When comparing a 720p verses a 1080p TV, it is natural to assume "bigger is better." But is this difference worth the cost?
First, all the newer consumer 3D TVs I have seen to date display 3D content at 120 frames per second(fps), alternating between Left & Right images. Each eye "sees" 60 fps.
Often with the higher price point of a 1080p there is improved video processing in the video pipeline. It may have the ability to interpolate frames when converting 24fps (48fps for a 3D TV) content to the displayed 60/120fps rather than use a 3:2 pull-down scheme, for example.
For a 3D TV, this 48fps conversion to the displayed 120fps would require twice the performance of a 2D TV since the TV will be processing Left & Right images separately. Thus the simpler (and cheaper) 3:2 pull-down method would only require a Left & Right image buffer, but a frame interpolation implementation for smoother video would require either a video processor with twice the performance or two video processors.
Assuming that the video processing is identical between the 720p and 1080p TVs, the next step is to examine the video format used for 3D.
Full 1080p in 3D is only supported in HDMI 1.4 at 48fps. (24 Left/Right pairs per second) The only widely available source for 1080p48 in HDMI 1.4 is a 3D enabled BluRay player with an appropriately encoded 3D movie. There are no consumer broadcasts natively available in this format.
All other formats are lower than 1080p48 resolution. These other formats include 1080p60 SBS (Side by Side) in which a left & right image are horizontally squeezed into one standard 1080p frame, and 720p120 which alternates Left/Right images. Both of these formats are great for sports since they do not require any frame rate scaling, but the frame rate comes at the cost of resolution. The trade off of frame rate over resolution works well in fast action source material since the eye and brain cannot process the detail quickly, while the viewer will likely experience eyestrain if the frame rate is too low.
In the end, a $1000 720p 3DTV is likely to perform satisfactorily with all the broadcast material currently available, but it will fall short of a well equipped 1080p 3DTV with high quality video processing when viewing 3D movies from BluRay.
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