Widescreen TV

With so many advancements and developments in the technology surrounding 3D TVs, HD TVs and widescreen TVs it is important to keep up to date with these developments especially if you are looking to invest some hard earned cash and buy yourself a new TV.  New 3D HDTVs can be quite expensive so it is important that you know a little about the product before you purchase it.  Don’t rely on the sales person at your local electrical store to have all the answers as many stores have incentives for sales people to sell certain items so you may not get really what you need.  So where then is a good place to get information on 3D HDTVs that is relevant and up-to-date?  The answer to that is to search for reviews of the products that you are interested in on the internet in forums and review web pages, in relevant magazines and also reviews in the newspaper.

Doing a little research on a particular item or particular technology can save you both money and disappointment.  The best place to find reviews and information on things such as 3D TVs is the internet.  The information that you can access on the internet has the distinct advantage of being as up to date as possible.  As a new item or new technology is released information about this can be published straight away for all to access on the internet.  Another great source of information is forums where people who have tried a product or service give a review and let people know whether the product or technology in question is great or no good.  Reviews such as can be a great source of information on a product such as 3D HDTV however you need to remember that you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet so check out more than one or two sites when gathering information.

Magazines and newspapers are also a great source for reviews of things such as 3D HDTV and can provide you with a great source of information about the topic.  As with information gathered from the internet it is important that you read more than one review on a topic or item so as to limit any bias by the source.  Sourcing and reading many different reviews of a product can help you purchase the best 3D HDTV for your situation and may even save you some money on features that you don’t really need.

Over the last 2 years 3D technology has made its presence known first through recent movies such as Avatar and also as an option on some of the more expensive widescreen plasma and LCD televisions.  This technology is not new as 3D movies have been around for some years however many of the larger electronic companies such as Panasonic and Samsung have refined and developed this technology to suit HD content and also make this technology suitable for use in the home.

There are several different methods that are used to generate a 3D effect each with their own advantages and disadvantages.  This article will look at the 3D technology that is currently being used by manufacturers for application in the home.

One of the more common ways of generating a 3D image on a plasma or LCD television is the Passive Glass System which is being used by many companies such as Panasonic and Samsung.  This 3D technology can easily be identified by the glasses that a viewer has to wear to generate the 3D effect.  The effect works by displaying an overlapping image on the screen and when viewed through the polarised glasses which can only see one of the two overlapping images the 3D effect is created.  This technology is the most widely used 3D technology and works well with plasma and LCD televisions.

3D effects can also be generated using Lenticular technology which allows the viewer to have the 3D effect without the need for the 3D glasses.  With this technology the television does all of the work such as sending different images to each eye to generate the 3D effect.  This technology is still being developed as its main limitation is that the viewer has to sit and watch the screen from a very specific position for the 3D image to be visible which is not very practical for the home theatre setup.

The 3D effect is also generated using a method called active glass system which is similar to the passive glass system only the 3D glasses are doing all of the work rather than the screen.  The main advantage of using this technology is that people can be watching a movie that has a clear picture in 2D while others using the 3D glasses can be watching in 3D.  This technology is still being developed and the main disadvantage is that the active 3D glasses are quite expensive to purchase.