Samsung Targets 2Q for 3D TV

The first 3D TVs from Samsung could go on sale in NZ as early as April.

“We are thrilled that the new 3D TVs will be in the New Zealand market some time during the second quarter,” Samsung’s NZ director of marketing, Rachael Cotton-Bronte, said after the company announced it was the first in the world to start mass producing 3D LED and LCD panels.

Also due here by mid-year are the three LED back-lit HDTVs, one plasma HDTV, three Blu-ray players and the home theatre system that Samsung showcased this month at the Consumer Electronics Show, where it won 23 Innovation Awards.

“We will be providing additional [3D TV] details as the release date draws near,” Cotton-Bronte said.

Samsung is making LED- and LCD-compatible panels for 40-inch, 46-inch and 55-inch full-HD 3D TVs using 3D Active Glasses and “exclusive” true 240Hz technology.  (3D Active Glasses was selected as an official term by the Glasses Standardisation Working Group of the Consumer Electronics Association earlier this year.)

Because its panels operate at 240 frames a second, Samsung claims they deliver a more lifelike picture with alternating left and right eye images through the use of 3D Active Glasses technology.

Samsung says it has cut the response time of its LCD and LED panels by 20 percent to fewer than four milliseconds, eliminating interference between left and right eye images.

“With this improved response time, Samsung is able to achieve natural 3D images and also deliver 2D pictures capturing rapid movement with exceptional clarity,” the company’s press statement said.

“Samsung’s new 3D Active Glasses technology first blocks the left and then right lens, causing a momentary lag when images are shown to each eye to achieve more lifelike 3D images.”

The polarised glass method previously used in 3D glasses produced separate images for the left and right eyes, resulting in half the resolution of two-dimensional pictures as only half of the screen can be viewed through each polarised filter; brightness was also lowered because of the polarised filter.

Market research firm DisplaySearch expects the 3D display market is expected to grow from $902 million in 2008 to $22 billion in 2018.

Specifically, the 3D TV market is expected to expand to a $US17-billion market, with sales rising from 200,000 units in 2009 to 64 million in 2018.