3D video causes extra eye strain and fatigue says Samsung study

Here’s another reason why 3D is pointless. A study funded in part by Samsung’s R&D division conducted by the University of California-Berkley revealed that 3D displays cause extra eye fatigue. The study, published in the Journal of Vision last week found that when test subjects watched 3D content, they reported more eye strain and fatigue and less vision clarity afterward than when they watched 2D content.

This additional eye strain is caused by the disparity between the depth of the screen and the depth of the 3D image, though researchers also found that the relationship between image depth and nearness of the screen is also a factor in causing eye strain.

Essentially what this means is that while a cinematic 3D experience in a movie theater can be relatively comfortable, watching 3D movies at home is likely to cause stress to your eyeballs due to the much shorter distance available between the viewer and the display. Though this is not to say that watching a 3D movie in a cinema is not strenuous either.

Where at home and with 3D mobile devices like a 3D smarthphone (like the LG Optimus 3D) or a 3D portable gaming console (like the Nintendo 3DS), a 3D content viewed over a short distance is more visually uncomfortable when the 3D image is placed in front of the screen. In a movie theaters where the distance between the screen and viewer is greater, it’s the opposite: 3D content that appear deeper within the screen or behind the screen causes more discomfort than images that jump out at you.

Hit up the source link for the full report if you want to read it. So, what are your thoughts about 3D?

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