market
tech girl
place
BY LAURA HELLER
seeing
ın 3D
TV viewing gets up close and
personal with 3D technology
you can enjoy at home
grab your glasses
Viewing 3D TV requires active-shutter
glasses, such as these from XpanD. 3D
TVs come with one or two sets, so you’ll
need more for family movie night
( xpandcinema.com/products/glasses).
This may be the year of 3D. Three-dimensional movies, DVDs, and even live
broadcasts are in the works and will be
delivered to 3D TVs for an immersive
home theater experience.
watch 3D movies. Blu-ray creator Sony
has several 3D-ready home theater
products, including audio/video receivers
that can handle 3D signals and a
stand-alone Blu-ray player.
The 3D movie Avatar caught our
collective attention, and movie studios
are throwing their support behind the
new technology big-time. Dreamworks
Studios has pledged to lm all upcoming
titles in 3D, and starting this
summer, the cable networks
ESPN and Discovery will offer
live 3D broadcasts.
Today’s 3D TVs come in the same
variety of platforms as HDTVs: plasma
screens, LCD, LED, and even slimmed
down versions of projection sets called
DLP (Digital Light Processing). The 3D
viewing experience ranges from jaw-dropping (Panasonic’s 103-inch plasma)
to middling. Some claim to convert
standard two-dimensional images to 3D,
but watching content lmed for 3D
viewing on a 3D-enabled TV is much
more compelling.
READY FOR 3D TV?
Movies lmed in 3D are
making their way to home
release, but to see them in 3D
you need to buy the equipment.
Manufacturers are easing
consumers into the market,
offering models with the 3D
technolgy built in and TVs that
can be converted if you decide
to upgrade later. It shouldn’t
make a difference in image
quality, just price and style.
Don’t be fooled into thinking there’s a
3D experience to be had without the
glasses. Currently, 3D images sans
eyewear are blurry, distorted, or
nausea-inducing. There are two
types of eyeglass technology—
passive for use in movie
theaters and active-shutter
lenses for home use. In
active-shutter glasses, the two
lenses alternately click shut to
create the 3D effect. The action
is so fast, it’s invisible to the
naked eye. Batteries are
required to make them work, so
the glasses are bulkier than the
passive lenses worn in movie
theaters. One to two sets of
glasses are being packaged
with most 3D TVs; expect to
pay roughly $100 for each
additional pair.
MITSUBISHI was the rst to market with 3D TV in a DLP
(Digital Light Processing) projection TV. These are bigger and
bulkier than at panels but offer a good value for large screen
sizes at roughly a quarter of the price ( mitsubishi-tv.com).
PANASONIC pairs 3D with plasma’s sharp contrast in
four screen sizes, from 50 to 65 inches ( panasonic.com).
SAMSUNG’s impossibly thin 3D TVs come in plasma and LED
formats, connect to the Internet, and feature a bezel (frame) in
a selection of metals and nishes ( samsung.com).
A television with 3D
capabilities will cost 10 to
30 percent more than those
without, depending on the size
and model. Not peanuts, but
not as expensive as many of
the early at-panel televisions.
SONY has 3D-integrated and 3D-ready Bravia TVs in 40- to
60-inch screen sizes. They use eco-friendly LED lighting and,
when off, sport an attractive glass surface ( sonystyle.com).
TOSHIBA’s 3D entry is an energy-ef cient LED TV powered
by a new “cell” technology, a processor that sharpens images
and pulls double-duty as a media server. Cell TVs (coming
You’ll need a new or
upgraded Blu-ray player to
in September) will connect to the Internet, store and stream
content, and play it all in 3D ( toshiba.com).
Consumers will decide if 3D
TV takes off, but with movie
studios, gamers, and electronics
manufacturers behind it,
adoption seems inevitable—at
least by eager early birds.
+
PHO TOGRAPH: BLAINE MOATS
40 SEPTEMBER 2010 traditionalhome.com
