Over the last few years, 3D has exploded into movie houses, onto TV screens, computers and even portable gaming devices. I remember being invited by Ster-Kinekor to see one of the first 3D offerings to come into South Africa. It was a National Geographic movie, they some how always seem to have their science films out on the new technology first, and I was completely blown away. This wasn’t that junk that we were used to from the Spy Kids movies, this was crystal clear.

Over time, and through repeated use, the novelty of 3D has begun to wear off. The flaws in what many call a Hollywood money making scheme are coming through. Don’t get me wrong, when sitting down just days ago to watch a currently embargoed film I still got excited when the Ster-Kinekor logo exploded in my face. It’s when you sit through a film for two hours that it begins to get taxing.

The biggest complaint around the world appears to be the darkness of the movies. An employee even chatted to us after the latest film preview about the different ways they were trying to make the film brighter after audience complaints. The fact of the matter is, the dark glasses make the film darker. Until the studios find a way of adjusting the picture for 3D or making the projection even brighter, this will be a problem. But this one is solvable in the short term.

The second is the glasses. They’re uncomfortable. For people who don’t regularly wear glasses, it simply deflates the entertainment bubble that 3D was made to inflate. Added to this is a wide spread complaint over being tired and eye pain during and after seeing the movie. Our eyes are constantly trying to balance an imperfect system and they’re not happy about it.

The next step would be to move the technology beyond the glasses, which is what Nintendo has tried to do with its 3DS. But even that has had complaints from strained eyes.

When I watch a movie I’m there to be entertained by a story. Do I really need to see it in 3D? It’s not making the story any more immersive because I’m now being distracted by funky glasses and an increasing headache. This is exactly why the attempted move to bring 3D into the home space has failed to launch in the way the manufacturers had hoped. When we’re chilling at home we want to be comfortable, and wearing goofy glasses and straining our eyes is not comfort.

What remains to be seen is whether this 3D fiasco will burn out, which seems unlikely with all the extra cash being made on it, or will the technology be perfected and brought to a place where it truly is the difference between black and white, and colour.