Samsung has jumped ahead by launching 3D HD TV’s in South Korea. As of the 25th February you can buy a Samsung 3D HD TV. Furthermore, Samsung has inked an exclusive 3D content deal with DreamWorks. At CES 2010 Monsters Vs Aliens was shown as the world’s first 3D Blu-ray disc. The disc will only be available when you purchase a Samsung 3D TV or 3D Blu-ray player.
The 3D line-up has been boosted to offer LED, LCD and PDP HD TV displays, with an aggressive aim to sell at least 2 million 3D TV’s in 2010. Most research firms forecast the global 3D TV market to vary between 1 million and 6.5 million TV’s in 2010.
Panasonic is hot on Samsung’s tail launching 3D plasma TV’s in Japan on April 23rd. Panasonic’s TC-PVT25 plasma 3DHD TV(featured above) is a 3D compatible 3D HD TV and was awarded the 2010 best of CES award by CNET.
James Cameron and AVATAR have hooked up with Panasonic, but the release of the 3D Blu-ray version of the movie has been under speculation lately. While Cameron announced in a Wall Street Journal interview that the 3D Blu-ray will come out in November, Fox Home Entertainment denied this statement, saying, ‘3D is in the conceptual stage and Avatar will not be out on 3D Blu-ray in November.’ The studio has not confirmed when the 3D Blu-ray version will be released.
Also on April 23rd Panasonic will launch its first Blu-ray 3D player, the DNP-BDT900.
Samsung has been playing a ‘now you see it now you don’t’ game on Amazon. The 3D Blu-ray model BD-C6900 (featured above) has been priced at $399 and it made a momentary debut on amazon for pre-order, but it was quickly yanked off. At this time it has disappeared and we are waiting for an official announcement.
Both Panasonic and Samsung will be including one pair of 3D glasses with their HD 3D TV, but it is widely anticipated that both companies will use additional glasses packages as a marketing tool, to help sell the sets.
Sony is trailing behind in more ways than one. Their 3D HD TV’s displayed at CES this year were by far in this reviewer’s opinion the worst 3D displays on the floor. Clearly visible on Sony’s 3D technology was ghosting, flicker and other artifact problems. Still they have reportedly put Sony 3D HD TV’s in all Sony Style stores and are continuing to heavily promote HD 3D TV.
Sony has partnered up in the US with the Discovery Channel and it will be a primary sponsor of the upcoming ESPN 3D network. Sony is also the official sponsor for the 2010 FIFA World Cup which kicks off in South Africa this June and will be broadcast in 3D all over the globe.
Sony 3D HD TV’s are reported to be made available on the consumer market this June.
LG recently had a piece of information regarding its HD and 3D HD displays release dates leaked on the internet. According to the leaked document, the new HD LG range will begin to arrive in March and April of this year and in the second week of May the LG 3D LX9500 HDTV (featured above) will begin to ship. The 3D LX9500 will be released alongside a more affordable mid-range 3D HDTV, the LG LX6500. The BD580, LG’s 3D capable Blu-ray player is expected to be available in April.
Toshiba, Sharp and Vizio are all trailing behind in a cluster, as none have a release date for their 3D HD displays.
So who will win in this 3D horse race? It’s hard to say at this point in time as the race is far from over. While there are problems with both plasma and LCD, for my money plasma is the clear leader when it comes to displaying 3D. Content is still playing catch up with technology and ultimately there needs to be enough content in the marketplace for 3D to succeed.