Medium . . . . . . 3D falls flat for many

Well, the anaglyphic 3D episode of Medium . . . stereoscopic 3D psychic entertainment . . . has broadcast in the United States.  I didn’t get to see it as I live overseas but among the folks in the various 3D photography groups I belong to, there is an overwhelming consensus that the 3D effects were quite poor for the folks using regular televisions as NTSC and older televisions introduce a great deal of color aberrations that create more "ghosting" in the anaglyphic image.  The only folks who reported good results are the ones who viewed the program via High Definition television signals on Plasma or projection style television sets.  Unfortunately, that means the vast majoritiy of folks who watched it didn’t get the best quality for the program.  A number of folks also reported that the "icon" to warn folks that a 3D scene was coming would flash and by the time they got their glasses on the scene would be over or more than half over – a problem with structure of the episode and not with the 3D itself.  As a number of 3D aficianados pointed out, at least they gave it a go and got some exposure out there . . . however, my feelings are that "any publicity is not always good publicity" . . . if the 3D was perceived by the audience to suck, then that could unfortunately create a bias against any 3D as folks have to make opinion decisions based upon what they have been presented with and it it looked bad to them (regardless of the cause coming from their television sets or poor production or inherent difficulties with the chosen 3D format) then they will shy away from 3D in general.  In my opinion.  There are ways to minimize ghosting but that means no eye gouging through the window gimmicks and the like.  There are folks working on much more reliable 3D delivery systems.  Anaglyph is difficult for television but not impossible and it is certainly easier for current systems than the superior polarized format which is impossible for most sets right now.