Sony's HMZ-T2 Personal 3D Viewer certainly gives off a good first impression. The device looks sleek, like something out of the future, the sort of streamlined future that movies have been promising us since Metropolis. Actually strapping the thing to your head is a slightly different experience.
Remember virtual reality? The idea that science could create a virtual world of sight, sound, smell and touch was hot two decades ago, then completely fizzled out.
"VR made a huge splash in the 90s, but collapsed into near obscurity a few years later. The term VR even became a dirty word for some time, giving way to the less-hyped term immersion," says Paul Mlyniec, president of California-based Digital ArtForms.
Acclaimed movie director James Cameron admitted he was amazed by the quality of 3D-TV displayed at IBC last week. Speaking at a demo on the Dolby booth of the Dolby/Philips 3D joint-venture (which uses Dutch company Dimenco’s technology), he said “There is room for improvement but this already good enough for the consumer market, you guys are the first to blow out the door”.