3DTV Reviewer – 3DTV Reviews And Buying Guides

Recently, LG in the UK announced their new 3D projector, the CF3D which they claim is, “the world’s only polarized glasses 3D projector capable of transmitting full HD picture through a single lens“.

I don’t know about you, but when I first heard about 3DTV’s, I was hoping that projectors would be hard on their heels to get that true 3D-cinema experience into my house. Here at 3DTVreviewer, we even mentioned the CF3D back at the beginning of March, we were that keen!

3D Projection: Technical Hurdles

When I was checking into the possibility of 3D home cinema projectors, I read about all sorts of technical hurdles that face projectors trying to get 3D onto a projector screen, not least of which is that they effectively have to throw two images at the same time, one for the left eye and one for the right eye, which cuts the brightness significantly. One guy who reviewed the CF3D said, “In 3D it still managed a reasonably bright image at 92″ diagonal“, but also said, “Brightness is a definite issue, which means manufacturers have to recognize that 3D projectors as a group are going to need to have about twice the raw lumens available as traditonal projectors.”

Some sources even talk about having two projectors at home, each flinging an image for each eyeball at the screen, to compensate for the loss of brightness. If that’s anything like an indication of the amount of light being lost in a 3D projector-system, it’s a bad sign.

Also, you may need a “high gain” silver screen to project your images onto, to maximising the light reflected and because regular white screens lose the polarisation of the light as it’s reflected.

Cinema 3D Projection

If brightness is such an issue in the home setting, why isn’t it an issue at the cinema. After all, the RealD system, which is how most people experience 3D at the cinema, isn’t noticably darker when wearing the glasses, and they only use one projector in the RealD system which utilises the same polarisation effect to render stereoscopic images as the LG projector will in your home. Perhaps it all comes down to compensation by your brain. After all, if you close one eye, the world doesn’t appear half as bright using just the other eye to see, does it?

CF3D Specification Details

The LG CF3D has full HD capabilities (1920×1080), maximum projected screen size of 200 inches, 2500 ANSI lumens (1250 for 3D), a contrast ratio of 7000:1, 6 pairs of 3D glasses and, according to the LG UK blog, is “in stock now”!

It was a big day for us at 3DTVReviewer… we finally got to don the 3D glasses and take a peek at Monsters Inc playing on the £2,200 UE46C8000 at the local Sevenoaks shop. The assistant was helpful, knowledgeable and friendly, so a big “thank you” to Sevenoaks.

As for the Samsung 3DTV, well, firstly, it was gorgeous in 2D. The pictures were clear, sharp and colourful with the LED screen working wonders. However, it was the 3D I was interested in, so on went the glasses.

My initial impressions were that the 3D effect was more subtle than I expected. It was more like looking into a box with depth perspective than having objects jump out at you. I imagine that the larger the TV set, the more noticable the 3D effect will be, so saving your pennies for the extra inches could really pay off.

I would’ve preferred to see Avatar on the screen, which I saw at the cinema, to give me some kind of mental comparision because the Monsters vs Aliens seemed to have had 3D imposed on it, rather than being included from the ground up, like Avatar was. In the short time I had viewing the 3D content, I imagined that the CGI animation was retooled for 3D by people saying, “she’s at the front, the house is in the middle, and the sky is at the back”… it was kind of depth-perspective with three or four different layers. I expect that making use of the “z axis” information which is already coded into games, will make for a much more impressive use of 3D. In fact, judging from the early comments, the 3D games appear likely to be the main beneficiary of the 3D technology with realism and immersion benefitting substantially.

So, in summary, my impressions of the 3D movie were good, 3D definitely adds to the movie-watching experience, but I still expect games to be the main driver of 3D adoption… that and the fact that I expect all TV’s to be “3D ready” in the future, so you’ll have the feature available whether you want to use it or not. If you’re not into games, it’s likely that 3D viewing will be a “special event” such as watching a 3D film as a family, or a 3D sporting event. I doubt people will grab their 3D glasses to watch Eastenders or Coronation Street.

With the recent Playstation 3 firmware update to play 3D games, Sony took 3D games into people’s living rooms for the first time . Previously only high-end computers using Nvidia’s 3D Vision system could play games in 3D, but now 3D games are available to people with an upgraded PS3 and a 3DTV.

The first set of games, Wipeout, SuperStardust, PAIN and a demo of MotorStorm Pacific Rift is available for £23.99 from the PlayStation Store or as a bonus with purchase of a Sony Bravia 3D TV package. If you already have the games, you get the 3D upgrade for free.

3D Blu Ray Discs

In the coming months, Sony will release another firmware update for the PS3 to enable it to play 3D Blu-Rays such as “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs” which is the first standalone 3D Blu Ray disc, available from June 14th (to be followed by “Open Season” and “Monster House”).

Bravia 3DTV’s

The first Bravia 3DTV, the 40-inch KDL-HX803 arrives on June 12th with other models following later.

3D Blu-Ray Players

There are also non-PS3 Blu-Ray players such as the BDP-S470 which gets a firmware update on June 12th and the BDP-S570 which goes on sale at the same time and will be 3D-ready when releases.

New PS3 Pricing?

Sony also caused a stir when the PS3 was recently priced in it’s USA online store “from $199.99″, which seems to have been a mistake, but could also have possibly been an insight into an upcoming pricing change… perhaps when bundled with a 3DTV. What that means for the UK, where a PS3 currently sells for about three hundred quid (unless on special offer) is anyone’s guess.

LG have announced that their rechargeable AG-S100 3D glasses are now available at shops across the UK for £99.99.

Unlike the slightly less expensive battery-powered 3D active shutter glasses, this model from LG can be recharged using a USB port. On a full recharge you’ll get 40 hours of wireless viewing from them. Of course, the LG AG-S100 work with LG’s 3DTV’s, at the moment the LX9xxx and LX6xxx models.

The AG-S100 glasses synchronise with an emitter built into the LG 3DTV so that each side of the glasses alternately darkens for a fraction of a second to give each eye a different image which, when combined by your brain, creates the 3D effect at the full High Definition of 1080p.

The current best price for the AG-S100 3D glasses, that we could find, was £99.99 per pair from the Dixons Group (PC World, Dixons, Curry’s). Click here for full details, latest pricing and availability.

Sony have a new 3DTV commerical ad for TV. Check it out. What do you think? It certainly makes me want a 3DTV!

I’m not too keen on the out-of-focus images, but I can appreciate that they add impact value to the ad. It just goes to show that there’s no easy way to convey how 3DTV will look to people watching 2D screens. It’s a tricky marketing puzzle for sure!