Do they have the technology to make Smell-a-vision a reality?

Most television programs already stink.

I have a scratch-and-sniff odor-rama card from John Waters’ “Polyester”, and a Smell-o-vision card from “Scent of Mystery”. The Polyester one is amusing. Number 6 smells like number 2.

It could easily be done but it’s not practical enough for anyone to attempt.

I can wait a long, long, long time for that one.

sure.
most of the aroma in mas produced food is artificial.
certainly they could do the same for smell as well.

Didnt they use to do this in movie theaters back in the day? And it was fucking horrible?

@uberbatman
no, that were just your neighbours.

I hope not..but then my dog would probably behave a bit better, I suppose if it came to cable.

ahhhh here we go

Yes they have the technology, there simply isn’t much of a desire to implement it, plus the costs would be pretty high.

Here are some great uses for smell-o-vision: children’s shows (adding smell into educational programs, show what the orange is, say “orange”, then crack it open and WHAM orange smell comes at you), cooking programs (“the onions will smell like this at the start, but wait until they smell like this to take them out”), travel shows (how about a beach show with that fresh ocean air), yoga or meditation shows (helps with setting the calm mood).

Can they make it happen? Of course, it wouldn’t be hard. One way is to sell the system that distributes the smells, then have booster packs for each program that plug in to the system. These would contain vials of the concentrated smell appropriate to the program it was sold with, which would be released via a digital cue from the program. Of course this would get costly over time. Another way would be to sell a machine that literally assembles molecules corresponding to each smell, but I don’t think we are there technology-wise yet.

People, the reason why “Smell-O-Vision” didn’t survive in theaters is the same reason it won’t work in our homes:

They did not have a way to clear the air of one smell before they introduced the next smell.

As a result, all the smells would get blended together. And this is a controlled environment where, if they really wanted to, they could have installed very expensive air purification devices to do that.

Unless they invent a television with some sort of air exchanger or purifier (which is not gonna happen, I’m sure), don’t even think about it.

Smell-o-vision style devices have been around for a long, long time. As long ago as the 1950’s, smell was added not only to movies but was also popular with researchers in the then infant field of augmented reality.

The problems with implementing it today are likely the ones mentioned above in previous comments. Largely social and consumer-desire based, not technical.

@ralex Welcome to Fluther. Lurve.
The smell thing works at Disney’s California Adventure ride Soarin’

I think there is also the problem that smells will be very generic and won’t be able to replicate the exact smell of the show which would be the ideal especially with cooking shows where the subtle smells are the most important ones which’ll be impossible to mix with a standard XYZ pack of “smellies”.