Last night at 8:00pm, DirecTV launched the latest all 3D network, 3net on channel 107. The new network is a partnership between Discovery, Sony and IMAX. HD Guru viewed the first three programs on a Panasonic TC-P50GT25 50-inch 1080p 3D Plasma 
First the good news, all 3net programs have excellent 3D image quality with no visible artifacts, no eyestrain inducing segments and only one very brief instance of slight crosstalk (ghosting) during one program. This corporate triumvirate really knows how to shoot and choose well produced 3D .
Now the bad news, just because a program is a professional 3D production does not mean the video content is compelling. For example, the debut program “China Revealed“ about the Great Wall of China., consists of long, drawn out shots of the wall or a drawing. See the side of a flat wall in 3D, panned to the right, followed by a shot of an archway, panned from top to bottom, followed by a view of the wall from the top. Almost all shots last around thirty seconds. For anyone raised on the quick cuts of MTV, it’s excruciatingly drawn out. Interspersed between the shots of the wall are pans of a Chinese line drawing. Boring!
I am no expert on making a documentary; however, to me it appeared to be about twenty minutes of 3D content stretched into an hour program. The spoken narration sounded like the reading of a textbook, informative, but as dry as the mortar between the wall’s bricks.
The second program, Into The Deep is the best of the three premier programs with gorgeous 3D underwater shots of sea life in the kelp forest off the coasts of California and Mexico.
The third, entitled “Forgotten Planet“ is the depressing story of the contaminated ghost towns of Pripyat, Ukraine, done in by the nuclear disaster at the nearby Chernobyl power plant and the former lead mining town of Picher, Oklahoma. The 3D video mainly consists of a variety of shots of abandoned building interiors and exteriors, which we found slightly more compelling than watching water boil.
3net plans to add a new 3D programs every night for the remainder of February. Titles include Magnificent  Desolation: Walking on the Moon; Ghost Lab; Bugs a Rainforest Adventure; Dinosaurs Giants of Pangonia (first seen on DirecTV’s N3D channel); 3D Sun; I (Almost) Got Away With It; Deep Sea; Oceana Air Show; The Haunted; Puppy Bowl VII; Under The Sea; High Octane and Bugs A Rainforest Adventure. Based on the descriptions and promos, many appear to be interesting and visually dramatic . We plan on posting another review once these programs air.
Have a question for the HD Guru?
HD GURU|Email
Copyright ©2011 HD Guru Inc. All rights reserved. HDGURU is a registered trademark.
4 Comments
Comments are closed.
It was great to finally get a new 3d channel. I watched all 3 hours. It was the first time I set down and watched 3d tv that was clean and well produced. DVDS different story. I feel like this could pave the way for 3d tv, not just blurays. I did notice that my glasses kept droping sync durring the first run of Ghost Lab on 3net.
I thuroghly enjoyed the launch of 3net. The third show Sunday nite “Forgotton Planet” featured a small mineing town in NE Oklahoma. I grew up about 35 miles from Pitcher. It was cool to see a town from my area on 3net the night of thier launch. Very Cool!
I found that the China segment, which was filmed for IMAX theaters was, at times, hard to focus on because they wanted too much “in front” of the the screen. While it may work in a surround theater, it gave me a headache for the majority of the show. The IMAX Moon documentary rocked. Look forward to seeing more Discover channel episodes as well as ESPN 3D 24/hr broadcasts. I prefer for 3D to stay behind my screen unless it is a singularity that pops out. China Revealed has too much side views on this side of the screen, confusing the viewer.
Thanks for the informative review. Reminds me alot of the very early days of HD TV, way back in 1999, when my local hi-end HD TV dealer would run endless PBS loops of Japanese gardens, buildings, and cityscapes on big screen Pioneer Elite rear projection behemoths. Very impressive the first ten times through…after that boring. But it gave us a sense of incredible possibilities. I suspect we’ll go through a similar growth pattern with broadcast 3D TV.
Nice review. I was very happy when I found out this launched yesterday, and watched “China Revealed.” I agree…the shots were so long and drawn out. They wanted to show the 3D effect so badly that they we spent one minute looking at a wall with a tree in front of it. Was the focus on the wall or the tree? Anyway, I’m just glad there’s more 3D stuff for what…I wasn’t expecting this channel to launch so I was very happy.