CES 2010: List of 3DTVs!

Michael here with a rundown of all the 3DTVs I saw at CES. I asked the company representatives for the model numbers and sizes of their 3DTVs. All except the JVC are based upon frame sequential technology, which employs shutter glasses.

The Panasonic system still has the most rock-solid, movie theater quality 3D of the bunch, but the others are all extremely close. I have a hunch that Panasonic wins because it requires dual HDMI 4 cables in its system, which it claims are necessary for true 1080P60 per-eye 3D.

Anyway, here are the 3D TV's from CES (expect them all by mid-2010):

Panasonic:

VT25 - Plasma - 50, 54, 58, 65 inches
VT20 - Plasma - 50 inches

Sony:

LX - LED - 40, 46, 52, 60 inches (emitter built into TV)
HX - LED - 52, 55 inches
3D OLED - 24 inches

Samsung:

C7000 - LED - 40, 46, 55 inches
C8000 - LED - 46, 55, 60, 65 inches
C9000 - LED - 46, 55 inches

Series 750 - LCD - 46, 55 inches

7 Series - Plasma - 58, 63 inches
8 Series - Plasma - 58, 63 inches

3D OLED - 31 inches

Some (if not all) of these TVs can convert 2D to 3D in real time

Toshiba:

Cell-powered LED - Genesis models - 55, 65 inches
Cell-powered LED - Illusion models - 42, 47, 52
Can convert 2D to 3D in real time.

Sharp:

LED model - 60 inches

JVC:

GD-463D10 - LED - uses polarized glasses with polarizing film over screen

LG:

LE9500 - LED - 47, 55 inches
PK950P - Plasma - 60 inches
LEX - LED - 60, 72 inches

Hisense:

LED - 55 inches

TCL:

LCD - 46 inches

Exciting, isn't it? 3D will be arriving in the home in spectacular fashion quite soon. If I'm missing any models, please let me know in the comments below.

CES 2010: NEXT3D Co-Founder David Cole Talks NEXT3D

Michael here. Watch below to listen to David Cole, co-founder of NEXT3D, describe what his company does:

I'm looking forward to digging in to all the S3D content that will be made available through NEXT3D's encoder/decoder, player, production and finishing tools, and content distribution technology.

NEXT3D is a sponsor of MarketSaw

CES 2010: Sharp Demonstrates QuadPixel Technology

Michael here. This isn't 3D related, but MarketSaw is about the future of entertainment technology, and Sharp's QuadPixel technology is a perfect example of an exciting innovation in displays.

What Sharp has done is introduce a fourth subpixel - a yellow subpixel - to the standard red, green, and blue subpixels that make up a pixel in an HDTV. This addition raises the total number of displayable colors from a billion to over one trillion colors.

These displays are gorgeous. The yellows pop out like sunlight reflecting from a buttercup. And the rest of the colors are deep, vibrant, and nuanced.

Sharp HDTV's featuring QuadPixel technology will hit in the spring. I will try to find out tomorrow if any of them will be 3D ready.

CES 2010: 3D is Everywhere! Plus 4K TV's & AMOLED from Samsung!

Michael here. I've been walking around the show floor of CES 2010 today, and 3D has been everywhere: Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, LG, JVC, Sharp, Toshiba, and more are all showing off their 3D TV lineups.

Four things caught my eye so far today : Samsung's AMOLED 3DTV's and the 4K TVs from LG, Panasonic and Toshiba.

The Samsung AMOLED has organic pixels which produce their own light. The displays are 31 inches diagonal and produced incredible images despite being only a few millimeters thick. I believe that OLED-type TVs are the wave of the future - it is only a matter of time until they are produced in larger sizes. I'd love to have one to coat an entire wall of my apartment!

See the Samsung OLED 3DTVs below:

Sony was showing off 3D OLEDs as well. Sony's screens were said to be 24 inches diagonal.

4K TVs are also drawing big crowds. So far I have seen a 152 inch Viera plasma from Panasonic, an 84 inch display from LG, and a 54 inch display from Toshiba. All are extremely impressive: you can easily imagine that you are not looking at a screen, but through a window into another world, or perhaps at a piece of artwork hanging on a wall.

The Toshiba was especially interesting as it demoed the processing power of its Cell processor, which was able to upgrade 2K content to psuedo-4K in realtime. The small screen size was also impressive: the smaller the screen, the more condensed the pixels have to be.

Of course, OLED 4K 3D TVs (at 48 or 60 fps) would be the holy grail!

CES 2010: Panasonic & Samsung Unveil 3DTV Lineups!

Hi, Michael here at CES 2010. 3D is obviously THE big thing at the show this year. I just got out of the Samsung and Panasonic press conferences, and both made 3D a big - if not the biggest - part of their presentations.

left: a banner promoting Samsungs 3D LED TVs.

Samsung:

Samsung brought out Jeffrey Katzenberg, whose Dreamworks Animation is partnering with Samsung (along with Technicolor) to bring out a 3D Blu-ray of Monsters Vs. Aliens later this year. He said that we "stand at a watershed moment for the entire 3D industry." He's certainly right about that!

Samsung plans to introduce a comprehensive lineup of 3DTVs, including full HD, shutter glasses-based 3D-capable LED, Plasma, and LCD TVs. It is also bringing out its own 3D Blu-ray players. It touted its 3D tech as having "the slimmest screens" and "the deepest 3D." The 3D LED's (models 9000, 8000, and 7000) are less than 0.3 inches thick (less than the width of a pencil). Their 3D plasma will be 1.4 inches.

Samsung's tech also includes a processor which will convert 2D to 3D in real time. The speaker said that converted material will help tide us over until there is plenty of S3D content to fill its screens.

Panasonic:

Panasonic unveiled their new 65, 58, 54, and 50 inch 3D, shutter-glasses-based, full HD Viera Plasma televisions. These televisions have been built from the ground up to provide the best possible 1080P-per-eye 3D image. Panasonic has shortened the luminescence time for each pixel using fast-decay phosphors so that there is no crosstalk between frames. The brightness level has been increased to make up for this reduced display time.

Shutter glasses will come packaged with each 3D Viera TV.

Panasonic also announced the PP-BDT350 3D Blu-ray player, which incorporates HDMI 1.4 technology. According to Panasonic, HDMI 1.4 is required for Full HD per-eye 3D viewing.

Jon Landau spoke about the benefits of 3D (and asked everyone to go see Avatar). Watch below:



Tomorrow the main show floor opens. Stay tuned to MarketSaw for the very latest S3D news from CES 2010!

S3D Patents Taking Off!! The 3D Future is NOW

Jim here. Makes sense right? As stereoscopic 3D takes off so should the associated patents. And so they are. Take a look at the chart below (original Thomson Reuters PDF report available here via NY3D.org) highlighting the activity over the past 2 years vs. 2003:

Click To Enlarge...

Note the increase in patents in the television and photography industries - it is not all Hollywood is it? Not to downplay the domino effect Hollywood has had on 3D in any way - there was just more to learn and discover in these other spaces.

There is a huge upside to S3D and MarketSaw is right in the thick of it. When I decided to launch MarketSaw back in 2006 I knew there stood a very good chance that S3D was going to take off around the time of James Cameron's AVATAR - I bet the bank as it were. Not a bad gamble when you consider he does hold the modern box office record with TITANIC. Still, it was a bit of a leap and many questioned it - I was just repeating the phrase "we shall see". And now we are :-) If I had a penny for every "gimmick" comment I have heard... lol!

One obvious patent area not highlighted by this Thomson Reuters report is computing. Apple has been extremely active in this space and recently augmented their past patent filings with this one revolving around tracking "the location of a user and adjust a 3D display according to their position, creating the illusion that an on-screen object is physically present." (Thanks Joanna!). Steve Jobs knows what he is doing - no question. This is just another example of his vision. These patents will draw the user right into the screen intuitively!

Stereoscopic 3D is here to stay folks! I bet the bank on it and the fruits of the labor started over 3 years ago are now coming in. Glad you can share the journey with us!! It will be a pleasure to bring you all the exciting developments taking place in 3D over the coming years. Take January's CES in Las Vegas coming up - it will be packed to the rafters with innovations like S3DHD televisions!! Can't wait. Stay tuned!

And to whoever bought S3DHD.com - congratulations on the wise purchase! ;-) Makes me want to run out and buy S3Dnet.com, 3DHomeVideos.com and MotionPictures3D.com... oh wait a minute...