3D TV buyer’s guide: 2011 edition
Owning a 3D TV last year was a lot like owning a puppy. It’s novel, your friends come over to see it, and you can’t wait to get home and play with it after a day at work. But it still makes messes on the floor, whines at night, and doesn’t do Big Dog Things like playing fetch and gnawing the hands off home invaders.
That changes in 2011. The unique thrill of owning a 3D TV may have worn off due to growing numbers (the industry reportedly sold 4 million last year), but the quality, level of content and downright livability has never been better. Which is why, fresh off the show floor at CES 2011 and with a clear picture of this year’s 3D landscape in sight, we’re completely revising our guide to 3D.
Here’s everything you need to know to buy a 3D TV in 2011.
Can I get a 3D TV without glasses yet?
Sorry, still no. But they’re coming. Companies have exhibited glasses-free (or “autostereoscopic”) TV prototypes for years now, but CES 2011 brought the first models destined for consumer distribution from Toshiba. They’ll launch in the second half of the year for a price almost guaranteed to snap credit cards.
All displays of this type (including Sony’s prototypes at the same show) use parallax barrier technology, which basically produces “zones” around the TV where viewers can stand and experience a full-fledged 3D effect. In our experience, the effect was maximized at dead center, and slight body movements sometimes broke apart the 3D image. In other words, even if the first models weren’t prohibitively expensive, you wouldn’t want one in your living room anyway. Not yet, at least. But 3D TVs that require glasses have advanced with the addition of passive glasses.
