Introduction

At the Consumer Electronics Show last January, every television manufacturer had at least one 3D-capable display in their booth. Over the next few months, new models trickled into the marketplace. Now that CEDIA has come and gone, the floodgates are officially open and every brand has at least one and in some cases multiple models to choose from. I attended CEDIA with the primary goal of securing as many 3D TVs as possible for review. Toshiba was kind enough to be the first to provide me a sample, the flagship 55WX800U Cinema Series 55" LED Edge Lit LCD HDTV.

Historically there has always been a battle between the cinema and television. Ever since the first consumer TVs appeared in the mid-twentieth century, Hollywood has looked for ways to lure entertainment seekers out of their living rooms and into the movie theater. First they tempted us with CinemaScope. The advent of widescreen in the 1950s created a major divide in image quality between film and television. Other technologies followed; stereo sound, 3D (the kind with colored glasses), surround sound (remember Sensurround?) and the staple of science museums everywhere, Imax. Now the world’s entertainment capital is having another go with 3D, this time with far better results than the old anaglyph format (colored glasses). And we won’t have to wait to try it at home because every television manufacturer is now offering displays and Blu-ray players that let us experience 3D from our own couches.