3D set on display at Sonystyle Eaton Centre

[Brad]

just a public service announcement. check it out if you haven't done so yet

[Suave]

Yeah, I've been meaning to check it... but I'm not sure if it's worth a dedicated trip downtown just to see it.

Have you seen it yourself? How good is the 3D effect? Is it a regular LCD TV or is LED backlit?

I watched Panasonic's 3D demo at the end of last year on their 103-inch plasma TV and it looked pretty incredible. Mind you, I find that the size of the TV has a huge impact on how immersive the 3D effect is. For example, 3D looks much more immersive on my 90-inch screen, rather than on my 60-inch plasma. The only shortcoming of the Panasonic demo was that backgrounds that we in the distance (and landscapes) looked very two dimensional compared to the rest of the picture. Did you notice this on the Sony at all?

[Brad]

well i would have asked about the particulars of the set but all the staff were busy talking to one another and setting up a few new panels on the wall display so i had no one to query. the 3d effect is.....ok...i guess. personally i would rather have great 2d picture than half-assed 3d, and i am finding the current implementation of 3D, be it a movie or tv show, to be very half assed. too dark, too blurry, stuff other than the "focal point" too out of focus..

i also found it odd (but very true to form with my opinion of sony) that of the two pairs of glasses on display, one wasn't working at all and the other only worked for a few seconds at a time before requiring the "power" button on the glasses to be pressed again. there was also on instructions (on what is mostly a self servicing display) that you even *need* to push the power button on the glasses in the first place. in the ten minutes i stood there watching numerous people came up to try, put the glasses on, muttered something along the lines of "this sucks" and left..

[AlienTech]

it sure would be easy to make them auto on with a simple heat sensor in the temple or switch in the hinge or optical/ir sensor in the frame ..... you'd think the engineers at sony could figure that out

[Brad]

well if they cant figure out how to make a good looking flat screen TV after all these years, you can hardly expect them to figure out a heat sensing switch, can you? haha

[AlienTech]

how true

[Suave]

i am finding the current implementation of 3D, be it a movie or tv show, to be very half assed. too dark, too blurry, stuff other than the "focal point" too out of focus.

It sounds like Sony isn't implementing the 3D tech into their TVs nearly as well as what I saw during the Panasonic 3D plasma demo, which is really a shame. In contrast to the way you've described the picture, the picture on the Panasonic had the full glory of 1080p - it was sharp like the best that I've seen from Bly-ray discs and had the full colour range.

I wonder if this will be the difference between plasma based 3D TVs and LCD based 3D TVs. I suppose that remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, as soon as the first review samples are available, we'll be bringing them in for testing!

[Brad]

i certainly hope that plasma based 3d stays a possibility

[Mike Osadciw]

it's known that plasmas will excel for 3-D and LCD will lag...literally.

Panasonic knows this - annouced today they are going to aggressively market 3-D TV in their plasma line in retail outlets, and sell them up to 50% less than the Japanese market. Plasma has taken a bit of a beating in mass-market outlets mainly because of misinformation and salespeople who really just don't know why they are saying what they are saying. It's a lack of education.

[Suave]

Do you guys know the specific reasons why plasma is better for 3D than LCDs?

Is it something to do with the refresh rate or decay time of pixels?

Mike - I'm really glad to hear that Panasonic is expected to sell their 3D plasmas here for much less than in the Japanese market. People in North America have always been much slower to enbrace new tech, so high priced 3D TVs would likely never take off in this market. If 3D TVs are sold for a reasonable premium over regular TVs than a lot more consumers should be inclined to pick one up.