— The most-hyped home electronics product in years — 3-D TV—has
arrived. Quietly.
On Thursday,
and 55-inch TVs that are capable of showing 3-D programming.
The prices for the LED-backlit sets are
and
percent over Samsung’s comparable, non 3-D sets.
Sears.com, Onecall.com and other retailers also have
the Samsung 3-D sets available for pre-order.
A spokesman for
the U.S., said the 3-D sets will be in its stores by mid-March.
But one big thing is missing: content.
No 3-D Blu-ray discs will be released until this
summer, and although
has said it would have dedicated 3-D channels on its satellite service,
no launch dates have been announced.
ESPN and the Discovery Channel said they would create
3-D channels.
But at this point, viewers who buy 3-D TVs will have
to settle for regular, 2-D programming.
“If you’re buying a 3-D TV right now, you’d be buying
it with the expectation that it would be future proof,” said
Gagnon
“But without content, it might take awhile to
convince millions of people to pay the premium for the technology.”
The 55-inch Samsung 3-D set costs
more than the company’s comparable 2-D set.
“A
seems a bit high for most consumers, I think,” said
Doherty
“You’ll get the early adopters and the home theater
crowd, but I don’t think everyone will be pricing their 3-D TVs
over the regular LED TV.”
Consumers willing to wait a few months will get lower
prices.
that its 3-D sets will be available in August.
The
sizes: a 47-inch set at
and a 72-inch set at a price to be determined.
The Samsung sets are not being sold with the glasses
required to view 3-D programming. Samsung declined requests for an
interview. Amazon and
representatives said they had no pricing information on the glasses.
The 3-D TV technology was the star of the Consumer
Electronics Show in
Vegas
another in features for their sets.
The 3-D craze in home TV was sparked by the format’s
success in movie theaters in recent years.
In December, the industry adopted a standard for 3-D
Blu-ray players and discs.
showing its 3-D TVs in its SonyStyle stores nationwide.
But its sets won’t be available to consumers until
early summer, said company spokesman
“It’s always great to be first. We’ve been first on a
lot of things, but right now we want to make sure that we have the
best-quality products possible and not something that will have to rely
on firmware updates,” Belloni said.
players will beat its sets to market — the players will be in stores
next week.
The company’s PlayStation 3 gaming consoles will also
be capable of showing 3-D Blu-ray discs but not until they get free
firmware updates via the Internet, scheduled to be available in the
summer.
A report released Friday by the analyst firm
Group
third of consumers were somewhat interested in 3-D TV, but the cost of a
set and glasses was a concern for more than 60 percent of people
surveyed.
The inconvenience of wearing 3-D glasses was cited as
a downside by 53 percent of those polled.
—
(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.
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