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Topic: Hardware

Panasonic looks to be early winner in 3D sales, image quality

Summary: It's only been a week or so since 3D HDTVs and Blu-ray players went on sale in the U.S.

Sean Portnoy

By for Home Theater |

It's only been a week or so since 3D HDTVs and Blu-ray players went on sale in the U.S. at Best Buy, but it appears that Panasonic could have jumped out to a quick lead in the race to dominate 3D. The company has announced that it sold out its initial order of 3D sets, and while that quantity was unspecified and is probably a minimal amount given the lack of content to view and the high price tag, it's also true that Samsung hasn't made a similar announcement about its 3D televisions. Presumably, if it had something to crow about, it would have made that public as well, but perhaps the company is just playing things close to the vest.

According to Consumer Reports, however, Samsung shouldn't crow about its TVs' performance compared to Panasonic 3D sets. The publication reviewed a Panasonic 3D plasma and two Samsung 3D LCDs, and found that not only did the Panasonic provide superior 3D imaging (the Samsungs' suffered from a bit of double-imaging), but its 3D glasses also worked better at more extreme viewing angles. Not surprisingly, the plasma also provided better black levels than the Samsung LCDs, a common finding already in 2D HDTV performance. HDGuru.com had previously looked at the Panasonic TC-P50VT20 and found it to be "an excellent HDTV."

The question now is if Panasonic can keep the positive momentum going as Sony readies its first 3D HDTV offerings for sale in April.

Topics: Hardware, Samsung

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14 comments
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  • Already a failure ...

    If you need special glasses to see the 3D, the product is already a failure.

    For 3D TVs to succeed, it has to be fully 3D without the assistance of any device (glasses).
    wackoae
    Reply Vote

    • THIS!

      Totally agree. I see no need for so-called "3D" HDTVs, except only for the most serious of movie fans who have their own custom built home theater rooms.

      Apart from that, I see no need for any TV set to require me to put on glasses. It defeats the purpose of "flipping on the tube" to watch something.

      The only time I'll tolerate to put on glasses is at the Movie Theater.
      ZStoner
      Reply Vote

      • No glasses?

        So, I guess half the world will give up on books, because they "see no need for any information source to require me to put on glasses. It defeats the purpose of 'picking up the paper' to read something."

        Some day practical technology for glasses-free TV will exist. But, you have to start somewhere.
        BillB101
        Reply Vote

    • Is This Even Possible?

      AFAIK, 3D without glasses is not possible with current technology. The only way to do it would be using holography. That would require a resolution of several thousand lines per inch and a transmission bandwidth that would be astronomical. And - over-the-air transmission would probably be impossible no matter what the state of the technology is.
      DT2
      Reply Vote

      • Not possible. without glasses

        Unless you can pipe the video directly to the eye, you're stuck wearing the glasses. The 3D movie is of course created from two different viewing angles. Each angle needs to go only to one eye. This is achieve either by the old red/blue filter glasses, polarizing lenses like they have in the theater, or LCD glasses that quickly black out each eye consecutively as the screen image flickered back and forth between each viewing angle.

        Holography wouldn't be able to impart a solid image through light projection. It would look like the Star Wars holograms.
        AiR_GuNNeR
        Reply Vote

  • 3d in the living room is doa

    i smell a viewphone kind of success here ...
    bannedfromzdnetagain
    Reply Vote

    • The stats don't support it

      Best Buy already sold out of all the 3D Panasonic sets they had in their initial order.

      I'd buy one but I just got a new plasma last year.
      DT2
      Reply Vote

  • Does anyone care?

    Does anyone even care about 3D? It feels like this is more the electronics corporations trying to push a new technology, rather than consumer demand. I for one don't have much interest in 3D.
    razzledazzle
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Panasonic looks to be early winner in 3D sales, image quality

    I think 3D is great experience !
    jeery
    Reply Vote

  • Not Suprised, But...

    Panasonic has been on a tech roll lately. Their new plasmas are stunngingly good - and cheap. Their sub-$200 Blu-Ray DVD is among the very best at any price, their digital camera line has several stars, including the DMC-ZSC, a Leica-lensed 12X zoom that also makes a great 720P video recorder, for $250, and their integration of all those pieces in to a coherent system is unmatched by any vendor.

    But I still don't think that any 3D that required $150 glasses will ever win hearts at home. If the system uses the $15 dual-polarized glasses they hand out for UP and Avatar, maybe
    panzrwagn@...
    Reply Vote

    • Could work

      The cheaper glasses could work if they applied and alternate scan polarization mask to the screen. The source would have to be in in interlaced format (1080i or such) so that each field refresh is targeted at the eye that it is meant for. I have heard of some 3D computer monitors that are made this way.
      DT2
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Panasonic looks to be early winner in 3D sales, image quality

    Pushing 3D technology is just the latest excuse to overcharge for a piece of electronics that will be obsolete in 4 to 5 years. Case in point, Blu-Ray players were $400+ 18 months ago, now they can be found for under $100. Same with HDTV, though it did take a few years to saturate the consumer market. But now prices are very much in line with the old SDTV pricepoint, ie; $10 per diagonal inch. I praise the folks who will shell out thousands of dollars for this new technology, just to be the first kid on their block to have the newest toy.
    Personally, I'll wait for a couple of years before even thinking about investing in this new tech. But the rest of you, Please, by all means, dig deep and pay the piper now so I won't have to later.
    jrogers3264
    Reply Vote

    • Agreed 100%

      I have 30 year old colour CRTs that still work OK.

      The picture is better on my friend's 1 year old Panasonic LCD (pity the program quality is so bad).

      lehnerus2000
      lehnerus2000
      Reply Vote

  • Samsung shouldn?t crow about its TVs? performance - WHAT?

    Samsung doesn't even have a 3D plasma on the market yet, so how about we wait until we see the goods before we start jumping to conclusions about who the winner is with respect to image quality?
    XanderCrews
    Reply Vote
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