WARNING: 3D TV's Possibly Causing Strokes and Vision Loss

At first I thought it was just a bizarre incident...

I was talking to a family member and they told me a story about a friend of theirs who had just purchased a spanking new 3D TV. This friend had the TV for a few months before ending up in the hospital with partial blindness... the cause? A STROKE! At first, I asked several questions about them and their general health, and from the explanation I got, it did not sound like someone who was prone to this type of problem. They were middle-aged, active, strong and healthy, so I chalked it up as a strange coincidence and really bad luck of the draw.

Then an older family member of mine (in his 50's) went out and purchased a new 3D TV. He really enjoyed it and was watching a lot of his favorite movies all over again in 3D. Mind you, this is not someone who spends all day and night watching TV. A few weeks later I got a phone call that he was in the hospital. When I asked what happened, I was told that he was in the middle of watching a movie with his 3D glasses when he suddenly lost complete vision in only one eye! Again, I thought this was really strange, but having more information about the person since they were family, I knew his entire background. He went to the hospital and they determined he had a stroke! No vestibular issues, no epilepsy, no clotting or high cholesterol, nothing of the sort... just BAM, a stroke and now you're blind in one eye.

At this point, it was going a little beyond coincidence. To top it off, while this family member was in the brain trauma unit, there was a younger guy there that had suffered the same problem, while watching 3D TV. 3 people in a span of a few weeks??? Something wasn't right... I started to investigate.

Turns out that Samsung is the only manufacturer I'm aware of that has openly warned about concerns with seizures and other neurological problems, but their warning is not obvious enough and does not just have an effect on the elderly or those in poor health or existing medical conditions. The person I refer to here was in generally good health and had never experienced anything like this. He is an ex vet and gets routine checks of his neurological activity among other things. As far as I know, the other 2 were in excellent health as well. Granted, there could have been underlying conditions, but if that's the case, there should be more measures to raise awareness.

I am posting this thread to warn of the real and valid dangers of this technology which was never vetted and tested in large numbers. There is potential to do permanent damage to your brain, which could cause total loss of vision, or worse....

It's beyond coincidence to have 3 people a few weeks apart all suffer from the same condition, all while watching 3D TV. If you have a 3D TV, I hope that you'll see this post and do your own investigation before ending up in a similar situation.

~Namaste

Meh. What's a little brain damage, as long as I am entertained and can watch my fav movies in 3D, dude.

There are big problems with the 3D technology we use today...

The way we see is by focusing on one specific point, when we wear the glasses our eyes are actually focusing on two separate points which causes headaches and the crap above..

The best way is holographic technology, that way.the two focus points are eliminated, its all infront of us already before we think about glasses.

Good looking out, thanks for the 411.

I never trusted those 3D TVs, I'm still running on a heavy 1990s TV.
*pats self on the back*

I'll ask others I know who have them if they've had similar occurrences.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


It was the original 3D tvs that came out which caused the most severe problems.. I know a lot of people here retuened them.

reply to post by SageBeno


What's worse is that I believe the TV manufacturers were, for the most part, aware of this problem, but due to the perceived "demand" for 3D TV because of the profits being raked in at the box office, they wanted to get it to market as quickly as possible and bypassed any red tape that would slow things down and lower their return on investments.

It's always about the dollar... infuriates me to no end.

I was one of the people who though that something like that would never touch my life. Now I have a family member with no vision in one eye, and no chance of improvement of recovery. All for a quick, visual orgasm.

~Namaste

After experiencing extreme headaches, nausea and my eyes hurting and feeling like they were in my head wrong, I googled 3d and read several articles regarding my symptoms.

I can't find the article I originally read, was better than this, but this explains a little why some people get headaches and nausea.

I'm actually not surprised by the information in the op. I think its an expensive way to get a headache, I've suffered through my last 3d show, movie or TV.


Link didn't show up, try this: www.bit-tech.net...

I actually quite prefer my nice flat pictures and movies.
I don't need to be there. If I want adventure - I'll go out my door.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


I posted this to raise awareness...

Even the newer TV's still use the same technology by tricking the brain, which is part of the problem. If you don't have epilepsy or never had it, the method used can still induce seizures, severe headaches, eye twitching, and a host of other issues that people would never normally experience, not even after doing marathon TV nights.

I am all for technology, I love it an all aspects of it, but this was one of those defining moments for me and made me think twice about my own investments into the tech that I own.

I will personally never buy a 3D TV because of this and will recommend to anyone I know to do the same until the manufacturers can guarantee that it's safer than currently.

~Namaste

Originally posted by SageBeno
There are big problems with the 3D technology we use today...

The way we see is by focusing on one specific point, when we wear the glasses our eyes are actually focusing on two separate points which causes headaches and the crap above..

The best way is holographic technology, that way.the two focus points are eliminated, its all infront of us already before we think about glasses.

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying 3D TV is safe. On the contrary, I'm explaining why it's unsafe.)
I'm pretty sure your explanation isn't true, I don't know where you pulled that out of.
but what would someone with a psychology degree who specializes in perception know...

How 3D works is the mind merges the 2 images from the eyes. Since the eyes are located a few inches apart, the 2 images are different. When the mind merges them together it creates a 3D appearance....That's how it's done naturally, for things in our environment.

3D movies recreate this idea, and send one picture to one eye, and a slightly different image to the other eye....EXACTLY what happens when you view anything in real life.


Now, I'm not saying its safe to recreate this with 3D movies, because I Do NOT think they are safe.
But theoretically it's the exact same as real life, there's nothing about focusing on 2 points instead of 1. You're still focusing on one point with 3D movies.
I think it's causing headaches and such because we're not doing it perfectly. There's many parts that are aligned to produce real 3D, but there are many parts that aren't really in 3D. It probably creates some problems in the brain.

It has nothing to do with "focusing on 2 points instead of 1." I don't know where you pulled that out of. I'm guessing your you know.

reply to post by SonOfTheLawOfOne


never got into the whole 3d tv craze. It's going the way of betamax for a reason. I'll stick to my old fashioned flat screen.

reply to post by Miss Sile


That's a good bit of info, thanks for sharing!

It does a good job at explaining what happens to your eyes and why it causes headaches.

~Namaste

This is not so outlandish a claim as it may seem on the surface. I think anything with high refresh rates can cause seizures; Remember those Japanese anime cartoons that kids were getting seizures from? The cartoons had flashes of different colors on the screen in rapid procession causes SOME kids who were prone to that to have seizures. Look at a video game manual and it should say may cause seizures in people prone to them like those with epilepsy. I would think that 3D TV's and their ultra high refresh rates would come with such a warning. My mom explained to me that those rapidly changing pictures cause neurons to become overexcited and fire out of control. I guess he should keep some ativan or Klonopin on hand in case he gets another one. They often warn of not watching the TV in 3D for long periods of time due to eye strain, which causes headaches and not implausible to cause ocular damage, and probably warn of seizures in epileptic people and those who may be susceptible and not even know it. I hope your family members get better and that the problems aren't permanent. Check the manuals to anything with high refresh rates like video games, which can also contain rapidly changing images and colors, and you should see such warnings. If you have a WII, I know Nintendo doesn't hide seizure warnings and it's manual should contain the warning if not on the start up screen. This is nothing new nor is it anything rare. It's the risk of entertainment. lol I know I may not be right that refresh rate of the device itself has anything to do with it, but perhaps it does when it comes to the 3D glasses. The seizures, in prone people, from rapidly changing images and colors is accurate, though.

I think you would be surprised to find out the statistics of people who get seizures from TV and video games each year. This website concerns the Wii and it inducing seizures in part of the population, which actually is quite a high number. According to this website, Nintendo estimate that 1 in 4,000 is prone to seizures from tv and video games. Check it out there is a lot more information on this very subject, minus 3D TV's.

Seizures and the Wii - Nintendo

Originally posted by amongus
reply to post by SonOfTheLawOfOne

 

never got into the whole 3d tv craze. It's going the way of betamax for a reason. I'll stick to my old fashioned flat screen.

BTW, people have to stop with the "Namaste" in their signatures. . . drives me nuts. We aren't in india, and you aren't indian.

edit on 7-5-2012 by amongus because: (no reason given)

[ontopic] - I'll stick to my regular flat screens too, 3D doesn't do it for me. [/ontopic]



~Namaste

reply to post by JibbyJedi


Haha, Just until about 4 months ago, I was rocking my 500 pound cabinet T.V from '92
Now I have my NON-3D, HD flatty (as I call them).

I remember seeing a movie in IMAX 3D, and about 10 mins in, I had to take off the glasses and walk out.
I felt like it was making me go cross-eyed, besides, it wasn't that cool anyway.
I think I'll stick with my standard flatty.

I also think the culprit in all this, are the glasses.

Originally posted by KillThePoor

I think you would be surprised to find out the statistics of people who get seizures from TV and video games each year. This website concerns the Wii and it inducing seizures in part of the population, which actually is quite a high number. According to this website, Nintendo estimate that 1 in 4,000 is prone to seizures from tv and video games. Check it out there is a lot more information on this very subject, minus 3D TV's.

Seizures and the Wii - Nintendo

1 in 4000 is very very low.
The number of people who suffer from seizures period is about 3 million in America. That's 1 in 100 people.

Plus, the OP is talking about STROKES. They are different than seizures. A stroke is much more serious. Epilepsy, a condition where people have seizures, is usually pretty manageable. I'm not saying they aren't serious, because I've seen someone have a seizure and it's scary. But it's manageable.
Strokes cause serious brain damage, or other things like blindness. People usually recover from seizures.

Originally posted by Ghost375

Originally posted by KillThePoor

I think you would be surprised to find out the statistics of people who get seizures from TV and video games each year. This website concerns the Wii and it inducing seizures in part of the population, which actually is quite a high number. According to this website, Nintendo estimate that 1 in 4,000 is prone to seizures from tv and video games. Check it out there is a lot more information on this very subject, minus 3D TV's.

Seizures and the Wii - Nintendo

1 in 4000 is very very low.
The number of people who suffer from seizures period is about 3 million in America. That's 1 in 100 people.

Plus, the OP is talking about STROKES. They are different than seizures. A stroke is much more serious. Epilepsy, a condition where people have seizures, is usually pretty manageable. I'm not saying they aren't serious, because I've seen someone have a seizure and it's scary. But it's manageable.
Strokes cause serious brain damage, or other things like blindness. People usually recover from seizures.

You are correct... I am well aware of seizures, and most people with epilepsy avoid video games and bright flashing lights.

This is about strokes caused by a hemorrhage of some type in the brain, like a broken blood vessel. Being that in the 3 cases I know of, it's always been specific to the part of the brain that deals with the optical nerves, it would seem logical that something is causing the eyes to push themselves harder, which would cause increased blood flow and pressure on the muscles.

Regardless, a seizure and epilepsy are managed with medications so that most people can have a normal life. That will never be the case for the 3 people I mentioned, they are blind for life according to the doctors who examined them, and will never regain sight. Luckily, it was only one eye on all three, which is so strange, but it could have been a massive stroke, which would have far worse consequences, so for that, I'm grateful.

Everyone's contributions so far have been great, I really appreciate it.

~Namaste

Most people take a few moments/minutes to be able to focus as needed to be able to see the 3D, that in itself suggests it is NOT like normal vision.


S&F its good that ats can be used to warn people of such things.

Thanks for this thread, I think that viewing too much tv in 3D could affect your eyes, I never think that your brain could get affected.

My TVs don't have 3D because they are older, all new lcd and plasma televisions have 3D, you can deactivate that feature but it is there if you want to use it, the issue here is that if you have kids they will want to use the tv in 3D or play video games in 3D with their playstation.

Also I think that kids using the nintendo 3ds could affect their eyes, it is better the playstation vita because it is not 3D.

Do you think that viewing a lot of movies in the cinema could cause you brain or eye damage? Almost all the best movies are now in 3D.

The 3D technology from the movie theatres is the same like the home televisions? Also the imax 3D is better or is the same 3D technology.

Originally posted by lke123
Thanks for this thread, I think that viewing too much tv in 3D could affect your eyes, I never think that your brain could get affected.

My TVs don't have 3D because they are older, all new lcd and plasma televisions have 3D, you can deactivate that feature but it is there if you want to use it, the issue here is that if you have kids they will want to use the tv in 3D or play video games in 3D with their playstation.

Also I think that kids using the nintendo 3ds could affect their eyes, it is better the playstation vita because it is not 3D.

Do you think that viewing a lot of movies in the cinema could cause you brain or eye damage? Almost all the best movies are now in 3D.

The 3D technology from the movie theatres is the same like the home televisions? Also the imax 3D is better or is the same 3D technology.

Good questions...

I honestly don't know for sure if the technology in movie theaters is the same, but I'm assuming it is. I'm starting to think that anything which forces your eye muscles to strain hard enough, along with the flashing of the two pictures back and forth between both eyes is causing an effect that is not really understood well.

With the Nintendo 3DS, it doesn't require glasses, so I think they may have figured out a way to make it less of a danger by using some holographic trickery, but the glasses don't work the same way. I know when I've gone to see 3D movies, I can't watch the entire thing without taking off the glasses a few times.

~Namaste