3DTV Reviewer – 3DTV Reviews And Buying Guides

Posts Tagged ‘3D Glasses’

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.

OK, I don’t get this. Can someone explain to me why each 3DTV manufacturer’s 3D glasses are incompatible with each other, apart from the obvious profit motive?

Let’s say you buy a 3DTV from Sony, with Sony’s 3D glasses. If your mate invites you to watch the 3D footie on his Samsung 3DTV, you can’t use your Sony 3D specs. The same goes, as far as I know, for Panasonic, Nvidia, LG and everyone else.

Now, here’s the thing… the same 3D signal is being displayed on each 3DTV, right? It doesn’t matter if it’s Sky’s 3D channel, a Blu Ray 3D, a PS3 game in 3D or anything else… each 3DTV will be able to display it. So the shenanigans happens when the TV sends the signal to the glasses, right? So have the manufacturers deliberately engineered their glasses to be incompatible with other sets?

So, here’s my question… will someone be able to create a “universal” pair of 3D glasses, like a “universal” remote control? Is anyone talking about this yet? If so, let me know. It’s going to be a huge market!

3D Panasonic Glasses TY-EW3D10

The Panasonic 3D plasma Viera TV’s come with two sets of 3D glasses, but if you need more, the model number is TY-EW3D10, and they’ll set you back £100 per pair. Don’t sit on them!

There’s an interesting write-up about the adoption of 3DTV over at GLG, although the author seems to be anonymous.

The article looks at two issues standing in the way of mass adoption of 3DTV… standardisation (of 3DTV production, transmission, reception and display standards) and instilling the desire to upgrade into consumers. The author concludes that “the jury is still out” because, although progress is being made in standardisation, there’s no real evidence that consumers see a need to upgrade.

There are several points the author fails to address, though. Firstly, 3DTV’s aren’t expected to cost much more than regular televisions and are able to display 3D content or 2D content, so there doesn’t need to be a huge impetus to upgrade to a 3D TV set… you just buy one when you feel the need to trade up from your current TV. Secondly, the author doesn’t mention games. I think 3D games will be a big driver of adoption of 3DTV sets. Finally, the author dismisses the “Avatar effect”, which I believe is a mistake…

The current success of Avatar in the cinema is arguably no guide, given how different the big screen experience is to watching the same movie on a living-room display (even a large one). That said, it may push people to experiment.

After seeing the movie, I want to know how soon I can get a similar setup in my house, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

Sky broadcast the first ever 3D showing of a live sporting event to a public audience yesterday. We followed the live 3D footy action via tweets from the Twitter stream, but how did the main newspapers write-up the event?

Here’s a selection of stories…

From the Daily Mail Future’s so bright we need shades – Sportsmail enjoys Arsenal v Manchester United in groundbreaking 3D broadcast…

I have seen the future of televised football – and it’s stunning. TV entered a new era yesterday with the world’s first live sports 3D broadcast.
…
3D TV was not the main event. The football remained the focus. The technology increases your feeling of involvement in the action.
…
Watching football has changed profoundly, with the experience no longer the passive act of watching a series of moving pictures.

Also from the Daily Mail… Fans hail first 3D broadcast of a football match as better than being in the stadium

They go on to quote different fans…

Paul Kelly, 45, from London, said: ‘The 3D looks great close up but on the wide shots it flattens out. It’s definitely an enhancement. I go to watch a lot of games live and in some way this is better, but it really depends where you are in the stadium.’

David Wubelski, 71, from London, said: ‘I’ve been watching Arsenal for 60 years and went to a game four weeks ago and this is better – the close-ups are fantastic but the wide angle is not quite so impressive. Wearing the glasses is fine, you don’t even notice it. I don’t normally go to a pub to watch a game but I’d consider it if it was being shown in 3D.’

Laura Prylls, 25, from London said: ‘I wear glasses anyway so I’ve just worn the 3D specs over the top and it’s fine, it’s not uncomfortable. The atmosphere is really good, I don’t normally go to the pub for football but there’s a whole group of us here and everyone’s really excited. I’d definitely watch another game in 3D – it’s the future. I think it would be an improvement if there were a few more cameras around the pitch lower down.’

More discussion is to be found at…

the Telegraph (Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney in 3-D could prove a dimension too far)

the Guardian (Underwhelmed by the journey into a new dimension)

the Independent (Fans put on Buddy Holly specs to enter the third dimension)

the Sun (Fans thrilled by the first 3D telly in pubs)