On the plus side, they easily surpass the expectations of anyone who has shocked that anyone would buy these things at all. Toshiba says it’s sold about 500 of the 20-inch model sets, which go for nearly $3000 each and offer 3D viewing without the glasses. They sold even fewer of the cheaper 12-inch models. The problem: the TVs don’t work very well:
While the 3-D TVs from Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic Corp. use electronic glasses that flicker between the left and right eyes to create the illusion of depth, Toshiba’s technology uses a sheet on the TV screen to angle pictures so that each eye sees a different image. Engineers are having difficulty making the effect work on bigger screens, especially when viewed from the side, Osumi said.
“It’s possible to do this on small screens but when it gets bigger you have to either give up on quality or go with glasses,” said Atul Goyal, a senior analyst at CLSA Asia- Pacific Markets in Singapore. “Samsung and others, they don’t want to push it because they know the technology is not ready.”
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
