Although our editor Chris Boylan got a sneak preview of this at a briefing last month (and was told not to talk about it until CES), apparently LG is letting the cat out of the bag early on their upcoming 65-inch LW6500 Cinema 3D TV. What's so special about it? Well it's what you don't need in order to view 3D content: expensive active shutter 3D glasses.
Instead, this system uses inexpensive passive glasses for its 3D TV features, just like you see in most 3D movie theaters. Weighing in at less than 16 grams, this type of eyewear requires no batteries or other electrical parts, making for a much more comfortable viewing experience. Even better, the glasses don't need to be synchronized, meaning you can watch from almost any angle.
Although LG has yet to announce pricing, the company says that the eyewear will be much less expensive than active shutter glasses, which could mean more pairs per household. You can finally have that 3D Superbowl party you were planning, or invite your whole neighborhood over to watch a 3D movie (there are at least a couple of dozen of those to choose from). And while we're certainly not advocating bringing home glasses from your local 3D Cineplex, the fact is those 3D movie theater ticket prices are awfully high, aren't they?
Other features of the LW6500 include LED Plus technology with local dimming, real-time 2D-to-3D conversion, and a feature called 3D Light Boost. Another notable feature is that this set will have LG's own Film-type Patterned Retarder (FPR) panel, which boasts crisp, blur-free images for both the left and right eyes. In fact, it's this FPR panel which makes the 3D magic happen by polarizing the light output from the left and right eye images in different directions (using circular polarization). The passive glasses then assure that each eye sees only what it is supposed to in order to create the 3D effect. The LW6500 also includes "Flicker Free" certification from Intertek and TÜV, making it the first 3D TV to get such designation.
Aside from 3D, the LW6500 will have plenty of 2D content available, via LG's NetCast feature. This feature promises streaming media from Hulu Plus, YouTube, Netflix and many other content providers.
No additional sizes, release dates or pricing has been announced. However, LG says that the 65-inch LW6500 will start rolling out in select markets soon after CES wraps.
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