IOGear converter box turns 2-D TV content into 3-D fare

— -- There's not a lot of mystery about why 3-D in the home has mostly been a colossal failure — despite a monster marketing push by the entertainment and electronics industries and a broad selection of 3-D TV models. Folks are understandably reluctant to wear funky and often pricey 3-D glasses in their living rooms. And there's still precious little 3-D material you'd actually want to watch.

I've been testing a new box from Iogear, based in Foothill Ranch, Calif., that aims to address the latter problem by letting you convert existing 2-D content into 3-D.

Indeed, the Iogear 3-D Complete+ box — which was unveiled Tuesday — can take 2-D Blu-rays and DVDs, streamed content, home movies, video games, photos and live or taped TV shows, and add some of the perspective and depth on the fly that defines the next dimension. Characters and objects on the screen appear as if they're in front of other characters and objects. But you won't see anything close to the eye-popping special effects evident in 3-D at the neighborhood multiplex.

During my tests with a Panasonic 3-D TV, the paperback-size black box provided some semblance of what we've come to expect from 3-D. But the effects are generally way too subtle to justify the box's $199.95 cost, despite Iogear's claim that the product "could radically shake up" the 3-D market.

Too many obstacles remain. You still need:

•A 3-D TV to see any of the effects. Iogear can't magically transform a conventional television into a 3-D set.

•Those darn glasses — and to supply glasses for any family members and friends who want to watch with you.

If you get past that, there's still the key drawback of converting to 3-D material that was not produced with 3-D in mind. The presence of 3-D did little, if anything, to improve the experience of watching an already great TV show such as Mad Men, one of the Blu-rays that I converted. And a lousy show is still lousy, no matter how much 3-D gee-wizardry you apply.

The 3-D impact was a tad greater on animated fare, such as Bee Movie, Cars and How To Train Your Dragon, a movie made in 3-D for theaters, though I only had a 2-D Blu-ray version.

I also watched some converted 3-D NBA Finals action and a live soccer match. But the same principles apply. Those events would be brought to the TV screen much differently had they been shot in 3-D.

What I did find engaging, to a point, was converting homegrown content. I viewed family photographs as well as video from my daughter's ballet recital in 3-D. But you'll never mistake such footage for Avatar.

Though I tested the device on a Panasonic, Iogear says the box works across all brands. It also doesn't matter whether you don the so-called active type glasses that my Panasonic model uses or go with the passive glasses used on certain other TVs.

Iogear claims other benefits, including the ability to improve the quality of video from standard 480i/p movies and video to 720p high definition; or from 720p high-definition video to full 1080p HD. And Iogear says it can improve bad lighting and bolster the picture in other ways. But I suspect anyone who buys this has 3-D on the brain.