3D good or not?

[Alsone]

Question really for members of the WhatHiFi team.

Have you viewed 3D tv technologies yet?

If so are they any good?

Are there any drawbacks eg headaches or tiredness?

Is any manufacturers technology ahead of the others in terms of quality and the above?

 

[Alsone]

No views team?

I've already found a report at suggests that Panasonic's technology is superior to Samsung's however there's no comment on Sony or on the rival LG no spec tech.

As the questions I posted above are I think on the tips of the tongue of many prospective 3D purchasers, any information from testing would i think eb appreciated by many even if it has to be kept to a magazine issue initially.

 

[The_Lhc]

A quick look round the forum, blogs or, dare I say it, even the latest copy of the magazine, would provide you with pretty much all the information WHF have on the subject of 3D right now. So far they've published a test of one 3D TV (and BDP), which was from Samsung.

 

[Andrew Everard]

And based on the one 3D TV we have so far tested, we can unequivocally say that it is the best 3D TV we have tested so far.

 

[Anonymous]

i think panasonic will blow the rest away this year , £2000 for a 50vt20 ?? the equivelent samsung or sony would be closer to £3k , god only knows what the philips will cost , £7k ??

the pannys will be very close to the best tv ever made , the kuro , the rest (apart from samsungs plasmas.. and lg , hmm , lcd blacks anyone?) are still persisting with lcd tech , poor viewing angles , potential clouding , lack of shadow detail , crazy prices , etc...

i just cant believe the value being offered by panasonic , they have improved the g10 in every regard with the g20 , and the v series is also much improved on last year , there is no doubt , the pannys will be the videophiles choice , im looking forward to all the unbiased reviews with bated breath ...

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew Everard:And based on the one 3D TV we have so far tested, we can unequivocally say that it is the best 3D TV we have tested so far.

 

[Alsone]

Andrew Everard:And based on the one 3D TV we have so far tested, we can unequivocally say that it is the best 3D TV we have tested so far.

I can't fault you're sense of humour Andrew!

I guess if you've only tested one then its a bit hard ti make comparisons. Any news on when you might be doing a group test of all the market competitors? Has to be the hottest test subject around at the moment what with Sky's imminent launch.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Alsone:I can't fault you're sense of humour Andrew!

I am sense of humour? How?

Alsone:Any news on when you might be doing a group test of all the
market competitors?

Just as soon as we have enough sets to make a meaningful comparative test.

 

[Anonymous]

I would like to know how long it is before we have 3D without any glasses!

 

[Petherick]

Looked outside lately?

 

[Anonymous]

lol, you know full well what i mean

 

[matthewpiano]

I finally saw the Sony LX903 today and I was very impressed. It is a fabulous TV and the 3D works very well - far more natural and easy-on-the-eye than I ever expected. I can't wait to get one in-store later in the year and try a wider range of content on it.

 

[Andrew Everard]

matthewpiano:I can't wait to get one in-store later in the year

Indeed...

matthewpiano:and try a wider range of content on it.

Hmmm, that may be a bit trickier...

 

[bigboss]

Philips was planning a 3D TV that will not require the users to wear glasses for launch by 2012, but announced shortly afterwards that it's abandoning its 3D project, only to later launch 3D ready TVs. Dunno what's happening to 3D TV without glasses now. It'll probably be another 3-5 years at the least.

 

[Andrew Everard]

That's certainly the view being expressed in some quarters, as to achieve the same resolution as the active shutters method without glasses will require screens to have several times the resolution of today's TVs.

However, others are flying in the face of the active specs tide, and suggesting lower-priced polarised TVs could be the future, not least due to the lower prices of the glasses required. That certainly seemed to be a view coming from Technicolor the other day...

 

[Tom Moreno]

bigboss:Philips was planning a 3D TV that will not require the users to wear glasses for launch by 2012, but announced shortly afterwards that it's abandoning its 3D project, only to later launch 3D ready TVs. Dunno what's happening to 3D TV without glasses now. It'll probably be another 3-5 years at the least.

There seems to be a general consensus that glasses-less 3d tv is a good five years away. At Harrods there's a prototype LG display that doesn't use glasses and it is awful. The only place where you get any 3d effect is directly on the axis line and even then it's confusing to look at, off centre is just a mess and trying to make sense of it feels like you might be causing permanent damage to something. TBH I've been underwhelmed time and time again by 3D, even digital 3D in the cinema, but viewing a 3D HDTV with active shutter glasses has been a revelation and has given me cause to start getting a bit excited about it. The experience was a very well defined image with excellent resolution, colour balance, and brightness and no flickering edges with real tangible depth of field.

 

[Anonymous]

I had the opportunity to spend 10 minutes watching 3D material on a 50" LCD TV.

1st I personally find the Active shutter Glasses heavy, actually the eyeglasses used with the TV are very similar to the active shutter glasses used in some theatres, while image quality is good and 3D effects are impressive, I had to spend the last 15 minutes from Alice in Wonderland holding the glasses with my finger because my nose hurt so much.

Back to 3D TV.

Picture Quality was very good , supposedly 1080p .

The Demo Covered scenes from a documentary about polar bears, a soccer game and 2 video games.

Again Picture quality was remarkable, and the experience was quite interesting but I am not sure that I would sit and watch a full documentary or a soccer game wearing 3D glasses . In my opinion only the Video games experience was astounding and definitely 3D gaming is a brand new experience, for the rest of the programs I think I would use the word "Novelty" , and I am seriously wondering how all the companies plunged headfirst investing heavily in 3D, after all people will have to replace their 1,2 or 3 years old TV sets, buy new Blu-ray machines to replace their brand new Blu-ray players.. not to forget that everybody must be wearing 3D glasses that don't come cheap , i.e a family of 4 will have to buy 2 or even 3 glasses since most manufacturers sell their TVs with 1 or 2 pairs of 3D glasses.

a lot of questions need to be to be answered

only Time will tell....