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If there was one resounding theme present at CES 2010, it undoubtedly was 3D. Television makers across the board are producing 3D capable TVs in preparation for what I think is the next best thing since color TV. That’s right, I love 3D, and I love that it’s coming to a living room near you. Here’s why…

Even though current 3D technology isn’t perfect, it is the first step of many in the right direction.  Just as color was a natural progression from black and white television, 3D is the next obvious step in video technology.  And if you’re already buying into surround sound audio, why not truly immerse yourself in media by viewing it in a manner that brings it out of the screen?

The human eye sees very detailed color images, but we have two, so they’re just begging to see different things when we consume media.  And thankfully, the newest Blu-ray spec has all of the details surrounding 3D nailed down, so we won’t have to worry about any HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray style format wars.

But it will cost you.  3D technology is not free, and will likely require you to buy a new TV, perhaps a new Blu-ray player or cable subscription option and maybe even new glasses.  And don’t the television companies just love that?  Yes, they love to get you to buy new gear every year.  But if you do buy a new 3D enabled TV, remind yourself that you’re buying into a technology that will only get better over time, thanks to your support. And the glasses aren’t so bad.  They’re pretty cool technology on their own.  Each lens cycles on and off so fast that you can’t even tell it’s doing it.  Essentially, it’s blocking each eye’s vision 60 or more times per second as it shifts the image on screen to give you a 3D effect.  And yes, it works, quite well.

But for a moment, just imagine yourself in the future, buying a camera that takes all of its pictures in 3D by default.  iPhoto and other apps will someday have support for 3D media, and you will have unparalleled possibilities with that media.  The way you take it, edit it and view it will be different from how you handle current 2D material.  Seriously, just think about all of the possibilities that 3D presents for images and video that you create, not just video games and videos that you consume.  And I’d like to imagine that this is all happening without glasses.  That’s the trick, isn’t it?

Of course, if you buy a 3D TV in 2010, you’ll need special glasses, and they’ll make you look a little geeky.  There just isn’t a good way around it yet, but at least you should be watching all of this in a dark room right?  Actually, the effect is very worth the glasses, and you’ll soon forget you’re wearing them.  3D doesn’t drastically change a movie or image, it makes it more lifelike.  I think we’ll be seeing a lot of advances in this technology over the coming years. Maybe they’ll even get rid of those pesky glasses. But for the meantime, I’ll just keep dreaming about when I can finally buy that 3D DSLR.