The Field Guide To Modern 3D Glasses

Posted by Kevin Huffman Tech Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

You might want to take a different approach when shopping for a 3D TV than a standard HDTV. Instead of just looking at the picture quality, you should also take a serious look at the brand’s 3D glasses. Some show some clear advantages to purchase that brand’s 3D TV and until there’s a standard format for 3D glasses, each brand requires its own unique glasses, thereby locking you into that manufacturer’s products. Yeah, it’s a bit messy right now. Click through for details on all of them. Samsung There are three different models currently available. $150 gets you the SSG-2100AB with a user-replaceable battery, while the $200 set is rechargeable. (SSG-2200AR) There is a rechargeable pair for children priced at $180. ( SSG-2200KR ) Samsung 3D TVs come bundled with two glasses and a 3D Blu-ray movie. Sony Sony hasn’t official announced its US 3D TV accessories, but it’s probably safe to say that the Japanese-market versions will be available here, too. The standard size TDG-BR100 gray model, along with the smaller blue and pink TDG-BR50 glasses will sell for 12,000 yen in Japan. That translates to $132 USD. The glasses also require the TMR-BR100 IR emitter, too. (5,000 yen, $55 USD) Only the LX900, which retails for 290,000 yen or $3,204 USD, comes with glasses — two, in fact. Panasonic The Panasonic TY-EW3D10U glasses clearly win the “most radical” award. Each Panasonic 3D TV comes with a set and they retail for $149.99. Nvidia 3D content can also be seen on computers with the right gear from Nvidia. The $199 Nvidia 3D Vision kit includes one pair of glasses, IR emitter, and connection cables. Additional glasses can be purchased for $149 each. Keep in mind, though, that a 3D-ready monitor/projector, GPU, and operating system like Vista or Win7 is also required.