3D HDTV in Your Home

                                    














Are you ready to bring 3D-featured television into your home? That’s right, we said ‘feature’ since 3D capability is really just a feature on today’s best HDTVs. When a 3D movie or program comes on, slip on your eyewear, sit back and enjoy the immersion. When watching in 2D, take your glasses off and again, enjoy (even though at first it will seem a little ‘flat’).
The same basic decisions exist as when purchasing a HDTV – for example: which technology? For example, Plasma? LCD? LED? Projection? 1080i? 720p? 1080p? Internet-enabled?, etc. – and, with all of today’s great choices, shopping for a new television can be a confusing jumble of information. But, there are other sites that provide consumer help and reviews, so we are going to concentrate on the 3D feature.

The 3D Feature

3D-enabled televisions differ from 2D-only sets in their electronics and either the addition of an emitter to sync the signal (for an active-shutter set) or a polarizing film (for a passive set). 3D HDTVs all have the fastest rates available to support fast-action programming.

Active Shutter 3DTV

Active shutter 3D TVs present the left eye and right eye pictures sequentially at a very high rate of speed. A small IR or RF emitter, built into the bezel of the TV or the projector, sends out a continuous sync pulse that is picked up by the active shutter glasses. This sync pulse corresponds to the picture frame rate. The liquid crystal shutters in the glasses then open and close in sync with that pulse.
Select LED, LCD, plasma & projection 3D HDTVs are designed to work with new, specific models of active shutter 3D glasses. These 3D TVs feature a built-in infrared (IR) emitter and will also support the fast picture refresh speeds that are needed for active shutter 3D glasses.
The primary advantage of active-shutter 3D HDTVs is their ability to show high-definition images and the price premium over a 2D-only TV is often less than $200. The primary disadvantage is the relatively high cost of eyewear at $50-$150 per pair.

Passive 3D HDTV

Passive 3D HDTV features a film layer on the television screen with two pictures polarized to match a special set of glasses. The lenses in the eyewear are each polarized differently to only reveal one view (left or right) of the picture the TV is showing. Thus, the glasses are not much more complicated than your typical pair of sunglasses.
The main advantage of the passive 3DTV is the glasses are relatively inexpensive, costing between $1 and $5 per pair. Many theaters use polarized glasses because the 3D-element is in the projector. Many of the widely-recognized eyewear vendors are also creating stylish models of polarized eyewear for viewing 3D pictures and video. You can get them when you buy your popcorn at the theater - or your optometrists office.
The disadvantage of the passive system is that the polarizing film (referred to as pattern-retarder or X-Pol, or micro-polarized) on the front of the screen also adds cost to the TV, so these models are slightly higher in price. It is also a common perception that the polarizer on the front of the unit diminishes the brightness of the overall set. However, the difference is mostly only measured by the most sensitive equipment.

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