James Cameron warns against 2D-to-3D conversions, says a recipe for 'headaches'

3D evangelist James Cameron has urged the TV community to embrace 3D technology but has warned against a rush to using 2D-to-3D conversion technology. Speaking at yesterday’s Seoul Digital Forum, the director urged content makers to embrace the third dimension, saying they were now the missing piece in the burgeoning 3D jigsaw puzzle. 
‘We're going to have 3D TVs all around us so we're going to need thousands of hours of sports, comedy and music and all kinds of entertainment,’ he declared, before adding that cheap conversion technology was not the answer.

Cameron’s rallying call comes against a backdrop of growing interest in cut-price 2D-to-3D conversion techniques, seen by many industry pundits as a way to maintain momentum in the 3D market.
Increasingly penny-conscious film and TV makers are considering 2D-to-3D conversion techniques as a short-cut to mass-producing 3D content.  Cameron warned against such temptations saying that far from a ‘brilliant way to save money’ all content makers would be creating would be ‘eye strain and headaches.’

The conversion debate
While the director’s warnings were aimed at the creative community, it might equally be applied to 3D TV set makers. Both Samsung and Sony are building on-the-fly 2D-to-3D conversion technology into their 3D TV sets.
Indeed, Samsung recently demonstrated the benefits of its 2D-3D technology to Home Cinema Choice, by converting the 2D Blu-ray of Avatar back into pseudo 3D. Panasonic however has so-far chosen not to provide the facility. ‘We don’t think it’s right to confuse consumers this early on with second-rate conversion technology,’ Panasonic Europe’s TV chief Fabrice Estornel told HCC.

Of course, Cameron himself is currently busy converting his previous 2D  record-breaker Titanic to 3D, using advanced conversion technology. A project he says will cost around $12 million and take two years to complete.