3D Television Technologies Compared: How are 3D TVs Different?

by Scott Wu | January 5, 2010 at 12:20 pm

2171 views | 4 Recommendations | 0 comments

3D television will likely be THE home entertainment technology of the 2010. ESPN 3D will kick off their 3D sports network in June, and major TV brands are releasing the new generation of 3D televisions this week at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. However, TV makers are backing different 3D technologies. So how are 3D TV technologies and how are they different from regular TVs?

Essentially, 3D technologies simulate the viewing experience in real life. The slight perspective differences from left and right eyes give us a sense of depth. 3D technologies work by giving left eye an image intended for the left eye, and right eye an image intended for the right eye.

Sony, JVC, and Samsung use the "shutter glasses" technology in their latest 3D television sets. Viewers must wear "active shutter" 3D glasses from XpanD. The 3D TV displays the left and right eye images in an alternating fashion, at the rate of 120 hertz, which is 120 times in one second. When the left eye image is on the TV, the shutter glass blocks vision from your right eye. When the right eye image is on the TV, it blocks your left eye from seeing it. Shutter glasses use infrared to synchronize shutters with the 3D TV to show correct images at the right time.

The shutter glasses technology will likely produce better image, but cost of shutter glass is one concern. Also, shutter glass technology can make some people uncomfortable because of flickering images.

the hidden cost in many of the upcoming 3D TVs we'll be seeing at CES lies with these battery-powered active shutter glasses. I haven't heard any prices from the big TV manufacturers yet, but in the past I've heard figures that top out at about $100 a pop.

Another 3D technology is the use of polarized 3D glasses. Most 3D movie theaters use this technology. On polarized glasses, the lenses are placed perpendicular to one another to display one image and block the other at the same time. The TV will project 2 sets of polarized images on the screen.

The advantage is that polarized glasses are light and cheap. The downside is that "crosstalk" might occur, when the image meant for one eye being shown to the other.

The 3D image might not be as good (image brightness could suffer, and there's a better chance that the image meant for one eye might "bleed" into the other eye, also known as "crosstalk"), and the 3D TV in question typically would need a screen with a polarized coating, which might boost the price of the set.

Viewer experience will speak the loudest in this week's Consumer Electronic Show.

TV manufacturers want to bring that experience to your living room with 3-D displays that work much like the ones in the theaters. Major consumer-electronics companies, including Panasonic, Mitsubishi and Sony, are betting on 3-D, with compatible TV sets planned for the market in 2010.