Checking out Panasonic’s 3D TV

Sony has some competition in the soon-to-become reality 3D TV market - and things are evenly poised.

READ ALSO: Sky TV a little more interested than it lets on

Yesterday I checked out a 50-inch Panasonic Viera plasma TV, the TC-P50VT25, part of a new range of 3D sets that will also include 54, 58 and 65-inch models.

It has yet to be announced which will be available in New Zealand, or what they will cost (US pricing has just been announced). Panasonic New Zealand’s Andrew Reid told me release should be mid-year - matching Sony’s estimate.

Panasonic’s spin is that plasma is better for 3D, by dint of the fact a plasma panel is better at redrawing a picture faster. Its new high-end Viera’s can redraw a picture three times faster than last year’s, said Reid.

Sony’s 3D TV range, which I checked out last week, is all LCD (the company abandoned plasma for all-LCD production a couple of years back).

I did think the three dimensional video displayed by Panasonic’s 3D TV (which won best in show at CES) looked better.

As with all 3D sets, closer is better. You have to be within three or four meters of the TV. Angle of viewability seemed a tad better than Sony’s LCD, on my unscientific observation, but both are narrower than for a conventional picture.

You can pause the picture, then stick your nose right up to the set without losing the 3D image. It’s pretty mind-blowing - though, personally, I still find it somehow wearying over time.

Beach volleyball!
Panasonic sent a film crew to take some 3D film of a beach volleyball tournament held at Mt Maunganui over summer.

While it won’t win any prizes for political correctness, I found clarity and sense of depth of the 3D footage stunning. As was some generic show reel footage.

I didn’t see any of the slight hint of flicker I got at times with Sony’s LCD.

All 3D TVs require you to wear 3D glasses (Panasonic’s are pictured above). Ironically, Sony’s googles actually have a higher refresh rate (200MHz, or 100MHz per lens) than Panasonic’s (120MHz, or 60MHz per lens). But as with all TV specs, the proof is in the viewing.

Sony has the edge in input ...
Sony is promising that with a firmware (software) upgrade, its current PlayStation3 console, which includes a Blu-ray player, will be able to play 3D Blu-ray movies, and 3D games.

Panasonic, however, is suggesting you buy a whole new Blu-ray player to feed images to your Blu-ray TV - specifically, the BMP-BDT350. The current crop of Blu-ray players just don’t support 3D output.

That’s going to be a reasonably tough sell for Panasonic. Those who’ve shelled out the best part of $1000 (or sometimes more) for a Blu-ray player - likely in the past year - are going naturally going to be rarked.

Reid counters that Panasonic's 3D Blu-ray player supports HDMI 1.4, with full 3D 1080p support, while a firmware upgraded Sony PS3 will only support HDMI 1.3 (to which I think, Hmmn. HDMI in itself is great, but so much voodoo is associated with the spec).

... and, for now,  gaming
Reid’s dream demo would have been a 3D Blu-ray version of Avatar - one of the few 3D movies aimed at grown-ups. That wasn’t available, yet.

No matter. Like Sony, Panasonic is figuring that 3D games will lead early adoption.

Last week, a 3D version of Sony’s Killzone looked awesomely immersive. I could easily see such a demo pushing many to buy a 3D telly.

The experience was slightly less impressive at Panasonic yesterday, where the Xbox version of Avatar - the video game - was on hand. The image was noticeably shimmery, for the reason was that Microsoft’s game console has yet to offer any native support for 3D, so the picture was a continuous train rather than the rapid left eye/right eye switch that all-comers are using for 3D video (and Sony for its PS3 3D games).

No matter. If 3D takes off, it’s likely Microsoft will add native support.

Just imagine the potential for driving games, said Reid, enthusing over the possibilities of trying to find the apex of a corner with a 3D picture.

2D upscaling
Sony’s 3D set up supports 2D to 3D upscaling, or taking a regular picture then manipulating it to appear 3D, but a rep said the company could not guarantee the quality. A comparison was made with DVD players that upscale to the full HD only offered natively by a Blu-ray player. (Like his counterpart at Sony, Reid winces as he says "DVD upscaling" - probably subconsciously. But quite correctly; it's a risible marketing gimmick, and one that often back-fires with instore demos.)

Reid said that Panasonic would not offer any 2D upscaling support. Its 3D TV and 3D Blu-ray player are only designed to display footage shot in 3D.

Not hanging hat on 3D
Despite upbeat talk from the various 3D TV makers (Toshiba, LG, Samsung and others have also demo’d sets in the US), still face a dearth of movie, broadcast TV and gaming content for their mid-year launch.

“We’re not hanging our hat on 3D,” said Reid, noting that the new high-end Vieras will also function quite happily as conventional 2D tellies for those at the premium end of the market.

But he’s also confident more 3D content is in the pipeline, noting that two 3D channels are in the works in the US, and that 3D titles have been a big discussion point at the global Game Developers Conference (GDC), happening this week in San Francisco.