The Wall Street Journal conducted a 21-day evaluation “to find out what it’s like to live with an actual 3D TV and all of the attendant content, from movies and videogames on disc to dedicated cable channels.”
WSJ used a 46-inch Sony LED HX850 Internet TV ($1,900), two of Sony’s new, ultra-lightweight Titanium Active 3D Glasses ($100 each), and the PlayStation 3 and a standard digital cable box for content.
During week one, the writer watched basketball on ESPN 3D. “I can tell this is basketball, but it’s displaying as a demented picture-in-picture, with two duplicate versions of the same frame squashed onto the screen, side-by-side,” notes the review.
The viewer must manually switch to TV mode to view 3D. Once changed, “the depth achieved here is nifty, yet disorienting. Players hover forward, but the surface of the court doesn’t compute. It’s a flat, 2D plane, a backdrop against which these odd shapes are sliding.”
During the second week, the writer tried 3D Blu-ray: “The 3D flicker that I’ve spent a week trying, and failing, to get used to…is gone. I didn’t even have to select the appropriate 3D mode. The TV automatically adjusted to the correct setting. More importantly, the film has compositions meant to be shown in stereo because it was shot with 3D camera rigs.”
However, it’s not the most comfortable user experience. “3D TV comes with a price. You can’t lie down. Tilt your head even a few degrees, and that crisp image flattens and blurs. Sit to one side of the screen and objects double at their edges, taking on ghostly auras,” according to WSJ.
“When my three weeks are up, I realize that, other than gaming, I’ve given up on 3D,” notes the review. “Why bother, when this TV displays 2D programming so well?”
The article concludes by describing 3D TV as a “fragile technology that still feels experimental. With careful calibration and content selection, it can be fantastic and otherworldly. To the casual viewer, though, it’s more likely to be unpredictable. Maybe glasses-free approaches will eventually reinvent 3D as an effortless standard.”
The Wall Street Journal conducted a 21-day evaluation “to find out what it’s like to live with an actual 3D TV and all of the attendant content, from movies and videogames on disc to dedicated cable channels.”
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