3D TV: the sets heading your way in 2010

Sony 3d displays

Perhaps those destined for 3D greatness are the manufacturers poised to create a full 3D infrastructure in your home.

Sony is claiming its PS3 games console will be 3D-ready after a firmware update, (despite not brandishing an HDMI 1.4 connection) while also debuting the 3D-compatible BDP-S770 at the CES 2010 show to go alongside its 3D range of HDTVs.

Panasonic showed off its DMP-BDT350, which is the only Blu-ray player to host dual HDMI 1.4 outputs, to complement its 3D-Ready plasma screens.

Both Toshiba and Samsung also debuted 3D Blu-ray players: the BDX3000 and BD-C3900 respectively.

Samsung is touting its new launches to be part of a 3D home ecosystem, while Panasonic and Sony are still arguing over who has got the best end-to-end system, with both launching 3D cameras and boasting of their ties to many 3D movies in the pipeline.

Sony 3d

For 3D to succeed we are going to need another 100 Avatars to come along and floor us with picture innovation and filmmaking nous Cameron's epic brought to the genre.

And while there are rumours that everything from James Bond to Spider-Man 4 will be shot in 3D, these box-office movies won't translate well in a home environment unless you have the biggest TV set (50-inch plus is what the industry is looking at), the best sound system and money which burns a hole in your pocket.

The television industry has now set the bar higher than ever before by announcing that 3D is coming to the home at CES 2010, let's just hope it delivers its promise and brings content which warrants 3D and technology which blows our mind.

However, far from the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, and back in the UK, where all of us still watch the most popular programme on TV, EastEnders, in standard-def, 3D in the home still looks to be a very long way off.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.