*** UPDATE: I’ve now returned this TV after having 2 faulty ones, I will put a post up about this when my complaint is dealt with by Currys and LG – In the mean time for details of the faults etc.. please visit the AVFroums. ***
Dave

 

I’d held off buying a 3D TV for quite a while, I loved the effect of it, but felt like I’d played about 3 hours worth of guitar hero after watching approximately 10 minutes of 3D content whilst getting a demo in a Sony store!

 

For my sins, I got roped into going to watch the final (thank jebus!) Harry Potter film, I was looking forward to seeing the 3D element of the film though having never seen any 3D films before.

 

I really didn’t know much about how it would work, I can’t actually watch 3D through the old style red/blue glasses, not sure why, but could have something to do with my astigmatism. I just can’t really see the effect, everything just seems to come out in different colours!

 

For those that haven’t yet seen any 3D content in the cinema, it uses ‘Passive’ technology, you have to buy (or take your own) polarised glasses. The good news was that not only could I see and enjoy the 3D, when I left the cinema I had no adverse effects!

 

So when we got home, I started to Google for ‘Real-D’ (the 3D company used in the cinemas) televisions, I found that this is a project in development, but LG and Toshiba have started to offer passive 3D tv’s! This is essentially the same kind of system as used in the cinema, so I could get 3D without the brain strain!

 

Most manufactures offer what is known as ‘Active’ 3D, this requires some expensive ‘active shutter’ glasses that basically open and close the left and right shutter of the glasses to let you see the 3D image. This does work really very well, and actually offers higher resolution than passive can currently deliver, the down side is it also seems to bring more ‘ghosting’ type effects.

 

I started wading through the reviews of the 3D LG and Toshiba sets and decided that I really wanted to check out the LG LW550T 47″ set. A trip to Curry’s later and I was very impressed with the set, but had changed my mind to the 47LW650T, the main difference between the two sets is that the 650 offers 200hz and a much higher contrast ratio (blacker blacks etc..)

 

So after a lot of haggling, I ended up with the LG LW650T set. Very happy with the TV, as much as I loved my previous Panasonic Plasma (had that for approx 5 years) the picture is so much clearer and the 3D effect is fantastic.

 

If you’re in the market for a new TV, I urge you to check out the passive 3D sets, yes the resolution is lower for 3D, but it’s barely noticeable, the glasses cost less than £1 each (instead of £99 for active!) you get minimal (I’ve seen none yet) ghosting AND you don’t get a headache!

 

Dave.