3D TV Review

As 3D technology becomes increasingly more impressive, you may ask yourself if a 3D TV is your next big entertainment investment. The best 3D HDTVs, such as the Panasonic TC-P55VT30, LG 55LW6500 and the Sony XBR-HX929 display lifelike, vibrant images that seem to come out of the screen and into your living room. Three-dimensional films are no longer cinema exclusive; they are now a very real option for your home theater.

Viewing 3D images is nothing new. Stereoscopy, a technique used to create the illusion of depth in an image, has been around since the 1800s. In the 1950s and 1960s, many filmmakers were making movies with three-dimensional technology, but 3D cinema rapidly died out due to the expense and technical difficulties of producing the movies. Plus, no one wanted to wear those paper glasses with the red and blue cellophane lenses because they washed out the film's colors and created blurry images. Now we have entered a renaissance of sorts for 3D cinema production and technology. As Hollywood continues to release astonishing three-dimensional movies, the TV manufacturers have decided that you need that same immersive experience in your living room as they add this capability to their new lines of top-tier HDTVs.

On this site you will find articles on 3D TVs and reviews of the 3D TVs we believe to be best at delivering three-dimensional images. The best HD 3D TVs reviewed here are the most recent offerings from the manufacturers and promise the most advanced technology in 3D as well as 2D high-definition viewing.

3D TV: What to Look For

When shopping for a 3D television, there are a few key things to think about:

1. 3D televisions are simply top-of-the-line HDTVs that have the capability of displaying three-dimensional images. You can turn the 3D feature on and off.
2. Not all 3D is the same, and you still need to wear glasses to see the 3D effect. However, the type of glasses you need depends on the type of 3D – passive or active – your TV utilizes. You'll need either passive 3D lenses, like those you wear in movie theaters, or more high-tech active shutter 3D glasses. Active shutter 3D lenses rapidly and imperceptibly open and close a shutter over each eye in synchronization with the images sent from the TV.
3. Active 3D glasses are not cheap and they will not work with every 3D TV. In other words, active shutter glasses would not work with your friend's passive 3D, or even another active 3D TV. Without the correct 3D glasses, you will see only a blurry mix of overlapped images.
4. Currently, the availability of 3D TV content is limited, but it's growing. ESPN made some sporting events available on its ESPN 3D channel, and Discovery Channel launched 3net, a network that airs original 3D content 24/7. With a 3D Blu-ray player that is compatible with your 3D TV, you can enjoy the growing selection of 3D movies in your own living room. Some of the TVs we reviewed include up-conversion so you can watch regular 2D programming in 3D.

Now that you know some basics about 3D television, you can begin looking for the one that is right for you. As we reviewed and compared each 3D television, we rated them according to the following criteria:

Features
We rated 3D televisions on their features such as the number of different types of audio and video connections they have. We also looked at whether the TVs can connect to the internet and your network, and whether they offer 2D to 3D TV conversion.

Specifications
In this section we looked at each TV's screen size, display technology behind the flat panel, refresh rate, color reproduction and contrast ratio. The best 3D TVs have a refresh rate of at least 240Hz to reduce motion blur in action scenes, and we reviewed plasma, LED and DLP HDTVs.

Accessories
Here we evaluated what accessories are included with the TV. For example, some of the TVs include one or two pairs of 3D glasses, while others don't include any.

Help & Support
If you experience any problems with your new TV purchase, you want to be sure that the manufacturer provides enough support to help you fix the problem as quickly and painlessly as possible. Manufacturers with strong product warranties, help documentation and live chat support scored higher than the rest.

You can use these rating criteria to do the same thing we did, make an educated decision on which 3D television is best. We'll help you become an informed consumer as you take the leap to immersive 3D TV in your home. At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™