Consumers Want Their 3-D TV. Or Do They?

A study co-authored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and released on Friday finds that 3-D TV may be the next big thing. According to the group, 41 million American adults said they've seen a 3-D movie in theaters in the last 12 months (which seems high to me), although interestingly only 40% of those say they'd prefer to see a movie in 3-D over the standard 2-D.

There are some other interesting stats here (thanks to TWICE), but I want to focus on that 40% number above because it seems a bit underwhelming. I'm guessing that when HDTV was first introduced, something close to 100% of the people who saw a show, movie or sporting event in HD preferred it in high-def over standard-def. That seems pretty obvious. So when only 40% of the people who have seen a 3-D movie prefer it in 3-D, that says to me that the technology has a ways to go before it will be adopted in any large scale.