RealD's 3D technology coming to Sony Bravia HDTVs, PS3's Blu-ray player

The inevitable march toward all of us having the ability to don silly glasses in our living room to watch 3D television carries on with new announcements that revolve around Sony electronics. First, Sony has announced a partnership with RealD, a leading 3D technology firm and Sony's collaborator on 3D movie tech, to place RealD's 3D format into its Bravia HDTVs, as well as use its tech to produce accompanying eye wear to see the stereoscopic image in three dimensions.

While the announcement came without any accompanying product introductions, RealD's press release says that the companies will market 3D-compatible "consumer products in Sony’s current and future portfolio." There's little doubt that Sony will announce new 3D-enabled Bravia HDTVs in the near future—perhaps as soon as CES next month—but the "current" Sony product mentioned above may be the PlayStation 3 console, which supposedly will starting playing 3D games in the coming year, according to a recent interview with the head of PlayStation marketing.

Speaking of the PS3, some related 3D news comes in the form of an official standard for 3D Blu-ray discs. The standard calls for 3D Blu-ray discs to be backward compatible, so they can play on conventional 2D drives, and the new MVC codec should work with displays using different 3D technologies. One of the devices that was deemed a qualified 3D Blu-ray player was the PS3's built-in Blu-ray drive.

As a result of this news, it appears that Sony has a little 3D ecosystem in place, letting you watch 3D TV, view 3D Blu-rays and do some 3D gaming with just a Bravia set and a PS3 (and those glasses). With more and more manufacturers falling over themselves to say they have compatible HDTVs in the pipeline, the choice to 3D or not to 3D will be left up to us to choose in our own houses.