3D you should wait here is why
Unless your are an early adopter you should wait on 3D TV. This technology though mature from a theoretical point of view is still very immature from a practical point of view. The technology in the movie theaters is really mature (2 players with fixed standards) and if you look at the box office grosses of this year, 3D films have dominated vs their 2D cousins. If you are a producer dropping $60m+ on a movie you've got to be brave not to make if 3D in the future. Clash of the Titans killed poorly thought out up-conversion so the 2D not mapping to 3D.Television is about five years behind the movies right now. Polar Express time frame.
1) Standards are not set, though both TV and Blue Ray players can be upgraded, there is not a clear set of 3D standards in both the picture transmission/encoding and the glasses. On 3D standard may work on one TV and not another. Your set manufacturer has no reason to upgrade your set to the new standards in a few years with a firmware update.
2) Content is thin. There are a few Blue Ray discs and computer Video card manufactures with content but not enough to be worth a nearly 3K investment. The 3D channels have yet to launch and will your cable/sat provider support them.
3) Expensive investment for little additional hardware. A 120hz/240hz TV is basically the same with 3d or without. Its the processor speed and the 3d glasses hardware. Little else.
4) You need a lot of space. To make 3D worthwhile you need a large set. A smaller LCD panel shrinks the experience to a set of matchbox toys and gives some headaches. So 47" minimum 56" preferred. Your spouse may want to kill you because of the size and also where you have to sit. You need to be pretty close and in the middle of the room to make 3D work.
So where from here. I expect both Sony and Microsoft will expand there current consoles to include 3D technology. Sony has already announced it will and will have vendors convert their content to 3D. To make a game ready for a 3D is simply creating a second software camera in the rendering engine, a trivial task. This will provide a real level of content. If the next COD:Black Ops is available in 3d on the Playstation in the fall it would really drive set sales. Given a large portion of the your males live inside these games, it will a huge demand for TVs. This will drive down to cost of the hardware. DO NOT BUY A 3D BLUE-RAY PLAYER buy a PS3. It will future proof your investment but it will not play 3d Blu ray discs until a fall firmware patch.
Let's see if the new 3D sport channels launch. 3D NFL will also be a huge selling point. Direct TV is not stupid and they will see this as a huge opportunity. You will need a 3d sat receiver not yet ready. (Though they will probably firmware upgrade there current HD receivers) .
In a few years most major movies will be 3d and that content will filter down to the blu ray market.
If you have to buy right now. I'd go Sony because of the PS3. It should assure them of being able to set the standards.
posted by Unknown @ 10:21 AM
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