Associated Press
Sony said Tuesday it won’t start selling its 3-D TVs until June. Samsung and Panasonic models will be available this week.
3-D TVs hit stores this week
Prices start around $3,000; drawbacks are glasses, content
Peter Svensson | Associated PressNEW YORK –
Want to be the first one on your block with a 3-D television? It will cost you about $3,000.
Samsung and Panasonic will start selling 3-D TVs in U.S. stores this week, inaugurating what manufacturers hope is the era of 3-D viewing in the living room. But because the sets require bulky glasses, and there is, for now, little to watch in the enhanced format, it will take at least a few years for the technology to become mainstream, if that happens at all.
Samsung Electronics Co. announced Tuesday that it is selling two 3-D models this week. For $3,000, buyers get a 46-inch set, two pairs of glasses and a 3-D Blu-ray player.
Panasonic Corp. has said it will start selling 3-D sets today.
The sales debut comes as moviegoers have shown considerable enthusiasm for the latest wave of 3-D titles in the theater. Last weekend, “Alice in Wonderland” grossed $116.1 million at the box office, beating the first-weekend receipts of “Avatar,” the winter’s 3-D blockbuster.
Although it’s clear that 3-D sets for the home will appeal to technology and home-theater enthusiasts, it remains to be seen whether other consumers will be enticed to spend at least $500 above the price of a comparably sized standard TV and Blu-ray player.
TV makers hope so, because sets with the last big technological improvement – high definition – have come way down in price, below $500.
One challenge will be that the 3-D effect requires viewers to wear relatively bulky battery-operated glasses that need to be recharged occasionally. They are not like the cheap throwaways that have been used in theaters since the 1950s.
When you’re wearing these 3-D TV glasses, room lights and computer screens may look like they’re flickering, making it difficult to combine 3-D viewing with other household activities. Anyone who’s not wearing the glasses when the set is in 3-D mode will see a blurry screen.
The sets can be used in 2-D mode as well, with no glasses required.
Global market share for TV manufacturers in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to DisplaySearch, part of the NPD Group:
1. Samsung Electronics Co.: 23.6 percent
2. LG Electronics Inc.: 13 percent
3. Sony Corp.: 11.5 percent
4. Panasonic Corp.: 8 percent
5. Sharp Corp.: 5.4 percent
Other: 38.6 percent