It will be a real surprising fact if by now you have not heard about 3D HDTV. Nevertheless the poor supply and overwhelming screening formats have a hand in making 3D to be a very confusing feature that ever was. However, help is at hand so that by the time you have made it through this post, you will know and be able to pick 3D equipped HDTV that suits your needs.

Let’s start with the basic: What it is in the first place:

A 3D TV can also be depicted as “stereoscopic” TV. Surely you do remember the View-Master slide viewers. These (not considering the TV) can be considered a pre-example of 3D TV. The working principle of the two is similar. The same object is viewed in two different ways. One view is meant for the left eye, and the other view is for the right eye. In order to view a 3D video, it is a must that the left eye should look at the left eye view and the right eye should look at the right view. If the left eye sees the right eye view and vice versa, there is leakage between the different views when one is looking at a 3D video and hence ghost images start to appear. This phenomenon is referred to as crosstalk, and it is an issue that lowers the video experience.

Types of 3-D TV

3D TVs are of two different types: active and passive.

Passive 3D comes with the inexpensive, light glasses that are available and provided at most of the 3D movie theaters. The Passive 3D glasses are “circular polarized” and can be used with other passive 3D TV brands. Like you can use an LG glass with a Toshiba 3D TV and so on. There are quite a few third-party organizations who sell passive 3D glasses. The makers and sellers of passive 3D technology, as for example LG, is carrying on their marketing operation against the active 3D technology. Passive 3D TVs deliver half the total resolution to one eye. That means at one moment each eye gets a resolution of 1,920 × 540 pixels.

Active 3D technology comes with “active-shutter” glasses that are backed by batteries and have simple LCDs that act as lenses. These glasses block/pass the light when they are synced with the TV sets. The 3D glasses are specific to a single manufacturer. These glasses come with a higher price tag as these are more complex than passive 3D glasses. Usually these glasses are synced to the TV with IR (infrared, like a remote). However at present more of them are being synced wirelessly via Bluetooth etc. Active 3D TVs deliver a whooping 1080p resolution to each eye.

Blu-ray

Apart from a 3D TV, users also need a source for 3D content and Blu-ray is the most common option here. At present, Blu-ray players that are 3D enabled have a higher price tag than the 2D Blu-ray players. However, there are low-cost 3D Blu-ray players available in the market. As of now Blu-ray is the only means of availing a full 1080p 3D resolution as all the other sources generate a 3D resolution that is much lower than that.

As of now there are 139 3D Blu-ray titles available in the market.

Cable/satellite

The number of cable sources, and also DirecTV who at present offers a few 3D channels are constantly increasing.

Since ESPN 3D has been launched, DirecTV and Comcast have been there with them. In a short time Time Warner Cable and Verizons FiOS too joined the scene. DirecTV also has a plethora of dedicated 3D channels like n3D, 3net and DirecTV Cinema –which is a VOD service.

Starz 3D can also be seen VOD on Blue Ridge, Cablevision, Verizon, Cox and Comcast which also has Xfinity 3D.

However contrasting to the Blu-ray 3D, all the other mentioned 3D sources generate fractional resolution. This is necessary in order to accommodate the 3D signal in the same space as the 2D signal.

The TVs

In the end, it should always be remembered that after all 3D is just a feature. All 3D TVs can display a 2D image. Also at present all the best TVs in the market are now available with 3D feature. The most important aspect is that, the 3D TVs can generate the best 2D pictures.

Good news for the consumers is that, 3D TVs do not come with a much higher price tag than the 2D TVs that are currently available. Approximately, if you want to add 3D on a mid-range 46 to 50 inch TV it takes about $30 upwards.  In case of a mid-range 55 inch the cost is $100. To make you understand, an LG Infinia 55LV5500 55-Inch 1080p LED-LCD HDTV that has Internet capability comes with a price tag of $1,290. On the other hand the higher 3D version, the 55LW5600 come with a price tag that is higher by just $89 more on Amazon.com. The difference in the price tag between the Samsung 46 inch UN46D6300 and the 3-D UN46D6500 was just $25 last time it was verified.

There are some other 3D models as well that will interest the users. These are the Panasonic Viera 50 inch TC-P50ST30 and the Samsung 51 inch PN51D550. Both are two plasma TV sets that are at present available for a price tag that is well under $900.

(However it should be remembered that prices of TVs are likely to change without any notice, especially between Black Friday and Christmas.)

Sovan Mandal  (446 Posts)

Sovan Mandal is the senior tablet and tech corespondent for goodereader.com and 3D Specialist. He brings a international approach to news that is not just applicable to the North American market, but also Asia, India, Europe and others. Sovy brings his own writing flavor to the website and is interested in Science Fiction, Technology and Writing. Any questions, send an email