Comments from Sony CEO Howard Stringer indicate the company’s about to take a big plunge into 3-D home entertainment. Such a development would require a push not only from electronics manufacturers, but also from content producers. However, with the use of active rather than passive 3-D technology as well as digital broadcasting, the jump to 3-D may not be too far away.
Pity the early technology adopters in this world. Just as they have accepted the fact that three years ago, they paid more than US$5,000 for a 42-inch flat-screen HDTV that now sells for close to $1,000, a new image starts to coalesce in front of their eyes — an image so real, so lifelike, it could only be … a 3-D TV.
It may be back to home entertainment’s square one for those first adopters, thanks to consumer electronics giant Sony (NYSE: SNE) . Company CEO Howard Stringer told a Berlin tech trade show audience Wednesday that Sony will start selling Bravia televisions with three-dimensional viewing capabilities next year, according to the Financial Times. Sony is working on integrating 3-D technologies into existing branded products like Vaio notebook computers, PlayStation 3 video game consoles, and Blu-ray high-definition DVD players, Stringer also said.
Some technological issues still need to be worked out, according to the CEO, but thanks to advances in what’s known as “active” viewing — which ditches the traditional red- and blue-colored lenses for tiny shutters that rapidly flicker on and off in sync with a broadcasted image — Sony believes 3-D will go mainstream sooner than expected.
