As some of you might remember, back at IFA 2009, Softpedia had the chance to witness first-hand the birth of a whole new trend in consumer electronics, namely that of 3D HDTVs, high-end devices meant to bring the whole 3D-entertainment concept into the home, after previously being restricted just to the IMAX venues or 3D cinemas. Since then, many things have changed, CES 2010 marking a full-out invasion of 3D display solutions coming from pretty much all of the big names in the TV segment.

Being able to view 3D movies without ever leaving one's own home seemed just a distant dream a couple of years ago, but it's now closer than ever. I mean, all one has to do is simply save around 3,000 US dollars or so, then visit a store and pick up their 3D-capable HDTV and 3D-capable Blu-ray player, set them up within the home and voila.

Nevertheless, the problem that ensues here is that of the content, as well as that of the competing technologies. For the time being, the competing 3D technologies are just in their early stages, so users who go for one particular technology might find themselves in exactly the same situation as the early adopters of the HD-DVD format, and we all know just how that particular experience ultimately turned out.

As for the content... well, we'll dedicate a whole segment to this particular issue, but, for now, we'll just say there's not plenty to go around. Indeed, things will probably change at some point in the future, but this won't happen before the end of 2010, most likely.

However, despite the word of warning issued above, it's very likely many of you might still decide that buying a 3D-capable HDTV is certainly something they'll want to do in the near future, so, for this reason, we're coming up with a few pieces of advice for all of you early adopters out there. And no, we won't really go that deep into 3D technology, but rather focus on what you need to know when shopping for such an advanced home entertainment solution.

We've based at least part of our conclusions on our real-life experiences with these products, which occurred during a couple of local press events. Unfortunately, we're only talking about three different products (for the time being), but since these are among the most important devices of this type available out there and the first to arrive in stores, we guess they'll do just fine.

3D – the concept and technologies

First of all, don't imagine for a second that 3D is a brand new, revolutionary concept. I mean, the first experiments regarding 3D images were done way back, in the 1800's, while people from all over the world have been watching movies in 3D for a couple of decades now. However, we're not talking about the same technologies, these older solutions using a little something called anaglyphic 3D, which uses two offset images on the screen at the same time, color-shifting them in order to create a 3D effect.

The anaglyphic 3D technology uses glasses featuring two different color lenses, typically red and cyan. These glasses have become a pretty serious part of modern culture, being traditionally associated with the concept of 3D.

Unfortunately, the 3D effects provided by these glasses are far inferior even to polarization technology, meaning that one should avoid getting a solution featuring such glasses at all times, because the level of disappointment will be pretty high.

Next in line comes the polarization technology, which creates a 3D effect by delivering a slightly different amount of light to each eye. The glasses look a lot better than their basic anaglyphic counterparts, but they're still inferior to shutter glasses and, from our own experiences with this technology, are also a bit cheaper.

Last, but certainly not least, comes the most advanced tech to date, namely the one employing active shutter glasses and high frame-rate displays. The shutter glasses “trick” the brain directly into creating 3D images by sending separate video feeds to each eye at a very slight difference in time. However, out of all the 3D technologies currently available on the market, this is the one achieving the best results to date.

Eyes-on experiences

As we've mentioned above, we've had the chance to enjoy a couple of brief eyes-on experiences with at least a couple of the new 3D HDTV solutions that have already arrived in stores or will do so in the near future (the first half of 2010). Namely, as some of you will remember from the several articles we've published over time, we're talking about the LG LD920 HDTV, the NeoPDP VT20 plasma display from Panasonic and the Sony Bravia HX800. Unfortunately, these are just about half of the 3D offerings available out there (Samsung, Vizio, Mitsubishi and Toshiba also offer such products), but they were enough to help us get an idea of what we should expect from each technology.



Basically, each of the three solutions we've viewed is based on a different technology. So, the LG LD920 3D HDTV uses polarized glasses, while the Sony Bravia employs active shutter glasses. Panasonic also uses shutter glasses for their NeoPDP VT20, but we're talking about plasma display technology, which, at least in this case, is clearly superior to LCDs.

Without a doubt, LG's 3D solution using polarized glasses was the most disappointing of the three. I mean, sure, when one sat right in front of the TV, at a specified distance, the 3D effect was pretty OK, but things changed quite a lot when sitting at a certain angle from the TV, the whole image getting a tad blurry and the depth effect being inconclusive (far from what we'd expected). So, as far as we're concerned, we believe that HDTVs using polarization technology, while being a tad more affordable, are just an intermediary step that won't prove successful on the long term.

Next in line come the Bravia LCD HDTVs using active shutter technology. This is the finest example of what 3D LCD technology has to offer, the quality of the 3D effects being undeniable, especially as far as games go. I mean, we were extremely impressed by the combo of the Sony PS3 and the 3D capabilities of the Bravia TV... but we'll comment a bit more on this issue later on, when talking about content.



Another point we'd like to make is that, unlike in the case of polarized glasses, the active shutter glasses allow the viewer to move around at the same time not affecting to a very serious degree the whole depth effect.

Last, but certainly not least, the Panasonic NeoPDP VT20 plasma display provided probably the best-possible 3D experience, at least as far as PDPs are concerned. The overall 3D effect was very clear and present, the feeling of depth being so vivid, so real that one had the impression of looking outside a window. Naturally, the quality of the displayed images and videos was equally impressive, but we sort of expected that from the most advanced Full HD plasma display available on the market.



These were our eyes-on experiences, but we're still waiting (and hoping) to get a chance to test even more devices of this type, and we promise we'll update this article accordingly, after we get to test them in real life. We're particularly curious about Mitsubishi's 3D DLP technology, but, naturally, about Samsung's 3D LED TVs as well, given the fact that the Korean company will probably make some pretty serious efforts in promoting its products and we'll see plenty of them on the market.

3D - The content

The biggest problem regarding 3D HDTVs is the lack of content. Sure, there are plenty of demos out there, there's Avatar and a couple of other titles, but that's pretty much it. There are many promises, but even if half of them become real by the end of 2010, they won't go mainstream by... let's say, mid-2011. And by then, the second generation 3D HDTVs would have already been announced.

Anyway, as mentioned above, perspectives regarding 3D content are pretty good. For example, there have already been some 3D TV broadcasts (most of which are related directly to sports), and more are set to follow, Sony's initiative to record and transmit in 3D certain matches from the FIFA World Cup 2010 being one of the most laudable, and that's just the beginning, with 3D sports broadcasts probably set to represent one of the driving forces of 3D HDTV adoption in the future.

Unfortunately, 3D broadcasts will be limited to the US, Canada, UK, Japan and some of the world's other technologically-advanced countries, with the rest having to wait a while longer before being able to enjoy these state-of-the-art solutions.

One interesting thing we'd like to point out here is related to games. It's very likely that games will be the most readily-available 3D media, with Sony announcing that its PS3 gaming console will receive a 3D-enabling firmware update early this summer. The only thing they haven't pointed out yet is whether this will enable 3D gaming just on Sony's 3D Bravias or other brands as well.

Oh, and we must not forget about NVIDIA's 3D Vision TV solution, which will enable the fast and easy viewing of both games and other types of content, as long as they're stored onto a computer equipped with a compatible NVIDIA GPU. Although it's still a bit early to speculate, this combo might prove fairly successful, especially for the hardcore fans of PC gaming.

3D – The home setup, tech specs and accessories

Although we're pretty sure that sales assistants won't provide this little piece of information, the truth of the matter is that one will require a specific setup in order to be able to enjoy a complete and comprehensive 3D experience.

So, first of all, you'll have to purchase an extra Blu-ray player, because only the latest BD machines support the new Blu-ray 3D format. In other words, if you've already adopted Blu-ray... tough luck, you'll have to set aside some more money to get a brand-new one.

Luckily, if you have a home surround sound system, it's very likely that you'll be able to hang on to it, since the BD players will most likely be backward compatible with one's audio system.

Another problem is that of the glasses. The most important 3D HDTV manufacturers do offer such accessories included in the sales package, but we're typically talking about two pairs, which, let's face it, are not nearly enough. After all, what's the purpose of paying a lot of money on such a high-end setup if you can't share it with as many of your friends as possible?

So, it's likely you'll have to buy some extra glasses, which are typically quite expensive (the active shutter glasses are, anyway, because the polarization glasses are fairly cheap and affordable), adding a couple of hundred dollars to the overall sum you'll have to cough up for this solution.

Another thing you should really be careful about is the 3D HDTV's placement in your home. For the time being, these advanced TV sets are available mostly in wide diagonal sizes (42 inches and above), which means you'll probably have plenty of room available. Also, the recommended distance for an optimum 3D experience is at around 1-2 meters from the set, which furthers one's installation possibilities.

As far as tech specs are concerned... well, there's not much to say, since 3D technologies are still in their infancy. Apart from the fact that solutions using shutter glasses are recommended, we'd only want to add that it's a good idea to go for those devices that also provide the best 2D Full HD viewing experience, because you'll still have a lot of normal broadcasting to watch over the next couple of years.

One thing we'd like to point out, though, is that you should opt for an HDTV that offers an included Internet Video platform. More and more products of this type have started to arrive on the market lately, and it's very likely that the Internet will become an even more important content delivery vehicle in the future.

3D – Conclusions

Although we're certainly pro 3D HDTVs, our advice is to... just wait a while. There's no point in purchasing an expensive home entertainment system until you're quite sure that you've got the content allowing you to fully enjoy the experience it provides. Naturally, the content will come, but, to be perfectly honestly, it's very likely it will be a bit too late for the current-generation 3D solutions.

If you do opt for such a solution, we strongly recommend to save some money and go for the high-end, expensive products, not only because they provide very good quality images in both 2D and 3D, but also because they're most likely future-proof, being able to support most updates manufacturers might come up with in the future.

Finally, though this might start up yet again the old PDP vs. LCD/LED conflict, we'd dare to say that, from our own experiences, the 3D PDP are the way to go, at least for the time being. But who knows, maybe the differences in marketing strategies and pricing will ultimately see LEDs/LCDs emerge victorious, much in the same way they did as far as basic 2D HDTVs are concerned.