We wrote today on our website of the big excitement at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where 3D TV is set to be the talk of the town in Las Vegas. As a result the pundits are predicting very big things for 3D TV globally in 2010.
The news from CES is that LG, JVC, Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, and Sharp are all rumored to be unveiling new 3D technology at this year’s CES, with Nvidia, Corel, AMD and CyberLink likely to unveil 3D Blu-ray video playback technology.
Despite this optimism behind 3D TV - much of which is fuelled by the huge global success of Avatar, which has taken over $640 million at the global box office - Sony is less optimistic.
Sony does not believe that the ”explosion” in demand for 3D TV will happen until 2012. Sony’s chief marketing officer Mike Fasulo told Business Week: “We don’t expect to see an explosion of 3D in the home until the 2012 time frame.”
This is despite the fact that Sony’s arch rival LG has set a sales target of 400,000 3D-ready TV sets globally in 2010, rising to 3.4 million in 2011.
So despite being late to the party, Sony still forecasts that 50% of its total TV shipments will be 3D-ready models by the financial year ending March 2013. It also intends to add 3D capabilities to the PlayStation 3 console and other consumer products in its range.
The success of 3D TV in the UK is clearly also in the hands of the digital TV platforms such as Sky and Virgin Media, who need to actually broadcast 3D TV content. Sky is a big advocate of the new medium, but still sees 3D TV as niche in 2010. Sky plans to launch the first 3D TV channel which will be available to those with Sky+ HD boxes.
So Sony’s prediction seems correct for the UK market. 2010 and 2011 will be the years of high definition TV (HDTV) and 3D TV is likely to move mainstream thereafter.
If you would like help to compare digital TV packages and to hear more about HDTV and 3D TV why not speak to the impartial Simplifydigital TV experts on 0800 466 1047 or use our clever new online digital TV comparison service.