An early 3D TV from JVC: $9153

We've been wondering how much the first 3D TVs would cost. We were hoping they'd be affordable. The first of them, the JVC GD-463D10, that has just been put on sale in the United States and Japan, is far from it. This 46'' 3D comes in at 9153 dollars – you can count on paying around 8000 pounds given the usual manufacturer conversion rates.

This is what you'll have to pay if you want to impress your crowd, but the effect won't last for ever. JVC have gone with polarized glasses technology. This means that the on-screen image is made up of two different images, in half definition at 1920x540 lines each. This has two advantages: the glasses are lighter than the Nvidia style glasses, that are made up of two LCD screens that alternately obstruct the image at 120 Hz, to display two 1080p images at 60 Hz for each eye; they are also cheaper to make.

However, you’re not as free to move around using the polarized glasses as you are with Nvidia’s LCDs, as the TV sends two images in a precise direction. You’ll also find the definition is lower than on 3D Panasonic TVs that should be out at the beginning of 2010 and that use the type of 3D media currently supported by cinema studios, who are using active electronic (Nvidia type) technology.

Polarized solutions tested

At IFA, and, most of all, in the lab here at editorial, we have already tried out various 3D solutions using polarized glasses. They work, but of course you do lose the finer details compared to a 2 x 1080p solution. We also felt our eyes get more tired than with electronic glasses, which gave little or no trouble. You may already have tried electronic glasses at the cinema at 3D viewings of Iceage 3 or others.

To get a closer look at this TV, JVC USA has set up a special site here.