Analysts: Drop the glasses, 3-D will sell

LOS ANGELES, April 23 (UPI) -- Industry analysts say get rid of the special glasses and the U.S. consumers would be happy to buy 3-D gadgets for home viewing.

"Using glasses was always an interim step. For normal consumers, it's got to be glasses-free. The technology must advance to where that's not required," Michael Gartenberg, research director at Gartner Inc., told the Los Angeles Times.

James Cameron, the director of the highest grossing film of all time, "Avatar," could be said to be an authoritative voice for 3-D technology. Cameron said for 3-D to appeal to the television viewing audience, the glasses have to go. "That is the point where the curve (of buyers) is going to go ballistic," he said.

Recent advances in 3-D for home viewing include Nintendo's latest hand-held game platform, 3-D options for LG and HTC phones and glasses-free 3-D televisions made by Toshiba.

But the technology is limited, the newspaper said, to devices with small screens or other restrictions, such as holding the device at a specific angle or the image will blur.

The Toshiba televisions, not yet available in the United States, are sold in 12-inch and 20-inch sets and require viewers to seat themselves at specific angles to the screen.

"Very few will choose," to spend thousands on small screen televisions that go blurry if the viewer gets up out of his or her chair, said Steve Blumenthal, president of 3DFusion, a New York company working on the technology.

"It's a nonstarter," he said.