them.

But is it what consumers want? Steve Bellman again.

BELLMAN: I can imagine maybe gamers would really like to feel like they're holding the sword or whatever they're doing in these games so that might be a market for it, but a yeah, a lot of entertainment, we want director to tell us a story and sit back and enjoy it rather than pick up the props.