3D TV roundup

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The next wave of new 3D TVs will be arriving soon and most vendors are clearing early 2010 models at heavily discounted price. These include the premium LED-backlit LG Infinia LX9500-series now at close to half its original price at only S$4,499 (US$3,516) for a 55-incher. There are also numerous late entries such as the new Panasonic Viera GT20, Philips Cinema 21:9 Platinum, Sharp Aquos Quattron LE925 and Toshiba Regza WL700. Furthermore, Toshiba is expected to launch a higher-end ZL800 series by the end of this month.

Editors' note:

The charts have been updated with the latest pricing and recently launched 3D TV entries.
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3D home theater systems
 While all the panels in our roundup are based on active shutter 3D goggles and are compatible with 3D Blu-ray as well as 3D broadcasts, they can be further distinguished in other ways. Firstly, only selected models support auxiliary 2D-to-3D conversion to provide pseudo 3D effects for regular DVDs and broadcasts. Moreover, a handful of panels are only 3D-ready requiring upgrade kits with an external signal emitter and glasses to display 3D content. Sharp has further introduced a 3D-to-2D conversion function to allow different users to watch 2D and 3D simultaneously.

The number of 3D glasses included with each TV also varies for each model. We're unable to provide this information here as the final bundle differs from country to country.

3D LED-lit TVs
LED-lit LCD entries that form the main bulk of the 3D TV offerings are available in three distinct flavors. The regular edgelit models, such as the sleek 7.9mm-thin Samsung C9000, have hyperthin bezels. Others boast local dimming to further enhance black-level performance. For the deepest blacks, backlit versions with local dimming are deployed in LG's LX9500 and Philips Cinema 21:9 Platinum, albeit with a thicker chassis. Most sets sport at least a 200Hz refresh rate, except for the Sony NX710 featuring a 100Hz panel.



3D plasma TVs
Based on our testing, 3D plasma TVs are the easiest on the eyes compared with LCD and LED-lit models. More importantly, plasmas are not prone to blacked-out screen when viewing at tilted angles like when lying down on a couch. The recently launched Panasonic Viera GT20-series also ranks high in affordability, too. However, these plasmas consume the most power among all the entries and are generally much bulkier than its LED-lit peers.



3D LCD TVs
For budget-conscious early adopters, these traditional CCFL-based LCD TVs are your cheap ticket to 3D. In fact, the Samsung C750-series is almost on par with its pricier LED-lit counterpart in terms of value-added features and connectivity options. The only major tradeoff for these LCD TVs is a lower contrast ratio that trail behind the plasma and LED panels. Power consumption-wise, 3D LCD TVs sit right between the LED-lit and plasma categories.



Philip Wong
About the author

Philip Wong is an A/V, PC, photography and gaming enthusiast. Besides spending countless days and late nights fiddling with his home theater system and watercooled PC, he also hits the roads frequently on his iron horse to sweat it out. Now, who says geeks don't work out?

Philip Wong, Associate Editor

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