You can't use your 3D glasses for TV at your friends place while watching football --- unless he has the same brand TV that you do.  Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?  Well, that's the current state of affairs with 3D home theatre technology. “It’s like a language and everyone uses their own,” says David Chechelashvili, who heads global retail and distribution at XpanD. “3D TVs are an event-oriented social experience.  You can’t have that if everyone has different glasses that won’t work together.”  To solve these problems, companies such as XpanD and Monster have created their version of the Babel fish: a pair of universal 3-D glasses that promises to work with any 3D TV set.  Hit the jump to find out more.

According to Wired, these glasses sense the infra-red pulses emitted by the TVs and time the shutters on the glass to sync with that.  But, in addition to signal synchronization, there are also color incompatibilities: TV makers have specific color characteristics and the glasses that come with each 3D set are tinted to be compatible.  Now I don't know about you, but watching 3D at the cinema and putting glasses on is one thing; I don't want to have to put something else on at home to watch TV.  It will just get annoying flicking between channels and having to take the glasses on and off because one channel has a program in 3D then the other doesn't.  Then the kids or the dog run away with your glasses and they get broken and then you have to go and order new ones and can't watch TV until you get them.  There must be a universal solution to this problem...

Though Nintendo and Fuji have announced 3D gadgets that don’t require glasses, the technology is effective only for small screens.  The Nintendo 3DS has a 3.5-inch screen as does Fuji’s newly introduced 3D camera.

Larger 3D displays still require viewers to wear special glasses.  It goes to the heart of how 3D displays work.  3D screens flash two sets of images, one for each eye.  3D glasses separate the images for the left and right eye so our brain can combine the two and perceive depth.

Is 3D just a fad... again?  But this time there are more accessories to go with it?  Sure there will be the diehards who will put up with the alternating on-and-off of the glasses while channel surfing,  but the general populus of couch-loving public will be fed up with the fiasco and abandon ship, or would balk at  buying their shiny new piece of furniture after being informed of such stupidity.

I know I won't be buying a 3D TV until such time as laser surgery or contacts can resolve my 3D issues.  But given the ever-changing state of technology that could very well be next week.