What is 3D TV

You may have asked yourself, what is 3D TV, well currently there are two kinds of 3D, there’s passive and active. Passive requires you wear the funny cardboard glasses and active requires you wear expensive battery powered 3D glasses.

If you try to watch a 3D movie without wearing the special 3D glasses all you will get to see is a blurry picture.

Now, just because you have a 3D ready TV does not mean everything you watch will automatically be in 3D, the exception being some TV’s will artificially do what’s called an “up convert” making the picture have some 3D like qualities.

A 3D program is filmed from not just one but more than one camera simultaneous. The special 3D glasses cause your eyes to see the image on the TV in 3 dimensions thus giving you the allusion of space and dimension between objects on the screen. Watch the movie AVATAR in 3D for example is an absolutely incredible experience. You will see the depth and dimension in a way you might not have imagined.

The great thing about 3D is that it enhances our TV experience just a little bit more. The first evolution after color was to High Def. Mixed in was the surround sound system. The clarity and depth of 3D and being enveloped with sound only lacks the final detail of ButtKicker.

What equipment do I need for 3D?

You’re going to need several items. First, the 3D ready TV. Plasma TV’s might have the fast refresh rates and produce the deep rich resolution but LED flat screen TV’s not only have a fantastic picture but they use far the least electricity of them all : Plasma, LCD, LED. Next, you need content….a movie or a sports program that’s also in 3D. And of course, you need the special battery powered 3D glasses. But wait, there’s more. To make this all work you need a 3D ready Blue Ray DVD player and/or a cable or satellite set top box. Last but not least, a good HDMI cable (or possibly two for surround sound). You probably can’t go too wrong paying for a higher quality HDMI cable because there’s a lot of information traveling to your TV on this cable and since you invested in all that equipment don’t scrimp on this one piece.

Passive or Active?

In either case you’re going to wear funny glasses during the 3D show. Passive glasses are lighter weight, less costly and don’t require batteries like active glasses do. But, when you’re investing in all this 3D equipment would you rather match all the equipment so the picture is noticeably more bright, crisp and has better resolution overall? If you answered yes to any, you want active. The advice, consider finding a showroom and test this for yourself. Chances are you’ll invest in an Active setup 6 times to 1, the current trend, over passive.