Virtual & Really.Ru

Two years after the high-def home video format war ended, Blu-ray is finally starting to trickle into the mainstream. This has a lot to do with consumer awareness, as well as price drops. OK -- it has a lot to do with price drops.  A $1200 standalone high definition disc player is interesting to early adopters.  A $200 (or less) Blu-ray player that can stream content from the internet is interesting to quite a few more.

Every year, the consumer electronics market has its own buzzword. This year, it's undoubtedly "3D TV" -- and it's pretty darn cool. But it's also a bit confusing. Do you still need glasses? Yes. Will the new 3D TVs work with regular TV shows? Yes. Is there any 3D content? Yes and no. We'll explain what all the fuss is about, let you know what features matter and give you a guide to what's available today (or coming soon) in the 3D HDTV market.

Not Your Great Grandfather's 3D

3D has actually been around in film since the 1800s, when it was better known as Stereoscopy. Over 100 years later, we've simplified the name to 2 characters (3D) and also improved the methods for delivering it. At the end of that rainbow of colored paper glasses, we have 2010: The year that high-quality full high definition 3D TV finally arrives in consumers' homes.

Before you start firing off angry emails or forum posts, yes -- we know 3D has been a reason to fire up the Jiffy Pop for quite some time now. Back in the late '70s, we distinctly remember getting a pair of 3D glasses at Burger King for a UHF broadcast of Creature Double Feature in 3D. Flash forward to 2009, when Dreamworks helped SoBe Lifewater standout amongst Super Bowl commercials by adding a little 3D. Even NBC dished out a supersize promotion for a very special, very in-your-face episode of the spy dramedy Chuck. More recently, studios have been attaching a 3D component to Blu-ray releases. Just over the past few months, we've checked out Coraline, The Final Destination and even the Jonas Brothers.

To get the most out of this new generation of Full HD 3D-enabled HDTVs, you'll need a Blu-ray 3D Player as well as active shutter 3D glasses.

 Many TV broadcasts, DVD and Blu-ray releases have used this format, simply because there were no other options. And if you haven't noticed, it's not very effective. Colors tend to be inaccurate and images are generally fuzzy. Basically, the 3D effect is hit or miss and prolonged use can lead to headaches.

At a press conference held at the US Open tennis tournament in New York this morning, Panasonic unveiled two new pre-packed Blu-ray Home Theater Systems, the SC-BTT350 and SC-BTT750. These are Panasonic's first Blu-ray HTiB (Home Theater in a Box) systems to offer 3D capabilities.  Similar in many respects to the current SC-BT230 and SC-BT730 HTiB systems, the new models add Blu-ray 3D Disc playback to their extensive feature sets.

If you're holding off buying a television because you're waiting for "glassless" 3D then don't, Samsung says the technology displays images in low resolution and is too expensive to be feasible for big screens. John Revie, vice president of home entertainment at Samsung Electronics, says watching 3D TV will involve using glasses for the "foreseeable future".