You'll be hearing a lot more about webinars, which offer the opportunity to “attend” a conference without leaving home or the office. This is good and bad.
 
In case you haven't tried a webinar, you log onto a web page to listen through the PC's speakers or headphones, while viewing the conference Powerpoints slides on the screen.
 
The good upside is that the audience can make tea when things get boring; the bad downside is that the conference speakers can talk rubbish and avoid being challenged because their audience can only ask questions by telephone, PC mic or keyboard text, on the say-so of an unseen moderator.
 
So the webinar format works best for uncontentious briefings, like the recent Futuresource Consulting Webinar on “3D, How Big, How Soon?”.
 
“Cautiously optimistic” is how analyst Futuresource director Jim Bottoms feels about 3D in the home after researching the opportunities for profit and loss.
 
“We don't have a format war. But it's not a done deal” he warned.
 
The success of 3D in the cinema is obvious, and it suits both Hollywood and the consumer electronics industry to try and drive 3D into the home. Active shutter viewing with Full HD to each eye looks set to become the de facto standard for viewing Blu-ray 3D, with passive polarisation and Half HD to each eye best for broadcasters like Sky who have limited bandwidth and need to make the new service compatible with existing receivers. Free to air 3D broadcasts from Freesat or Freeview are three years away, reckons Futuresource.
 
There is no standard for active shutter glasses which need a response time to match the screen, so Sony glasses will not work with a Panasonic TV,  says senior technology consultant Bill Foster; but he knows of one major manufacturer who is already testing multi-standard glasses that will be sold as an accessory.
 
There will also be designer glasses, like designer sunglasses, and prescription lens glasses, too. And the CEA is hoping to develop standards that will make it easier for third party manufacturers to sell glasses.
 
“This is an accessory opportunity” said Mr Bottoms. “The CE industry is now very good at accessorising.”
 
Panasonic charges £100 a time for shutter glasses, but the cost should fall to around £25. Philips is offering 3D glasses and a controller as an optional extra. But bundling just one pair with a 3D TV may be a better strategy. Owners can give 3D a try and then buy more glasses if they like what they see.
 
Although cinemas use rechargeable batteries which can be topped up between shows while the glasses are cleaned, button cell batteries are better for the home because they only switch on when the infra red or Bluetooth control signal from a TV is detected. So the batteries are good for 250-300 hours viewing.
 
A 3D chip set only adds $20 to the price of a TV, said John Bird, Futuresource principal consultant, and that will soon fall to zero. So we might soon see all large screen TVs sold as 3D-Ready.
 
“No existing TVs will work with 3D, even if the screen can refresh fast enough for 3D, because they do not have an HDMI 1.4 input for the 3D control signals,” warned Mr Foster – which will be music to dealers' ears.

Barry Fox