To 3D or not to 3D, or When (is the question)?

After seeing comments on 3D home theater scattered in some other topic areas, I thought I would give 3D home theater its own topic.

After seeing Avatar in both RealD3D* and IMAX*, I'm 'sold' on the idea for home use, but not yet sold on what means I might adopt and when. I've never been satisfied trying to live on the bleeding edge of audio/video, so I'm not about to jump, although I am 'itching'.

* I preferred RealD3D image and IMAX audio, although I suppose a RealD3D theater wouldn't be prevented from improving their audio.

Although too much speculation at this time is pointless, does anyone know if any of the proposed consumer 3D methods will require a bandwidth that will make current pre/pro's (that decode audio from HDMI, and pass the HDMI along to a video display) obsolete? Or that such a data stream will be above what current HDMI systmes/cables are designed to handle? These questions come from comments I read in an on-line magazine article, but the author was not sufficiently specific or thorough.

It is a very real concern, actually. There haven't been any clear answers from manufacturers, and if problems do exist (as seems to be a possibility) there will likely be no easy way to tell if individual products are affected using manufacturer literature on older HDMI products.

Panasonic's first BD3D player will have two HDMI outputs. This is being done to allow HDMI audio to go to a receiver and HDMI video to go to a display, which is perhaps the only clear hint we've seen that manufacturers expect there to be bandwidth problems with 3D and existing HDMI receivers. Player designs like that could provide protection against compatibility problems with receivers and processors that aren't 3D-friendly, but it is sort of defeating the purpose of HDMI as a single-cable solution.

In the author's defense, I'm not sure anyone has enough specifics. As with past HDMI revisions, details are proving elusive right now.

From what I've read, it appears that 3D will require more bandwith than HDMIv3 will support,so an HDMIv (v4 ?)will be necessary to carry the video signal. That's a whole new ball game for processors and interconnects, but after all, the point in all of this is to sell equipment.

Give that man a cigar.