3D TV Is Dead: Our Favorite Failed TV Innovations
Shed a single tear for a fallen friend, 3D TV has gone the way of the dodo. CNET reports that Sony and LG, the last two manufacturers to offer 3D models, have officially ceased their production for 2017. Samsung did the same in 2016, and Vizio heard the bell toll back in 2013. We know you’ve amassed quite a collection of those nifty 3D glasses, but it’s time to throw them all in the trash, they’re useless now.
3D TV can now join the ranks of other “before their time” innovations that now occupy the vaults of collectors, or the trash dump that holds all the unsold copies of the E.T. Atari game. Here are a few of SuperFan’s favorite failed TV innovations…
#1. Betamax
The 1970s marked a time of vicious battle, the videotape format war! Betamax may have come before the Video Home System, but Sony’s larger, more expensive format couldn’t compete with JVC’s VHS, simply because a single Betamax tape only held about 60 minutes of video, and a standard feature-length movie wouldn’t fit.
#2. LaserDisc
Wedged between the release of the VHS and the CD, LaserDisc carved out a tenuous niche that never really took root. Despite its high-quality audio and video, the expensive LaserDisc never found enthusiasts beyond cinephiles. From its first release, Jaws in 1978, to its final, Bringing Out the Dead in 2000, the format floundered to take a chunk out of the VHS market, and completely died when its successor, the DVD, broke out in the late 1990s.
#3. DIVX
Digital Video Express, an idea so awful, it contributed to the end of a once successful chain of electronics stores. Circuit City, also known as that spooky place that now houses a Halloween store, launched the DIVX format in 1998 to try and take on the video rental market. For about five bucks, you take the movie home, watch it for 48 hours, and then throw the whole thing in the trash. For some reason on our burning planet of climate change disaster, consumers hated this idea, DIVX was discontinued a year later, and Variety estimated that $337 million was lost on the terrible scheme.
The Messy, Disappointing History of ‘Star Wars’ on TV…
Tell us what you think! What do you think was the worst TV innovation? Any that we missed? There can’t be one worse than DIVX, right? Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.
