I've made a decision to buy a 3D TV.  Why?  Quite simply because my TV in my family room died and I figure if I'm going to have to buy a new television it might as well be a 3D TV.  The technology is mature enough, the TVs aren't THAT expensive (though certainly not cheap), and of course, most of all, I love the idea that I will be the first one on my block to buy a new 3DTV.

So, my quest begins.  Which 3D TV should I buy and why? Over the next month or so, I'm going to do as much investigation as I can and try to document my findings here.  I will update this thread with new information and date it appropriately throughout the course of the month.

I thought that I would start out with some background as I search for a TV.  First, I am looking for a a big screen, maybe around a 55" 3DTV, as it will be my primary television for the next decade (hopefully).  In addition to myself and my wife, we have 3 children who will be watching which is important when it comes to purchasing 3D glasses.  I am by no means a videophile, but I think I have an above average eye.  I will also buy a BluRay 3D DVD player, so that will come into play in this discussion too. 

I think that's just about it for now.  Time to start investigating and will report back.  If anyone has any initial thoughts, please respond below.

****Updated 5/10

With the weekend came some free time to continue my investigation.  I decided to go out to a local electronics store and see for myself first hand what kind of picture these TVs  could produce.  As luck would have it, they had two TV's on display for me to watch.

First up, was the Panasonic Viera VT25 Series 3D TV.  It's a 54" Plasma Display that lists for $2,999.95, but was almost half that price on Amazon.  At first glance without the glasses on, as suspected, the picture was distorted, but still viewable.  I don't think I could stand to watch a full movie without the glasses, but it wasn't too bad.

I grabbed the glasses and put them on and nothing changed.  Oops - I forgot to turn on the glasses!  Very important as the glasses are powered by small batteries in the side of the glasses.  Of course, this begs the next question of how long the batteries last which (not surprisingly) the store employee didn't know. It would be a big bummer if the batteries went out in the middle of a movie, so I'll have to be sure to have extras laying around.  (I went back and looked it up, and Panasonic claims a 75 hour life on CR2032 batteries for its TY-EW3D10U 3D Eyewear.)

As it turns out, I did not like the feel of these glasses.  They weren't nearly as comfortable as my sunglasses.  It wasn't because they were heavier - which they were - they just didn't seem to sit comfortably on my nose.  Definitely a strike against this particular model for me personally and definitely glad already that I did a 'try before you buy' my 3D TV.  I did notice that they were made to be worn over other glasses comfortably, so maybe that was part of my problem.  I just don't think I could get used to wearing these particular glasses for any length of time.

Then another thought occurred to me.  Can I use another manufacturers 3D glasses with this TV?  The picture seemed OK, so I would hate to rule out a 3D TV based solely on the glasses.  I'll have to do more investigation to find out or hopefully someone will help answer my question. 

That's it for now, will post back soon on the other TV I tested out the Samsung UN55C7000 55" 1080p 3D LED HDTV.

***** Updated 6/21/10

It's been awhile since I last posted in this thread and I thought I would explain why because it's relevant to the discussion.  Besides just being busier than usual lately, I stalled out for two reasons:  

First, I wanted to see more TVs before I bought one and knew that Sony's products would be coming out this week. I need to visit a Sony store to check them out.

Second, I'm stuck on the glasses issue.  I have 3 children, so that would mean that I need to buy 5 glasses for my whole family to watch a movie together.  That just seems like too much of a cash investment to make this work, especially with small children who aren't the most careful with their toys.  I need to think about this more before jumping in but am not hopeful of a TV that does not need glasses anytime soon after reading this article.

I will try to head out this week and see these TVs for myself and hopefully get more comfortable with the idea of dropping more money than I would like on glasses.

****Updated 7/15/2010

I finally saw the Sony 3D TVs today.  A couple of my fellow employees and I took a long lunch and headed out to Best Buy.  We were lucky enough to run into a few Sony reps who just happened to be there are the time, so were able to answer many of my questions.  Here's a summary of some of the questions I was able to get answered:

1) Child-sized glasses.  They are now available for purchase.  That was good news as that alleviated one of my concerns.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any demo glasses for children, but the Best Buy rep said that if I brought back my child, he could see what he could do about opening up a pair for us to try on.  I want to do that first because I have a 12 year-old that I'm guessing is going to be close to being able to wear adult glasses so want to see what would fit best for him.

2) Transmitter.  There is a transmitter that communicates from the TV to the glasses on each TV.  When the glasses are out of range of the transmitter, they turn off.  Some of the TVs have them built-in while some are add-ons.  On the Sony 3D TV, it is an add-on.  I asked why and they said that some people might want to buy the TV as a 2D TV and 'add-on' 3D later.  This allows Sony to give people that option at a lower price point.  I'm not sure I really buy that logic, but that's the reason they gave me.

In any event, what he said was that Sony had many transmitters so that you could recognize glasses from many different angles while other TV's only had one or a few.  Again, interesting, but I won't be viewing from weird angles so I doubt that will come into play.

3) Bravia technology.  The Sony rep explained to me the reason why the Bravia technology built into their TV is superior to other 3DTV technologies, but to be honest, all that really matters to me is what I think that the picture looks like to my eyes.  So while I half listened and it sounded interesting, I'm not going to report the details here.  I'm sure that they can do a much better job on their site if you are really interested.

4) "Internet TV" applications.  While most of the TVs have applications built into them to access YouTube, Netflix and the like, the TVs were not hooked up to the Internet in the store, so I could not try out those features which was disappointing.  However, I did find out that Sony is coming out with a competitor to Netflix which will be featured as an option on their Internet ready portion of their TVs.  They plan on a pay-as-you-go model.  It will probably start with Sony Pictures content then expand as they get deals with other studios.

5) Prescription glasses.  What if you already have prescription glasses?  How do they work with 3D glasses.  Luckily, one of the guys I went with wears glasses so he was able to try it out.  Although his glasses weren't 'big', the fit nicely underneath all of the 3D glasses he tried on.  The Sony rep also mentioned that he has had people with bigger glasses try them on and they worked fine with those too.  There are also companies working on prescription 3D glasses, so those are also an alternative.

Next step in the process will bring in the kids to check out the TVs and try on the glasses.  I have my opinion on which TV I prefer, but will hold off on that information until next time.

****Updated 7/19/2010

Here are some more thoughts as I pondered which TV to buy:

It's really tough to compare 3D TVs against each other in the store.  Not only are the TVs set up with different settings - brightness, tint, etc. - and a lot of glare from the lights in the store, but the 3D TVs also are not playing the same content on them, making it difficult to tell which TV has the best 3D rendering.  In speaking with an employee from a store, he said that since the manufacturers are paying for their displays, they control what the consumer will see.  They do this by locking down the content and preventing anyone, including the store employees, from changing it.  Unfortunately, this means that consumers can't put in their own content or even put in a Monsters vs. Aliens DVD that is in one display into a different one allowing a direct comparison between the two.

I've used this technique when buying speakers and TVs in the past - using the same music or DVD across different brands, but without this as a guide, I'm wondering what is the best way to determine the best 3D rednering?  So, I started a separate forum thread to discuss this topic. 

The other issues I realized is that with the first TV purchase, you are really committing to that brand for life, or you will be paying a lot of potential extra dollars in the future.  This may seem extreme, but let me explain.  So, I go out and buy a new 3D TV, a new 3D DVD player, and 5 sets of 3D glasses for my family.  I'm happy for a while until a year from now one of my other TVs goes out and I need to buy another TV.  Naturally, I will buy another 3D TV as it makes no sense to purchase a 2D model at this point.  However, since all 3D TVs have different technology for the glasses, if I buy a different brand of TV, I will have to buy new glasses too.  At $150 apiece, that is an extra $750 for glasses alone! I can't see any scenario other than manufacturers giving away glasses for free or next to nothing, that I would spend that much more on a different brand of TV.  This isn't even mentioning the fact that I would also have to keep track of an additional 5 sets of glasses around the house. 

So, in my opinion, the first purchase of a 3D TV needs to be made carefully and be thought of as a long term investment.

****Updated 7/22/2010

OK, I'm getting closer and should have my decision made soon.  Another point that kind of stalled me though just occurred to me.  I've been so enthralled with checking out 3D TV technologies of the different brands that I neglected to watch and compare the 3D TVs in 2D mode!  Since most content isn't in 3D yet, obviously, I'm going to be watching the TV in 2D most of the time, especially initially.  It's another trip back to the store for me.  Since I need to take my kids back anyway, I'm glad I thought of this now.  I'm also hoping that it is possible and easy for the store employees to turn content that is not in 3D given what I found out about these displays being locked down.

****Updated 10/13/2010

Well, it is done.  Finally, after months of investigation and indecision, the purchase has been made.  Truthfully, there hasn't been a whole lot of investigation involved other than a few trips to some local electronics stores and some online research.  My hestiation had more to do with the fact that I'm redoing the room that this TV will go into and I had plenty of time before the TV could be installed.   I figured the longer I could wait, the better deal I could get.  The installation is happening starting on Monday, so the decision needed to be made.

And the winner is....

Samsung UN55C7000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV

I purchased it from Amazon.com as they had a special where I could get a free 3d BluRay Player and a Starter Kit which includes 2 pairs of glasses and the Monsters vs. Aliens DVD.  The whole package cost about $2,500.

Here are some of the reasons why I settled on the Samsung model:

1) After looking at several of the models, I liked the Samsung 3D picture the best.  There was nothing scientific about it.  It just felt like to me that the 3D effects were the coolest.

2) The price obviously came into play here and the Samsung 3D TVs were very price competitive with other brands.

3) I was intrigued and excited by all of their connectivity through their Samsung Apps.  I had purchased a Samsung BluRay player last year so have some familiarity with using Netflix through the player, but to have over 100 apps already for the TV is pretty impressive.

4) I felt like the LED/LCD technology was the way to go.

After I get the TV, I will post back with some pictures and my first impressions.  Hopefully, I won't be disappointed!

****Updated October 26, 2010

My family room construction is still in process running behind schedule.  I'm dying to get the TV up, but alas, I have a couple more days to wait.

In the meantime, a few other things came up that I thought I would mention:

1. The 'adult' 3D glasses seem to fit on my children fairly well, so I don't think I have to worry about getting child-sized glasses.  The real proof will come when they watch their first movie, but I am optimistic.
2. I started poking around at purchasing some 3D movies, and am bummed at the initial price of 3D Movies that I'm seeing.  $30 for a movie, even in 3D, is just too expensive.
3. Don't buy a 3D TV without getting a free DVD player, glasses and a movie.  Most retailers are offering them as "freebies" now, just look around before you buy.

*** Updated December 8, 2010

I just realized it has been awhile since my last update - too busy with other things!  In any event, the 3D TV has been installed for a few weeks now and I have to say that I'm impressed and enjoying the (limited) 3D content available. 

Here are some of my observations about 3D broadcast TV:

1. While 3D Movies seem to play and render just fine, I think that 3D broadcast TV still has a long way to go.  I watched the ACC College Football Championship game last weekend and there were plenty of times when much of the picture was out of focus due to bad 3D rendering I presume.  It would correct itself after a couple of seconds but was very annoying.
2. In addition, if someone or something was in the foreground (like a coach, or first down marker sticking up), it was jarring to watch.  I was thinking that it would show up like it was in 3D right in front of me, but it didn't turn out that way. Instead it made it almost unwatchable to the point I had to take my glasses off.
3. I also watched a 3D show on n3D, Panasonic's 3D channel and also had a similar experience with things in the background being out of focus.

I'm curious to know if other people are seeing these same issues or if it is a function of my 3D setup.  Please comment below.

In the meantime, I've added some pics of my new setup attached as a gallery to this forum thread.