Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s one way to solve a chicken-and-egg dilemma: crank out 15 million chickens. That’s seem to be the plan for Samsung and LG, anyway — Samsung plans to sell 10 million 3D TVs this year, up five times from the two million it sold last year, while LG plans to sell some 5 million. Now, it’s unclear whether this increase in sales will come as a result of consumer demand for 3D or simply because almost all new TVs will be 3D-capable, but we’re hoping that pesky 3D content problem will get a lot better once more people can actually view it — assuming anyone actually wants to wear the glasses, that is.

Samsung wants to sell 10 million 3D TVs this year, LG plans on 5 million originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG announced at CES that it was breaking from other TV manufacturers to push its own FPR technology for 3DTVs and now they’ve started shipping in Korea including the LW5700 pictured above. LG’s new approach means placing a special film over the LCD screen (no plasmas, although OLED versions are planned in the future) letting users use cheap “flicker free” passive 3D glasses instead of keeping a conventional display and using more expensive active shutter 3D glasses. LG’s new TVs with the screens should start arriving in the US in March, although Vizio is already selling one Cinema 3D TV over here with the technology and plans to deliver a slew of new models soon. Of course, the main downside to this approach is that it halves the resolution delivered to each eye when wearing the glasses, but — if you hadn’t already guessed from its tablets and phones — LG is betting big on 3D this year, we’ll see if it pays off.

Continue reading LG starts shipping new ‘flicker free’ 3D TVs with passive glasses

LG starts shipping new ‘flicker free’ 3D TVs with passive glasses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Although 3D as a feature didn’t become commonplace on HDTVs until 2010, Mitsubishi and Samsung have both been shipping a number of 3D-ready models for several years. However, they rely on a different input format than the one used by 3D Blu-ray movies, 3DTV broadcasts and most 3D videogames so an adapter is required to make it work, which Mitsubishi released for its own DLP TVs last year. While enthusiasts on AVSForum quickly developed workarounds to get them working with some of Samsung’s DLPs as well, those won’t be necessary now that Mitsubishi is releasing the 3DC-100S, which will work with Samsung’s TVs (only projection sets, not plasmas) right out of the box. right now it’s available as a part of a $449 MSRP starter pack bundle but word is it should be available on its own shortly, in case you want to check out some ESPN 3D action without shelling out for a brand new TV set, press release is after the break.

[Thanks, Paul]

Continue reading New adapter from Mitsubishi brings Samsung’s old 3D-capable TVs up to spec

New adapter from Mitsubishi brings Samsung’s old 3D-capable TVs up to spec originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Finally, we find a market that is truly enthusiastic about 3D. Tokyo-based researchers BCN, cited by CrunchGear, report that a cool 57 percent of all Blu-ray recorders sold in Japan last month had 3D playback functionality built in, while 23 percent of all 40-inch-plus TVs sold had the ability to relay stereoscopic imagery. Both those numbers are major leaps in popularity within the nation itself and also easily dwarf penetration rates for 3D hardware in other parts of the world. 3D has apparently grown a lot more affordable in Japan, but lest you think these data are just a symptom of people upgrading their equipment without regard to its third-dimension skills, word is that there’s still a chunky 30 percent premium associated with adding 3D to your BR recorder purchase. So, it would seem the trendsetting Japanese are leading from the front on this one — awkward, unstylish glasses be damned!

Japan loves its 3D: more than half of all Blu-ray recorders sold last month had 3D, 3DTVs popular too originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 06:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When the Philips’ 56-inch 21:9 3D TV was released in Europe with no US ship date in sight, darkness fell over our home theater world. Then, Vizio announced its own 21:9 3D TV and we knew it was all going to be ok. They say when it rains it pours though, and now it’s looking like JVC will release its own 50-inch 21:9 full HD 3D TV in the US sometime in the third quarter of 2011. Other details are scarce, but JVC’s talkative CES booth attendant also mentioned the TV might be sold in varying sizes and might feature internet connectivity. The possibility of internet connectivity was also supported by a few screens teasing an integrated information bar, which appeared on the left-hand side of the screen without blocking HD content. Needless to say, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this TV as more news emerges, and in the meantime bide our time dreaming of the ultra-wide CinemaScope-style movies we could be viewing in late 2011. Oh and if you’re curious that’s JVC’s newly-announced TH-BC3 soundbar positioned right below it carrying a sweet paper iPhone 4.

JVC shows off prototype 50-inch 21:9 full HD 3D TV, says it could hit US later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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