3D TV Impressions from CES 2010

-Robert Wiley

We were able to view 3D television offerings from all of the major manufacturers at CES 2010. 3D TV Technology was a huge buzzword at the show and with the post show press. So how did it look? Is it going to add to the cost of the TV? If so, will it be an option worth purchasing? Who is going to produce the content in 3D?

These are a few of the most persistent questions that we've encountered. I'll start by stating that our best experience with 3D at CES was at the Panasonic display when viewing Avatar on one of the new Panasonic TC-P54VT25s. The picture presentation was smooth and changes in scenes did not result in a jerky, abrubt, eye strain as your eyes tried to keep pace. We must mention that this movie was produced with Panasonic camera's and production equipment and that may have some impact on the convergence with Panasonic's TV technology. The experience was positive and worth the trouble of wearing the glasses. Plasma TVs, apparently are able to produce a full 1080p resolution picture in HD, while many LCDs will only be able to produce 600 to 800 lines of effective resolution, meaning the lines of resolution to each eye, in 3D.

Next, we viewed a DirecTV program on an LCD in 3D. The program was provided by DirecTV to show their capability in serving HD 3D content - not so much for the quality of the program. We hope this content improves, because almost immediately I was aware of eye strain especially during scene changes. I had never been so aware of scene changes until viewing the program in 3D. It was an experience for which I would gladly leave the glasses on the table.

There were many other 3D displays LG, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi all had their 3D TV displays. Sony even showed a 3D demonstration on their newest prototype OLED TV which was amazing. They spared me when I asked what the price would be for this new, larger OLED.

Sharp's LC-60LE920UN looked very nice with their 3D presentation of several recent movies. I did not notice much eye strain there. I thought that side angle viewing might be compromised on these new LCDs with 3D, so I tested it there to 45 degrees off center (with the Sharp representative's permission) with little contrast loss and no discernible negative issues.

The poorest 3D performance noted was at a Mitsubishi rear projection television display of last years models. The 3 dimensional effect was not as deep as many others and the picture not as crisp. This probably is somewhat attributable to the DLP rear projection technology, but most certainly is also a result of using last year's 3D conversion chip sets. Mitsubishi has had 3D capability for a few years and I believe was the first major TV manufacturer to offer 3D with their TVs. We'll be interested to see how the new Mitsubishi models both DLP rear projection and LCD perform.

We're happy to report that you will not need to own both a 3D and 2D television. All of the new TV's with 3D capability will also obviously show regular 2D content. Additionally, 3D capability does not necessarily mean higher TV costs. You many choose to never purchase optional 3D glasses or obtain any 3D content, but your television may have this functionality in case you decide you want to join the 3D popcorn party.

My best guess is that 3D's success will depend on the quality and volume of content introduced - and commitment of the major studios to the format. For now all we know is that the TV manufacturers have done their part in producing the video medium to show it.