Every day brings new news on 3D. Some good for business, some not so good.

In Australia, Samsung has covered its corporate back with a lengthy warning about possible health risks.

Says Samsung UK: “Samsung is especially concerned for those who may be sensitive to the immersive and realistic imagery of 3D content, which is why Samsung issued guidelines specifically for pregnant women, children and people drinking alcohol. Samsung is currently reviewing the language and possible changes because the current guidelines have caused unintended alarm.”

There are rows brewing over the use of 2D-to-3D conversion. At a professional level, it was used for Clash of the Titans, at a fraction of the cost of making Avatar. At consumer level, Sony is building a converter into its 3D TVs.

There are three user-controllable 3D “up-conversion” settings, under control of the TV remote option button, which change how much depth you see in the 3D image.

“While we think the up-conversion will provide added entertainment features to owners of 3D Bravias, we recognise that it will never be quite as good as content filmed natively in 3D and delivered on Blu-ray 3D, for example,” said a Sony spokesman, with an obvious eye to concerned broadcasters in the USA who are pondering the sense of spending money on 3D camerawork when viewers can flick a switch to get a similar effect.

Says a Sony website: “It is important to note that any content that isn’t native 3D (so upconverted from 2D to 3D) is good, but it’s like sugar-substitute good. Good but never as great as the real thing.”

In this week’s ERT magazine, I have told how the World Cup is being shot in 3D, but not broadcast in 3D in the UK.

Already we are getting warning signs of the confusion this may cause at shop floor level.

Sony's press releases on the new Bravia 3D TVs pretty clearly imply that home viewing in 3D will be possible.

“Sony 3D TVs available for the first 3D World Cup” says one, confirming that “Sony 3D TVs and Blu-ray players would be available in stores in June, in time for the first Fifa World Cup to be filmed in 3D by Sony and FIFA.”

Another release says: “Sony and Fifa recently confirmed that they would be filming 25 matches in the Fifa World Cup in 3D. Complementing the 3D live broadcasts and a series of public viewing opportunities around the world, the general public will also...”

I am sure this is just innocently clumsy wording, but dealers need to explain the situation more clearly.

Unless the Government and Ofcom step in to force the BBC and ITV to share their World Cup rights with Sky – which seems highly unlikely – there will be no World Cup 3D in British homes or Sky pubs, unless it is sugar-substitute pseudo-3D.

Barry Fox