The battle of the 3D TVs has begun in earnest at last in the US, with 3D TV models on sale and now being purchased by consumers, giving an opportunity for US consumer good testing organisation, 'Consumer Reports', to buy the 3D TVs in question and independently test them.

In Australia, readers would be familiar with Choice Magazine and its website, which performs a very similar task, eschewing products sent by manufacturers and insisting on purchasing products for testing at retail to avoid the possibility of manufacturers giving the independent testing organisations products to test that are different or better than what consumers purchase in stores.

Although Sony's new 3D TVs haven't yet been tested by Consumer Reports, the new 3D TVs from Panasonic and Samsung have undergone initial testing by Consumer Reports, and while they stress that the final tests aren't yet complete, they give Panasonic the edge.

The initial report uses Panasonic and Samsung's own 3D capable Blu-ray players and the 3D "Monsters vs Aliens" movie, and concludes that with Panasonic's plasma 3D TV, in 3D mode, is superior with 'its lack of crosstalk and great black levels really [making] three-dimensional images pop. It also didn't have any issues with backlight cloudiness, and offered a very wide viewing angle.'

Those were issues that Consumer Reports identified with the Samsung 3D LCD TV models, and you can actually see what they mean in a Consumer Reports video they've made available.

There was also the issue of turning your head sideways with the Samsung 3DTV and its active-shutter glasses - turn sideways and the image goes black, meaning someone lying sideways on the couch would see black through their 3D glasses.

 

Continued on page 2, please read on!

 

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As Consumer Reports demonstrated, this wasn't the case with Panasonic's 3D TV, and show just how important the 'little things' are when the TV is out of the showroom and in your living room, serving you every day.

Click on the Consumer Reports links above for all the details, but again, it's important to note that Consumer Reports stresses that both brands delivered stunning 3D images, and that it hadn't yet given a final verdict on whether plasma or LED-backlit LCD screens were the better technology for 3D TV viewing, because it simply hasn't been able to test enough brands or different models as yet.

This is key as Sony offers, on some models, a more intelligent and dynamic form of LED backlighting that could well be superior to the LED backlighting that Samsung is currently offering, so future Consumer Electronics reports are being eagerly awaited.

So, despite that caveat, it's clearly still an early win for Panasonic and shows that not only is the plasma and LCD battle still far from over, it is now extending itself into the new and third dimension!