3D to 4K

maverick177uk

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A question for all those out there who have made the move to 4K but had to let go 3D, do you miss it, soon I want to move up to a new 4K set up I have quite a few 3D films although I dont watch as much as I do the films on my ATV4K, jjst wondering for those who have given up on 3D do you miss it, is 4K that much better?
 
I upgraded my projector a few months ago and one thing that was a must for me was that it have 3D and UHD. A projector is always a compromise in image quality, it's more about the scale and I accept that I don't get the best from my UHD content. It does however shine with 3D. I've only ever watched short 3D clips on my 55" TV like checking a new disc. If I didn't have a projector I think I'd have given up on 3D long ago, for me 3D needs a big image.

I pre-ordered Star Wars Rise of Skywalker in UHD but after watching it I can't help thinking I might have enjoyed it more in 3D and will quite likely purchase the 3D at some point when the price drops.

It's very much personal choice but I'd think you'd be very happy with UHD versions of some of your 3D movies.
 
I just watch 3D movies on one of my VR headsets. I don't miss it on my TV at all.
 
I can't quite answer your question as I haven't, and hopefully never will, give up on 3D. But I have spent a long time comparing 4K and 3D, so here's my 2p worth.

I was spurred into buying my 4K television, when it became obvious that television manufacturers were going to drop 3D. From everything I had read, passive 3D on a 4K television was the best 3D possible experience.

Now owning a 4K television, I was very keen to try 4K and for me the experience has been mixed to say the least. Most of the 4K films I've watched have been a step up from the Blu-ray versions, but not a huge step up. Some have been a worthwhile improvement others are just so so. And a few have been worse than their Blu-ray counterparts - at least in certain scenes.

For me the joy of Blu-ray 3D is that it offers something new - spatial information. 3D is quite unlike DVD and Blu-ray. We perceive the real world in 3D, just as we see the world in colour. For me, 3D makes the experience, more realistic, more immersive and more enjoyable.

What does 4K give you? More of the same, but better, but nothing new. Colours are more accurate, there is a little more detail in the picture, we have better specular highlights. These are all nice to have, but they come at a terrible cost. The complete and total loss of all that wonderful spatial resolution.

When I watch a film in 3D I'm drawn into the experience. I never sit there, thinking. I wish this film had better colour or more detail. I don't miss those improvements at all.

When I watch 4K, the experience is much the same as watching Blu-ray with a couple of incremental improvements.

Initially, I used to buy both the 3D version and the 4K version of films. After about six films, I stopped because once I played both versions to compare them, I knew I'd never play the 4K version again. I would always choose the 3D version. There simply isn't a comparison. The 3D version has always been the far better experience. It's not even close.

If there are lots of films on 4K that you want to upgrade from 2D Blu-ray, then by all means go for 4K, as long as you realise that many films are just a marginal improvement.

But as far as I'm concerned, 4K isn't an upgrade over 3D , it is a downgrade. A very, very big downgrade at that.

Of course, 4K is the newest shiniest toy AV toy around, and for some that is reason enough to buy it. And that's fair enough, but for me, I want the most immersive, realistic and enjoyable film experience I can get. And that is 3D.

I should add, that I don't only watch 3D on my 4K TV. I have a cheap 3D projector, a budget 3D LED TV and a head mounted 3D display and 3D is wonderful on all of them. Even my cheapo 3D TV offers a far more enjoyable experience than watching 4K on my OLED set.

In short, for me 3D is wow! and 4K (at its best) is 'nice'.
 
I have to say that I haven't missed 3D on the old plasma. The fact that it was always a bit dark (compared to an OLED) didn't help but the only 3D films I really liked watching in 3D were Dredd and Avatar. I haven't missed it at all. 4K on an OLED beats 3D every time for me.

I can imagine 3D discs on one of the old LG OLED's that supported 3D looking good mind so I can see why there would be die-hards. But lets face it - 3D as we know it right now has had it. It will probably make a comeback one day!
 
When 3D Blu-ray, first appeared, I was keen to check it out and my first experiences were dire. Very dark images, lots of cross talk and also lots of flicker from active glasses. I decided that 3D wasn't for me. Later when I heard about LG's passive 3D sets, I went and had a look. Again, I wasn't impressed. The 3D image was distorted - again 3D wasn't for me. In retrospect, I suspect the TV had a misaligned polarising filter.

A few years later, my wife and I went shopping for a TV for our spare room. I read no reviews or did any research as this TV was not for critical viewing. The fact that the TV we bought had 3D capability was neither here nor there. It was simply a reasonable budget TV that my wife liked the look of. One day, out of curiosity, I got some 3D discs, to try out. My jaw dropped. I had literally never seen anything like it. The 3D was amazing! I tried disc after disc and was just astounded. This was the most life like AV experience I had. My budget 3D set was better than anything else I had ever seen when I was watching 3D films. I was a convert. The TV was mediocre with 2D Blu-ray, so I knew there was something about 3D that made the viewing experience so special.

I invited a friend round to watch some 3D on my new TV and his jaw dropped as well. He couldn't believe how realistic, how immersive the experience was. The next day he put his top of the range Panasonic plasma up for sale and went out and bought the same budget LG TV that I got. Some years later, when I upgraded to the LG OLED he came round again. This time, we watched several 4K discs and like me he was underwhelmed. He couldn't see how the hype behind 4K was justified and thought that I had wasted my money. Then we put on some 3D and again, 'Wow!' he could now see the sense in my purchase.

So I can fully understand that if your primary experience of 3D is based upon early generation televisions and glasses, you would be less than impressed. And of course, 4K is a great step up from Blu-ray of that era, as seen on that generation of televisions. I can understand why some people are more impressed with the 4K format than I am. Though I have to say, if I switch between the Blu-ray and 4K versions of the same film, taken from the same master, I usually find the improvement to be modest. There are exceptions, but for me 4K has shown the smallest change between disc formats that I have seen.

Ultimately, though, 3D gives you something different and closer to the world we occupy. 4K is a nice embellishment for the flat films that the make up the majority of films.

It really is a crying shame, that the 4K format never included 3D. I'm sure that would have blown everyone's socks off...
 
Think this sort of makes my mind up get a decent 4k tv and a great short throw pj for 3D best of both worlds if I could get a UST PJ with good hdr then I may just get one of those.
Thanks for the replies guys
 
Maverick - am in a similar position to you, looking for a short throw (not necessarily ultra short throw) PJ for 3D but also 4k and reasonable cost, if at all possible.

to be honest sometimes my old optoma GT1080 still blows me away, so hope all the HDR/4k fuss is worth it.
 
Maverick - am in a similar position to you, looking for a short throw (not necessarily ultra short throw) PJ for 3D but also 4k and reasonable cost, if at all possible.

to be honest sometimes my old optoma GT1080 still blows me away, so hope all the HDR/4k fuss is worth it.

I really would arrange a demo before you buy a 4K projector.

Projectors don’t do HDR anywhere near as well as televisions do, so please don’t expect TV quality 4K on your projector.
 
I have a LG 65C6 and love the 3d, did think about upgrading to a newer model but decided I would miss it too much and the 4k on it looks great so best of both worlds for me.
Everyone is amazed how good the 3d looks when I show them and being passive the glasses are fine to wear for long periods.
I think I will only look to upgrade when the 77” OLEDs are a reasonable price as the big screen for 4k looks impressive and I don’t have room for a projector.
 
I have a LG 65C6 and love the 3d, did think about upgrading to a newer model but decided I would miss it too much and the 4k on it looks great so best of both worlds for me.
Everyone is amazed how good the 3d looks when I show them and being passive the glasses are fine to wear for long periods.
I think I will only look to upgrade when the 77” OLEDs are a reasonable price as the big screen for 4k looks impressive and I don’t have room for a projector.

I'm sure 4K will look lovely on a 77" OLED, but I doubt that it will have the same 'wow' factor as 3D on your 65C6.

Make sure you try before you buy!
 

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