In technology terms, we are constantly reminded that Australians are a nation of early adopters. Decades back we fell over ourselves to acquire VCRs when they became available; same with CD players; then it was video camcorders. Today the 'hot' items are DVD players.

But virtually all of these are stand-alone purchases: once you've bought the CD unit, VCR, etc, you can't deck them out with too many add-ons.

This was the case with the video camcorder - until the Japanese majors introduced the Mini DV format. Then all hell broke loose as the computer interests (both hardware and software) delivered post-production solutions so Mum, Dad and the kids could edit their home videos into passably viewable shape.

But nothing much has been added to the camera end of the equation... until now! Now there is a relatively simple method of shooting 3D TV for home use.