Just got back from CES. Here are some quick thoughts on the 3D products I saw. Typing this up on my ipad so it may not look that great.
Passive LCD displays. Saw the vizio and lg panels. The 3d effect was impressive. Its much better than the current generation of time sequential lcd 3d tvs. Based on the demos of live action and games I saw, I think its more impressive than the plasmas I've seen. You've got a much brighter image that contributes greatly to 3d image quality, no flicker, and ghosting levels that look the same as what you see in theaters. Passive 3d is not crosstalk free though, as I can see it in cinemas (tron legacy easily shows this), but the levels seem lower than asg w plasma and will easily be acceptable to the majority of viewers. Of course the manufacturers don't demo ghosting test patterns so I couldnt do a quantitative comparison, but I've got to the point where I know where to see crosstalk based on the content shown. So everyone knows the issue with these passive lcds is half res 3d. The issue isnt so much a softer picture but its the scanline/interlace look that is similar to a big screen standard def crt. This was really obvious on the large panels (65"?) I saw. For the smaller panels that were farther away this was not an issue, but the people thinking about getting a large passive panel should make note of their seating distance to make these sets look their best. Comparing the 2 passive panels, the LG had better IQ than the vizio.
Time sequential plasma. Saw Panasonic's new 30 series. One of the sets was playing the slow motion sports scenes on Panasonic's v1.2 demo disc that I'm very familar with. Didnt see any improvement with crosstalk here. Saw the same ghosts around the baseball, painted lines on the basketball court, etc. I think samsung only showcased its improved 3d image processing. Pretty underwhelming.
Time sequential lcd. Looked at sony's 929, the latest samsung, and panasonic's lcd. The 929 looks like ghosting has improved slightly over the 909 but its still there. Could still spot it in the Open Season demo clip. Samsung had a demo showing crosstalk improvements with their new lcds compared to last years model. The demo had clips from how to train your dragon, the samsung demo, and some other footage with the crosstalk highlighted. Yes, the new samsung lcds have improved here, but crosstalk was still visible in other areas of the image. I'd say it was on par with sony's 909 since I have those discs and am familiar with Sony's crosstalk. Panasonic's lcd didnt look worse than samsungs but the demo they had for it really didnt have a lot of potential for crosstalk. So which one did I think was the best performing time sequential lcd panel? None of the above--it was actually the Acer lcd monitors in the nvidia booth. I dont know what model they had on display but I saw a lot of gaming and live action footage with extreme parallax and high contrast objects that didnt show crosstalk. Wonder what type of panel they use. I also checked out xpands booth. The youniversal glasses (104?) were very light but will cost more than the 103s. I do want to but a pair though since its the only glasses I know of that allows you to adjust duty cycle parameters. I was told the 103s will eventually support nvidia's emitter which is good news for people like me.
Lcos projectors. Saw a demo of the flagship JVC and the passive LG projector. The JVC obviously had better IQ but also had lcd-like crosstalk. Oddly, JVC demoed a 2d back to the future clip that really showed off detail-free DNR. Not sure what was happening with the LG passive setup but the ghosting was pretty bad. The color setting looking like it was cranked to 11 didnt help either.
Autosteroscopic displays. Saw a toshiba that was maybe 30" and a smaller sony. The sony was a little better than toshibas but both arent anything to write home about. You get a slight depth effect but nothing really pops out of the screen. There are also specific spots you have to view it from to get the 3d illusion. Besides the IQ issues, the other negative was a having a sensation that my eyes were crossed while I watched the display. Its almost like the discofort you get when your eyes try to fuse an image that has too much separation.
To recap, I was impressed by the improvements in the lcd camp. The biggest being passive tech. I think this will be the tech that will be deployed in the majority of future 3d households. Plasma looked like it was resting on its laurels since I didnt see any major 3d improvements there. Dlp still offers the best solution for 3d projection but doesnt seem to have any marketing to push it. I also think you'll have a nice 55" oled display before theres an autostereoscopic display worth buying.
Passive LCD displays. Saw the vizio and lg panels. The 3d effect was impressive. Its much better than the current generation of time sequential lcd 3d tvs. Based on the demos of live action and games I saw, I think its more impressive than the plasmas I've seen. You've got a much brighter image that contributes greatly to 3d image quality, no flicker, and ghosting levels that look the same as what you see in theaters. Passive 3d is not crosstalk free though, as I can see it in cinemas (tron legacy easily shows this), but the levels seem lower than asg w plasma and will easily be acceptable to the majority of viewers. Of course the manufacturers don't demo ghosting test patterns so I couldnt do a quantitative comparison, but I've got to the point where I know where to see crosstalk based on the content shown. So everyone knows the issue with these passive lcds is half res 3d. The issue isnt so much a softer picture but its the scanline/interlace look that is similar to a big screen standard def crt. This was really obvious on the large panels (65"?) I saw. For the smaller panels that were farther away this was not an issue, but the people thinking about getting a large passive panel should make note of their seating distance to make these sets look their best. Comparing the 2 passive panels, the LG had better IQ than the vizio.
Time sequential plasma. Saw Panasonic's new 30 series. One of the sets was playing the slow motion sports scenes on Panasonic's v1.2 demo disc that I'm very familar with. Didnt see any improvement with crosstalk here. Saw the same ghosts around the baseball, painted lines on the basketball court, etc. I think samsung only showcased its improved 3d image processing. Pretty underwhelming.
Time sequential lcd. Looked at sony's 929, the latest samsung, and panasonic's lcd. The 929 looks like ghosting has improved slightly over the 909 but its still there. Could still spot it in the Open Season demo clip. Samsung had a demo showing crosstalk improvements with their new lcds compared to last years model. The demo had clips from how to train your dragon, the samsung demo, and some other footage with the crosstalk highlighted. Yes, the new samsung lcds have improved here, but crosstalk was still visible in other areas of the image. I'd say it was on par with sony's 909 since I have those discs and am familiar with Sony's crosstalk. Panasonic's lcd didnt look worse than samsungs but the demo they had for it really didnt have a lot of potential for crosstalk. So which one did I think was the best performing time sequential lcd panel? None of the above--it was actually the Acer lcd monitors in the nvidia booth. I dont know what model they had on display but I saw a lot of gaming and live action footage with extreme parallax and high contrast objects that didnt show crosstalk. Wonder what type of panel they use. I also checked out xpands booth. The youniversal glasses (104?) were very light but will cost more than the 103s. I do want to but a pair though since its the only glasses I know of that allows you to adjust duty cycle parameters. I was told the 103s will eventually support nvidia's emitter which is good news for people like me.
Lcos projectors. Saw a demo of the flagship JVC and the passive LG projector. The JVC obviously had better IQ but also had lcd-like crosstalk. Oddly, JVC demoed a 2d back to the future clip that really showed off detail-free DNR. Not sure what was happening with the LG passive setup but the ghosting was pretty bad. The color setting looking like it was cranked to 11 didnt help either.
Autosteroscopic displays. Saw a toshiba that was maybe 30" and a smaller sony. The sony was a little better than toshibas but both arent anything to write home about. You get a slight depth effect but nothing really pops out of the screen. There are also specific spots you have to view it from to get the 3d illusion. Besides the IQ issues, the other negative was a having a sensation that my eyes were crossed while I watched the display. Its almost like the discofort you get when your eyes try to fuse an image that has too much separation.
To recap, I was impressed by the improvements in the lcd camp. The biggest being passive tech. I think this will be the tech that will be deployed in the majority of future 3d households. Plasma looked like it was resting on its laurels since I didnt see any major 3d improvements there. Dlp still offers the best solution for 3d projection but doesnt seem to have any marketing to push it. I also think you'll have a nice 55" oled display before theres an autostereoscopic display worth buying.
