With more and more 3D movies coming out in theaters, and eventually making their way to the home on Blu-ray 3D Disc, 3D TV is the popular buzzword in the home theater and HDTV market today. And while some are put out by the need for glasses, more are discouraged by the price of admission. 3D demands a very large screen for full effect, and the cost of a 3D-ready flat panel HDTV over 55 inches in size is still prohibitive for most consumers. Also, just as in theaters, a fully discrete multi-channel surround sound speaker system is essential for creating an immersive 3D experience at home. And these systems can also get a bit pricey.
What if we said you could take home a complete 3D home theater system with a screen size of 92 inches (or even larger), complete with 3D glasses, Blu-ray 3D player and 5.1 channels of surround sound for around $1500? And for good measure, throw in a copy of the top-grossing movie ever made on Blu-ray 3D Disc (yes, we're talking about Avatar), at no additional charge. Would you believe it? Well, it's true and we're here to tell you exactly how we did it.
We're Going to Need a Bigger Boat, Um... Screen
First of all, there are some really exceptional flat panel TVs out today that support full HD 3D. Panasonic, Samsung and LG all make excellent plasma TVs that do 3D with minimal crosstalk or other artifacts. Samsung, LG and Sony (and others) also offer LED and LCD flat panels that do a nice job reproducing 3D content at home. But one thing we noticed when reviewing these outstanding 3D-capable flat panel TVs is that a screen size which seems perfectly acceptable for watching standard 2D movies (or TV shows or sports) looks downright tiny when fed with 3D content. That overwhelming feeling of immersion from the theater is lost when viewing 3D movies at home on a 50-inch screen. So if you want to go big, you'll need a projector. And that's where it gets a little tricky.
Few projectors out today support 3D, and those that do are either very expensive or only work when fed a 3D signal from a PC. That is, until now. Optoma, makers of some affordable projectors for both business and home theater use, just released a converter box -- the 3D-XL -- which takes the 3D signals from a Blu-ray 3D player or a cable or satellite set-top box and converts them to a signal that is compatible with Optoma's (or any other manufacturer's) 3D-ready DLP projectors. Optoma was kind enough to send us a review sample of this box and a compatible projector, but we are told that the 3D-XL box will be generally available next month.
For our purposes, we paired the 3D-XL with an Optoma HD-66 DLP projector projecting onto a Mustang 92-inch 16:9 pull down projection screen. Yes, we must mention that this is a 720p high definition solution (not full HD 1080p), but even so, it can look remarkably good at sizes even larger than our 92-inch screen, assuming you have adequate viewing distance (and throw distance) and good control of your room's ambient lighting. As slightly larger screen alternative, you could try the 100-inch Elite 16:9 screen, selling for just a few dollars more. The final ingredient for 3D viewing is a pair (or more) of active shutter DLP Link 3D glasses so you can get the 3D effect when watching 3D content. We used Optoma's own DLP-Link 3D glasses for our system.
Blu-ray: The Highest of High Def
And as for the source component, the highest quality 3D source you can get today is a Blu-ray 3D player. While high definition movie and TV streaming is convenient, and companies such as VUDU are beginning to offer 3D movies in HD streamed instantly to your living room, picture and sound quality still lags a bit behind Blu-ray, due primarily to internet bandwidth. Also, there's nothing like putting a Blu-ray Disc or boxed set up on your shelf and pulling it down to enjoy whenever you want, being able to pore over the bonus materials at your leisure. So we knew we needed to have a Blu-ray 3D player as part of the system.
Big Sound, Small Price
In addition to the high definition Big Picture, a theater is not so impressive without Big Sound. And I'm not talking about sound bars or virtual surround systems but a full-fledged 5.1 channel discrete surround system complete with subwoofer. Several companies now make pre-packaged home theater in a box (HTiB) surround systems, complete with integrated Blu-ray player. Some even offer 3D compatibility and streaming capabilities.
For our system, we chose Panasonic's SC-BTT350 Blu-ray 3D home theater system. It includes five small satellite speakers plus a small subwoofer, an integrated iPod/iPhone dock, Panasonic's VIERA Cast streaming service (including Amazon VOD, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and more) and, of course, a built-in Blu-ray 3D player. The system is capable of playing standard CDs, DVDs (upconverted to 720p or 1080p), Blu-ray Discs and Blu-ray 3D Discs. And the bonus? From now until February 26, you can get Avatar on Blu-ray 3D Disc free via mail-in rebate with the purchase of this Blu-ray home theater system.
The Set-Up
Having set up more than a few systems before (both audio and video), I was expecting a fairly lengthy installation process, connecting everything, working out the kinks, setting up the speakers, getting the equipment to play nicely together, etc. I was actually pleasantly surprised when everything just worked, pretty much right out of the box. Total set-up time was under an hour.
I set the Optoma projector on a shelf behind the couch, put the Panasonic receiver/Blu-ray player in the equipment rack with the 3D-XL converter box sitting on top of it, connected all six speakers using the included color-coded speaker wires, connected the Blu-ray player to the 3D-XL box using an inexpensive HDMI cable and ran a second 25-foot HDMI cable from the converter box to the projector. The screen was already up on the wall, but putting that up was a simple matter of finding the studs, hammering in two nails and hanging the drop-down screen with its included wall-hanger mounts onto those nails. Attempting to zoom and focus the projector was a bit tricky, as it has pretty limited vertical and horizontal shift options, but with a large book underneath it and some wiggling of the shelf it was on to get proper placement, I eventually got that all dialed in, filling the entire 16:9 screen.
The Proof is in the (3D) Pudding
I moved on to a few more Blu-ray 3D Discs, both live action and animated: Step Up 3D, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Monsters Vs. Aliens, and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. All were impressive in their 3D effects, with nicely immersive discrete surround sound to complement the visuals. Checking out a few streaming HD titles from Netflix confirmed the system's overall performance in 2D mode as well: solid images with nice punchy sound. I'm not saying that it is the equal of our reference system -- an audio system this small and inexpensive runs out of steam before it can hit truly impressive volumes, particularly in the low bass department. It's also a little lacking in high frequency finesse. But for less than the cost of most 3D-capable flat panel TVs alone, this little 3D home theater system that could provides a hugely entertaining theatrical experience at home.
A friend was visiting the Big Picture Big Sound labs and sat down to watch a few clips with me. He left grinning from ear to ear, shaking his head with disbelief at the quality of such an inexpensive system. I think it's safe to say he wants one... badly.
Itemized list of System Components and their Prices:
TOTAL SYSTEM COST (street price): $1546.99
It's important to note that the prices on Amazon do fluctuate a bit and some of these items are available for less from third party marketplace sellers. Also, the Optoma 3D-XL adapter is not yet available to order on Amazon but our Optoma contacts tell us that it will be generally available next month for $399.99 as units are just starting to make their way into the country now.
Final Thoughts
If you're excited about the prospect of viewing 3D movies at home but don't have the budget for an oversized flat panel TV or a full HD 1080p 3D projector, this little collection of underpriced over-performers may be just what the 3D home theater doctor ordered. Sure, it is not as detailed or as bright as a plasma or LED flat panel, nor does the audio system compare to a mid to high-end component based system, but for a low price you get a whole lot of home theater excitement, and in high definition 3D no less. Highly recommended.
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