Up until now I’ve been fairly unconvinced by all the hype surrounding the 3D revolution happening not only in cinemas but also in upcoming television sets destined for the home. So with that in mind, last night we went to see Avatar, the current blockbuster 3D showcase movie. Firstly, forgetting 3D for a second, the screen we visited at the Odeon in Bridgend has been converted to fully digital, which means no more film based projector. The resulting picture is crystal clear – no scratch or dust marks on the picture, no black spot in the corner for reel changes, no jump in the sound and picture when that happens… just an absolutely superb picture. Back to 3D then….. On went the glasses and the movie began. The first thing I noticed was that in this film (and also in most of the trailers beforehand), there wasn’t a huge amount of flying-in-your-face 3D effect, 3D had mostly been used to provide a depth of vision to the screen making it appear deep as opposed to jumping out at you (does that make sense?), and in fact whenever an attempt to make the screen jump out was made it was unimpressive and just painful to the eyes. However as a depth effect it was amazing and I started to see what all the fuss was about. When the camera was kept steady the 3D effects were at their most impressive and comfortable, but when there’s lots of action and movement things can get a bit blurry or worse still nausiating (I recall a dodgy scene near the beginning when soldiers jumped off a vehicle with the camera following, jumping all over the place). After a while, you even forget you are wearing the special glasses and 3D just becomes another part of the overall cinematic effect.

So in conclusion, for films in the cinema I’m totally in awe of the 3D gimmick, but I’m less convinced for the home. I guess that once a standard is agreed then I may be tempted, but until then I’m still not sure 3D is right for normal TV viewing. Oh, and the £20 for two tickets plus £8.15 for a drink, ice cream and some Minstrels puts the cinema experience in the category of expensive – It doesn’t cost too much more for a classy meal out! (and I’m not talking TGI Fridays either).