In an attempt to keep up with the competition, Sony has announced that they are currently working on their own 3D HDTV models which will not require the use of special glasses to view the emerging images.
Unlike Toshiba, however, officials at Sony are not yet promising a release date for the televisions, citing quality and cost issues that will need to be overcome before going to production.
"Seeing 3D without glasses is more convenient," Sony senior vice president Yoshihisa Ishida told the Associated Press. "We must take account of pricing before we can think about when to start offering them."
While glasses are an inconvenience, they don’t add nearly as much to the cost of a 3D television as the technology to create a three-dimensional image that is viewable by the naked eye. Purchasing active shutter 3D glasses with a synchronization transmitter would cost only $650 for a family of four, compared to the estimated thousands of dollars more that consumers could end up paying for a multi-parallax 3D display such as the models Toshiba announced earlier this week.
The quality challenge that Toshiba, Sony, and other manufacturers interested in offering glasses-free 3D sets now face is how to create a display that will project the images to several viewers watching from multiple angles. At this point, the images produced from prototypes don’t come close to matching up to the quality that 3D glasses allow.
It also remains to be seen whether consumers will be more interested in 3D televisions if glasses are not required. The market has suffered from slow sales from the start, and shows no signs of picking up any time soon.
Experts blame the slow 3D adoption rates on lengthy recessions causing financial hardships for consumers, as well as the fact that many just recently made the switch to new HDTVs. It may be several more years before the general population is ready to spend the money required to upgrade again.
Despite doubts about the success of the 3D HDTV market, manufacturers are showing no signs of slowing down their planned offerings anytime soon.
