Samsung Electronics has launched a 3D Video On Demand service for users of its Internet enabled, SMART TVs in the Indian market. The service was launched in Korea, earlier this year. According to a note from the company, the service can be accessed by downloading the ‘Explore 3D’ app from the Samsung Apps application store and, offers 3D movie trailers, music videos, children’s classics, as well as lifestyle videos and documentaries.
Over 30 3D clips are available at present including children classics such as Pinocchio, The Ugly Duckling, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp among others, lifestyle videos such as Mercedes Benz Classic Collection, Takeoff-Macau, The Enchanted Hill: Inside the Hearst Castle, and IMAX documentaries like Grand Canyon Adventure, Dinosaurs of Patagonia, Dinosaurs Alive, Wild Ocean, Mummies, Ultimate Wave Tahiti, Ultimate Gs, Legends of Flight. The company has also struck a deal with Dreamworks to deliver 3D movie trailers such as How to train your dragon, Shrek4, Megamind and Kung Fu Panda 2 as well as music videos.
Although television manufacturers have launched 3D TVs, and even DTH players like Videocon and Airtel have introduced 3D/3D capable set top boxes, in the Indian market, 3D has not really taken off. With the absence of content, and ambiguity surrounding the technology, it is still a work in progress. Perhaps Samsung is trying to fill that gap for its consumers, and incentivizing them for buying 3D TVs. But the delivery medium is still a pain point – the internet.
Although the service will be available for free of cost for existing as well as for the new users of SMART TVs, data download costs will be extra. Streaming 3D videos, ofcourse will lead to a high amount of data transfer, and require good bandwidth and latency. Remember that the average connection speed in India is 0.8 mbps, and most ISPs have a (un)fair usage policy, where they throttle download speeds after the user reaches a certain amount of data transfer. Although ISPs like Airtel have different standards for users of their own VOD services. In June, Airtel had partnered BIGFlix to offer online video content providing streaming of 500 movies a month, alongwith 100 TV shows, 100 trailers, and 100 music videos.