Sky 3D

Over the last year or so, the biggest thing to get people flocking to the cinemas has been 3D movies, from Pixar’s Up to, of course, James Cameron’s Avatar, and from this weekend, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Now it’s time for TV to get in on the act. A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to take a look at Sky’s new 3D service, which will launch in pubs and clubs next month before being available to home viewers later in the year.

Channel Four goes Three Dimensional

3D is huge at the moment. Almost every animated movie in the cinema these days is watched with a pair of 3D glasses, with Pixar recently remastering Toy Storys 1 & 2 in the format. Over the last year, a crop of horror sequels and remakes have been given the 3D treatment, and next month it’s set to get even bigger with James Cameron’s space epic Avatar, the most eagerly anticipated film of the year. Next year, special 3D televisions will start to come on to the market, with Sky launching the Sky 3D channel through it’s Sky+ HD service.

These are the Channel Four 3D glasses available to pick up for free from Sainsbury's

Next week, Channel Four gets in on the act, with a week of 3D programmes which you can watch with a pair of glasses you can pick up for free from Sainsbury’s. Unlike Sky’s state-of-the-art system which uses Circular Polarized 3D (similar to the system used in the cinema), Channel Four is using the more basic anaglyphic ColorCodeViewer 3D, which uses blue and amber filters. While the effect isn’t as amazing as with polarised glasses, it’s still good and most importantly you don’t need to buy a brand new television set to use it. So, what treats do Channel Four have lined up for us over the week? Let’s have a look…