3D TVs worth it?

Getting tempted with the prices of TV's now - 55" Samsung LED-LCD can be had for $1000-1100 without 3D.

I'll blow my upgrade option for years with the wife I I get one without 3D now. I have a nice Sony 47". Are the 3D sets worth it?

We have a Samsung 8000 series.

The only time we've used 3D is when friends bring their kids over....it keeps them occupied.


Given two tvs with identical refresh rates, screen sizes, etc. I'd opt for the cheaper, non-3D set.

We only got the 3D version because it was a package deal with a 3D Blu-Ray player.

Wasn't tempted by the offers...

Still can't see watching movies with 3D glasses on at home catching on...

Very gimmicky...

NO

Its annoying because all the better sets have 3d and because they have 3d they tack on another $200-500

Eh, it's hard and I'm always tempted but I try to go for good mid-range, not high end.


The contrast ratios on the newer sets are far better then my 2-3 year old Sony LCD set, but my Sony set still looks very nice. As long as you're buying a decent quality set IMHO you're GTG.

I was tempted by the Best Buy 55" Samsung set, it was a "Best Buy exclusive" - only 1 HDMI input and 400K vs 500K I think on the dynamic contrast ratio. The inputs didn't matter, since everything goes through my receiver anyways.

The newer sets will have a 120Hz or 240Hz refresh rate vs. the (probably) 60Hz on your Sony. Makes a big difference when watching sports and anything with fast movement across the screen (Nat Geo Blu Rays for example).

IIRC, there's no standard for measurement when looking at a manufacturer's contrast ratio rating. My tv has a 25,000,000:1 contrast ratio (according to Samsung), but if measured by a different manufacturer it might only be 10,000,000:1. IOW, when comparing a TV's contrast ratio, you can really only measure it against other sets made by the same manufacturer.

They have 'no glasses' 3D figured out now. http://www.3dtvguide.org/3d-tv-without-glasses.html Toshiba is leading the way with a 55 inch without glasses model comming soon.

As the technology continues to evolve, more mainstream movies will be done in 3D.

Do you like watching 3D movies? How many do you pay to see? How many would you have to watch at home (vs. the theater) to break even?

That being said... what's worth it is turning the TV off and doing other things.

When they come out with the 3D tvs that don't need glasses in a year, you're gonna feel stupid watching tv with sunglasses on in your frontroom.

I think 3D is just a stupid gimmick, anyway. It doesn't look "amazing", normal 1080p looks fantastic enough, imo.

Looks blurry to me. Call of Duty was kind of neat at first but it KILLS your eyes after 10 minutes .Both me and my friend had to stop playing after 10-15 minutes because our eyes hurt like hell and we were getting headaches.

Meh.


As it is, I don't watch that much TV or movies. Maybe it's not the cheapest form of entertainment, but I like it.


I saw Avatar 3D in the theaters, the effects were nice. Some others too, but Avatar really stuck out as 3D done well.

I don't watch sports anymore on TV, or TV much at all for that matter. Blu-Rays are 24fps, and in my 60Hz TV's case will drop down to sync with it. 24 divides evenly into 120 or 240, so with those sets you don't have to worry about it.


For me, the refresh won't make a difference, I'm in it for the size upgrade. The 3D was a consideration, since I'm blowing an upgrade option with the wife.

I wasn't impressed at first by them, but the last few demo tv's I've seen were highly impressive and if I was to purchase a new TV I'd be looking seriously at one now that they've come down in price.

I just got a 3D TV. I already had a PS3 with some 3D games, and hadn't already started my BluRay collection. It's a passive model, which is nice, uses the same glasses as the movie theater. The "no glasses" technology is still many years away from being affordable. I got a smoking deal on black friday, and the other features on the TV really sold me, 3D is just a good bonus.

we are getting this one for Christmas.

I prefer the passive 3D TV's as they use the same cheap polarized glasses you get at the theater (which I have a shoe box full of) and not the big clunky battery operated shutter glasses.

I run a 32" Vizio 3D TV as my PC monitor with nVidia 3D Vision and I love it for 3D gaming... 3D movies not so much. I have a Blu Ray drive with the 3D Blu Ray player software, but while the 3D effect is impressive and immersive on games it really looks odd with the movies on such a small screen. It makes me feel like I'm watching a miniature play on a tiny stage. 3D movies are best watched on huge theater size screens IMO.

I'm also one of the people who doesn't get a headache from watching 3D things, so my opinion is colored by that.

My wife gets a headache from the passive 3D TVs but not the active (I don't know why). Plus in doing some research you have more control of how much the images pop out with the active display. So that might have something to do with it.

Convergence can be adjusted pretty easily through nVidia's control panel for me, but a lot of the "pop" of the effects comes down to the source material. For instance, a 3D Blu Ray that I've personally seen like Tron Legacy doesn't have a whole lot of "pop" elements in it (lots of "depth" but no real "pop", meaning objects that appear to "come out" of the screen rather than going back into it) but a game like Batman Arkham City has a TON (the most notable being Two Face's coin toss into the air near the beginning of the game... I swear you could reach out and touch that coin hovering in front of you)... and both were running on the same TV with the same convergence settings.

Damn. I bought the game, played 5% of it, then got the 3D tv, I'll have to start over.

I hold the two Arkham games on PC up as prime examples of how you do 3D gaming. Both of them have excellent depth and a ton of "pop" shots in them. In Arkham Asylum every time Batman would pull off a grate one of the bolts flies out at you.

Right now I'm playing Battlefield 3 in 3D (now that they finally got the patch out) and while it doesn't have any "pop" elements it definitely does depth well... particularly on the weapon sights.

Just last month, i finally, after researching for 3 months on which TV to get, purchased a Panasonic TCP65GT30 from BestBuy on a killer sale. I didnt upgrade just for 3D, but since I was upgrading my 5 year old 61" Sammy DLP Rear Projection, i figured I might as well get the best I could in case it catches on more so. Well, first night, we fired up the PS3, loaded the 3D blu-ray of Cars 2, and dear god it was fantastic to watch. The Depth really adds something i think. Panasonic Uses Active glasses which I wasnt a fan of, but the newest gen are REALLY lightweight, and after a few minutes you forget you area wearing them. My wife wasnt big on getting a 3D TV, but as soon as she sat and watched Cars she was hooked, next day i ordered 5 or 6 more 3D blu-Ray and each have been pretty good. Just last night, i sat down to watch MNF, and i decided to test out the TVs 2D-3D automatic conversation, played with the settings, and holy crap, i was shocked at how good it looked being converted, it looked every bit as good as I would have assumed it would have had it been legit 3D Broadcast. The depth really added to the feel and excitment, i will now watch all my NFL in 3D :)

I really think for 3D to take off, you need a LARGE display, and mines 65" and I think that works. When we were being demo'd 3D at the store on a 42" or so set, it just didnt seem that impressive, but on a large set 50+" I really like it, it adds just that hint more of realism. If you ask me now after seeing what the TV can do, had I known that before, would i upgrade my TV just for 3D? If i had a newer set that I was happy with, no i wouldnt, but i have no regrets about doing it the way I did , and paying more when I was in the market for a new set anyway. I have 2 sets of glasses now, and plan to add 2 more so 4 people can watch now, so I say get it, enjoy it when you can. Kinda like having a powerful car, yeah you wont use that power 95% of the time, but the 5% you do it will be nice and fun :)

I don't know that it is worth splurging on if you can't really get a decent deal, or already have a nice TV, but I really like mine. I have a 42" Vizio passive 3d model, which works awesome IMO. I believe it was around $600 ish shipped from Amazon I think, or thereabouts.

Avatar on 3d blu-ray (free w/ my panasonic 3d br player) was amazing.

I'm not huge into sports, but the couple football games I watched on ESPN 3d were pretty sweet, as was the US and French open Tennis matches they aired on one of the DirecTV 3d channels. Looking forward to getting Transformers 3 on 3d BR soon, that was some of the better 3d in a recent movie in the theater...

I've got about a dozen pairs of glasses now too since the RealD glasses from the theater work w/ the passive sets.

I ended up getting this TV for not much more than a regular internet enabled TV was going for at the time, so I figured why not. Definitely worth it to me. If you have DirecTV you get 4 3d channels for free too (one is a pay per view movie channel) which adds a good bit of 3d content you can access beyond 3d BluRays.

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