Passive glasses for panel screen monitors

[TheForce]

For those who have been waiting for lower cost on glasses, get this:

To my surprise, a new technology monitor like the plasma and LED LCD for expensive active glasses is out from several companies using passive low cost polarized glasses. These are light weight, require no batteries, and just require a special screen designed for this.

Initial impression is that this passive system is quite good quality and ready for prime time retail. If you are on the fence for a 55" Plasma or LED 3D TV, you may want to wait for this to hit the retail stores.

I didn't stick around to ask questions today on availability and price point but may get that for you later this week.

 

[teachsac]

Vizio is using passive technology. They are available now. 65" retails for 3699.

S~

 

[TheForce]

Passive for flat panel is going to kill all active panel very soon. It works very well, not quite as color saturated as active but soon this will be the preferred technology. Today the color is about 90% of the quality of active so it's almost a match. It is here now and as I said will kill all active glasses panel TV. I would not buy a 3D LED Samsung or any other active panel now unless the price is really good.

 

[teachsac]

Problem with passive right now is you have to be in the sweet spot.

S~

 

[TheForce]

Problem with passive right now is you have to be in the sweet spot.

S~

Not quite. But the wide view screen for passive FP is expensive, about $6000 from vutec. The panel passive work very well when viewed from the side but overall they don't have the color saturation yet as the active glasses.

 

[diogen]

Another day - another 3D technology.
The future of 3D TVs may have just arrived
How can you go wrong with a name like iPont...

(That box underneath the TV looks very much like my favorite Antec Aria PC case.)

Diogen.

 

[TheForce]

Time for my update on this direction of 3D Panel TV's.

Today, I got a demo of the new LG 3D Passive glasses system that is currently on the market. It is a 55" and comes in 120Hz. The picture quality is much improved from what I saw at CES in January. I demoed two types of program sources, a 2D to 3D upconvert and Avatar 3D BluRay. Kind of the worst to the best in source content.

In the 2D to 3D mode, the image was what I consider unwatchable. While the image had good 3D depth, and good solid color with no ghosting or cross talk, the motion was horrible with lots of stuttering, minor judder and considerable freezing of the image and then catchup. During the good parts we still had some image tearing that scanned from top to bottom. There were also dead spots as I moved to each side for wide seating viewing angle. In these dead spots the depth just disappeared.

In BluRay 3D playback the image was excellent with excellent depth, both behind the screen plane as well as popping to half the distance of viewing. I got this 3D effect regardless of side angle viewing, something that was not possible at the CES demo. There was virtually no cross talk and the color saturation, contrast and brightness was about the same as the 2D image with little dimming due to the passive glasses. The only defect I could see was an image edge jaggy that seemed to come and go but was very subtly. In fact another person there had to point it out to me or I would have missed it. This panel is ready for prime time 3D BD viewing, IMO. Motion was excellent and the viewing was good at different distances and different angles on the screen plane. I would not be ashamed to hang this panel on my wall.

The main downside to this is the size. I'm used to a much larger screen area and higher definition in the image. To my eyes, all these 55" panels don't have the detail that I see in a good FPTV. But it isn't bad and certainly will wow the average viewer.

If you were on the fence about ready to buy an active glasses panel today, I'd try to check out these Passive systems on a BluRay disk from LG at $2400 and glasses at $15 per pair ain't bad.

 

[teachsac]

I might look at the 6500, offers 240hz processing, when it comes out. The 2D-3D conversion you describe has me wondering now if LG is capable of implemeting it correctly. Sounds pretty bad with freezes and tearing. The Panasonic players have no issues that I have found so far. Then again I just might wait for the new Sony and compare it to the Samsung D8000.

S~

 

[JAG72]

Also the LD display will use the same glasses as the RealD theaters. You can get 10 glasses in the package on eBay for $15 shipped.

 

[TheForce]

I might look at the 6500, offers 240hz processing, when it comes out. The 2D-3D conversion you describe has me wondering now if LG is capable of implemeting it correctly. Sounds pretty bad with freezes and tearing. The Panasonic players have no issues that I have found so far. Then again I just might wait for the new Sony and compare it to the Samsung D8000.

S~

Yes, I couldn't find a price point for the 240 Hz model, only the 120 seems to be available. I have 240 Hz on the Sony and it does make a major difference in the overall smoothness of the motion. Re the 2D to 3D- The Sony implementation is not as good WRT 3D effect as the LG but there are no technical flaws either. I wonder if they will get it fixed in the 240Hz model. Considering how they improved from CES demo, I don't agree with you they are at a roadblock on any improvements. LG seems to be doing a good job with improving the flaws.

 

[teachsac]

I didn't quite say they were at a roadblock. They, like Samsung, seem to have quite a few technical problems with their electronics. One reason I've stayed away from their BD players.

S~