Samsung and Panasonic 3D Press Events (Video and Photos) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I think it's quite obvious by the comments here that it is
not our recommendation for members to rush out and purchase
3D displays and players at this time.

Once we see the technology more refined and/or the issues
at hand resolved, we will be more than happy to promote 3D
for the home.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Panasonic sells out their first run of 3D sets. According to Bloomberg:

Panasonic Corp. said its 3-D TVs sold out in the U.S. in their first week, raising optimism the technology that helped “Avatar” break records at the box office will extend to living rooms and help boost profits.The shortage is prompting the world’s largest plasma TV maker to take back-orders from retailers, Hitoshi Otsuki, the senior managing director heading Osaka-based Panasonic’s overseas operations, said in an interview yesterday in Tokyo. He declined to specify figures. “It’s a great opportunity to turn around our TV business,” he said.

Full article

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I think it's quite obvious by the comments here that it is
not our recommendation for members to rush out and purchase
3D displays and players at this time.

My take is a bit softer. Should you go out and replace your perfectly good 2D HD set with a 3D for the sake of having 3D? No. It doesn't make sense right now with the lack of content, glasses standards, etc. If you are buying a new set anyway, it may be worth it to look at getting a 3D set. The 3D sets from Panasonic and Samsung happen to be the best 2D sets in their lineup as well. If you are comfortable with the premium price its worth it to look into getting one of their 3D models.

 

[hampsteadbandit]

another element I have noticed with cinema 3D presentations is the occasional "stutter" on sudden camera pans across a scene

(this looks similar to the old converted US colour films we saw on PAL TV here in the UK where stutter was evident in fast moving scenes)

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich



My take is a bit softer. Should you go out and replace your perfectly good 2D HD set with a 3D for the sake of having 3D? No. It doesn't make sense right now with the lack of content, glasses standards, etc. If you are buying a new set anyway, it may be worth it to look at getting a 3D set. The 3D sets from Panasonic and Samsung happen to be the best 2D sets in their lineup as well. If you are comfortable with the premium price its worth it to look into getting one of their 3D models.

Personally, if I was in the market for a new TV, this 3D development would probably make me wait even longer before buying anything, assuming I still had a working display. I would wait to see if the technology actually caught on, for the price premium on the technology to drop, and for the standards specifications to settle down.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Personally, if I was in the market for a new TV, this 3D development would probably make me wait even longer before buying anything, assuming I still had a working display. I would wait to see if the technology actually caught on, for the price premium on the technology to drop, and for the standards specifications to settle down.

That is a reasonable stance. 3D in the home will catch on. Panasonic has bet their display business on it, and Samsung spent millions on the launch last week. Right now there isn't enough content. That will be changing quickly this year. Panasonic and Direct TV will be launching some 3D channels, and ESPN is working on 3D as well.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield ) so a slight, but not great, discount from the TV manufacturer's price.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I suppose it would be pretty easy to do. IR is IR, they just need to know what frequency to sync to. Maybe there is a dip switch or something?

 

[Edwin-S]

Could be ROM based. How hard would it be to have a chip with the various IR signatures from different manufacturers built into the glasses? They could even make them "learning" glasses. Hold them up to the IR transmitter and press a button to put the glasses in "learn mode".

 

[Richard--W]

I doubt if the ghosting or double-imaging in Monsters vs Aliens that Ronald Epstien describes was caused by bad DVD authoring. It sounds like mis-alignment during principle photography. A mis-aligned shot will break apart into two separate eyes - a left eye and a right eye, or a double image. Cameron's Titanic documentary was full of shots that broke up in the foreground or background because the focal length of the lens was wrong for the depth of the field his robotic cameras found themselves in. Mis-alignment can be caused by a number of things each one involving carelessness during principle photography. Or by a 3-D conversion of a flat footage that wasn't lensed or staged to be converted.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I doubt if the ghosting or double-imaging in Monsters vs Aliens that Ronald Epstien describes was caused by bad DVD authoring. It sounds like mis-alignment during principle photography

Its CGI animation, and I don't recall hearing any complaints during its 3D theatrical run. I think it is probably a combination of multiple things.

 

[Richard--W]

I know it's CGI, I saw it projected, and its faults have been discussed among 3-D practitioners.


Richard

 

[JohnS]

Some good stuff.
Curious to see other reports and opinions.
I will be getting a 3D TV.
A gift from the IRS.
Playstation goes 3D in June.
I still plan on getting a 3D player

Playstation has already announced two 3D games.

I'll sick back for a few months and see all the reports, and make my decision which TV to get.

 

[RolandL]

I was at Best Buy yesterday and they had a Samsung 55 inch with Monsters vs. Aliens playing. The picture was razor sharp and I did not see any ghosting. The 3-D looked kind of boring with nothing coming out of the screen and not that much depth. Maybe if they had it in a darkened room the 3-D would look better. I know that in most of the 3-D movies today they try not to have anything poking out of the screen at you. But to get people exited about wanting to buy a 3-D TV, they should have something coming out of the screen as part of the demo. Put the TV in a darkened room, show a clip from Monsters vs. Aliens and also clips from other films like Fly Me To The Moon which have some out of the screen effect scenes.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Roland,

I am really wondering what you saw and under what conditions.

3D should have been more impressive than that.

We watched pieces of MONSTERS VS. ALIENS and all were
pretty impressed with the 3D. True, not a lot of things coming
out at you (only a few scenes showed this mostly with gun
pointing) but there was certainly depth present.

It's a shame there isn't more demo content out there. It's
hard to sell the public on the technology right now with one
title that doesn't really show off the full potential of the format.
It's a shame the manufacturers didn't supply the stores with
a 3D demo disc that shows animation and live-action 3D.

All I can tell you at this time, Roland, is that you should
have been blown away. I blame the fact that you weren't
on the content being shown and (possibly) the conditions
you were watching it.

...then again, 3D might not be for everyone.

 

[RolandL]

For some reason the sound was turned off. There was only one pair of 3-D glasses. I had to wait till another person was done with it even though it was set up for two pairs. There were some reflections on the screen. The gun scene you are talking about did not appear to come out of the screen. I saw this movie at a movie theatre and was very impressed with the 3-D. When they show 3-D trailers at movie theatres, the lights are still on and this diminishes the 3-D. I think the same may hold true for 3-D TV's although it does not need to be completely dark, just no reflections on the screen.

A few years ago when there were no 3-D Blu-ray's, I saw a demo of the Mitsubishi 73 inch 3-D TV where they showed various 3-D clips in a darkened room. I was blown away then. To get people exited about 3-D, show your demo on the largest 3-D TV you have, in a darkened room, with multiple 3-D scenes from multiple movies.

 

[mediagy]

Regarding the problem of "ghosting"...... I have yet to see a 3-D film in theaters that does NOT have "ghosting" in it. I don't think this TV ghosting is Samsung's fault. It is a fault of this stupid 3-D system in general. I was around in 1953-54 for the B'WANA DEVIL to KISS ME KATE 3-D rage. It simply DOES NOT WORK without ENORMOUS flaws! AVATAR is interesting simply because it hadn't really been applied to a big budget film since KISS ME KATE and DIAL M FOR MURDER. BUT....it is a FLAWED process....a 19th century technology. It just doesn't WORK very well. I predict there will be this momentary love affair with 3-D all over again, as there was in '53 and '54....but the fascination will die as it did then. This is an attempt to get consumers buying again. Folks, use your BRAINS, not your greedy balance sheets........this is a recession/depression......people don't have the money to buy this flawed system. HD was a magnificent nearly NEW way of watching TV. Cinerama was a magnificent nearly NEW way of watching movies. (Replaced by a cheap and flawed Cinemascope process that killed Cinerama and in turn died out in the 60s.) They were MAJOR upgrades. Bluray is NOT a major upgrade over standard DVD and has slowly caught on ONLY through the power of advertising....but I do NOT think that lightning will strike twice and advertising save 3-D TV. Holographic TV and Motion Pictures have been waiting in the wings for over 20 years since I first saw them demonstrated on the TOMORROW show several decades ago. Why waste time with 3-D which is ultimately a pain in having to deal with the glasses and is only of momentary interest when we already HAVE the techbology for HoloTV and HoloFilm? This is simply a repeat of '53 - '54 all over again. I can tell you from having been there.....today's 3-D is absolutely NO BETTER than it was In HOUSE OF WAX, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE and the rest of the 3-D ilk in the 50s. This is a non-starter.....just a blip on the entertainment horizon. Our theaters in CT announced they are raising ALL prices by $2 to $5 so that they can install 3-D in EVERY "room." What stupid jerks. By 1956 the first craze was dead as a doornail. By 2012 this one will be also.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I was at Best Buy yesterday and they had a Samsung 55 inch with Monsters vs. Aliens playing. The picture was razor sharp and I did not see any ghosting.

Next time you are there check out the scene where she is fighting the robot on the bridge, Look at the guide-wires. About 5-10 minutes after that look at the scene where she is talking to her fiance by the billboard and where she is at the gas station. Its pretty bad on these last few scenes.

I have yet to see a 3-D film in theaters that does NOT have "ghosting" in it. I don't think this TV ghosting is Samsung's fault.

It was most obvious on their LED/LCD sets, less obvious on their plasma, and least obvious on the Panasonic 3D Plasma, so I think Samsung might not be completely to blame, but is a contributor.

 

[JohnS]

I'm really looking forward to Panasonic's Plasma 3DTV which won best of CES
The one in particular is the Panasonic's TC-PVT25 (50 inch) that I'm looking to get.
May/June is the expected releaser date.

 

[RolandL]

I bought my Sanyo Z4 720p front projector in 2006. Its on the second bulb (came free with the purchase). When that goes, I will be looking for a 1080p 3-D ready front projector. I hope there will be a good selection of Blu-ray 3D movies including those from the 1950's at that time.