Samsung 4K 3D & Other Flat Panels

Aside from the RealD passive/active 3D flat panels, Samsung had some other great demos in its booth at SID DisplayWeek. One of the most interesting was a 70-inch, 240Hz, 4K (3840x2160) 3D panel that uses active-shutter glasses. The custom footage of a woman hanging out at an oval house in the woods looked gorgeous, though all the motion was very slow, and I did see a few artifacts in the stairs during one pan.

Samsung was also demonstrating its next generation of VA (vertical alignment) LCD technology, slated for introduction in 2012. Touted benefits include high contrast ratio, wider viewing angle, and fast response time. The 2D images were vivid with deep blacks, and I look forward to seeing a real TV with this type of panel.

Another demo was a 55-inch active-glasses 3D flat panel claimed to be the world's first "true 480Hz" LCD, meaning it displays 480 interpolated frames per second, or 240fps for each eye in 3D mode. The picture was very smooth, and moving objects in the foreground exhibited no stuttering, but they did sometimes appear as a double image.

Not so great was the 55-inch autostereoscopic 3D panel with an active filter on the screen. It looked fine in 2D mode, but as with all autostereoscopic displays, the 3D effect was highly dependent on where you are located, and it was very unconvincing even in the right spot. A Samsung rep told me he doesn't expect glasses-less 3D to be ready for prime time for years to come, and I couldn't agree more.

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