Wipeout HD in 3D in 2010!!

[dobyblue]

The thing is that the Samsung sets are made at the same factory as the Sony's.

It's way more convuluted than that - Sony outsources several items to NEC, Sharp, Taiwan, etc., as does Samsung.

Sharp and Samsung are the biggest LCD panel manufacturers.

Sharp make their own panels and source some from China. Samsung makes most of the panels that go into Sony's TV's in a factory in Korea that Sony now has shares in. Sony also outsources some of their 40" panels from AU Optics, which is owned by BenQ and Acer. Oddly enough BenQ outsources a number of their panels from Lite-On.

Samsung outsources some of their panels from Taiwan, as does Toshiba.

Sharp and Sony also reached a new agreement in 2008 to share panel duties - http://www.gadgetell.com/tech/commen...on-lcd-panels/

LG buys a number of their panels from Sharp.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03...ls_from_sharp/

This goes on and on. Pioneer were going to source their 10G panels for their plasma's from Panasonic, as Hitachi did for their most recent plasma sets.

Of course you have to keep in mind that the electronics that go inside are from the individual electronics companies where the big names are concerned. Sharp Aquos TV's use Aquos technology, Sony's Bravia's include Sony's own motionflow/blahblahblah chips, etc., etc.

ProblemSolver, you're wrong about HDMI 1.3/1.4 bandwidth limitation.
I don't know why everyone is saying this without using facts:

1) Both HDMI 1.3 and 1.4 are limited to 8.16Gbps (for video)

2) HDMI 1.3 can do 2560×1600p75 in 24bit, which is 23% more than
a 1920x1080p120 in 24bit would need.

Maximum audio bandwith currently supported by any media on the market is 27.648 Mbps and maximum HDMI bandwidth is 10.2 Gbps. If bandwidth refers to data, why do you suggest the video is limited to 8.16 Gbps?

Further, no HDMI chip in existence, whether used as a transmitter or receiver, supports 1080p@120Hz, at the moment.

I'm pretty sure the new Panasonic Blu-ray player outputs 1080p120 (2 x 1080p60). I don't know why they didn't implement the 3D as 1080p48 given that it is 2 1080p24 streams on the disc, hopefully next year...or maybe 3:2 judder isn't as apparent in 3D?

PANASONIC is aiming for the 3D Bluray market, it bought Pioneers old plasma factory and the patents to the "KURO" technology, as well as picking up 250 of it's high tech staff.

Do you have a link to that NEC factory purchase? Panasonic have 5 plasma factories including the one they just opened in December capable of producing the 2160p 152" 3D plasma.

Checked out the 3D TV range at Harvey's on Saturday.

Sony tv looks quite good actually, both in picture and as well as physical display. Im looking to buy one maybe later on in the year. Whats the best brand out there atm for 3D tvs?

Definitely a Samsung or Panasonic plasma, and the Panasonic would likely be the better of the two. I'm unaware why blackwiggle listed flicker as a con on the 3D plasma as there is none on the VT20/VT25 Panasonic 3D plasmas with either 2D or 3D material. You can watch 2D material at 96Hz (4:4 pulldown eliminating 3:2 judder) or 3D at 120Hz. If you were to watch an LED 3D demo and then move onto the Panasonic you'll notice that the shortcomings of LCD technology are exacerbated with 3D. The response time, regardless of how much you beef up the refresh rate, is not quick enough to avoid ghosting. The left image cannot decay from the screen fast enough before the right image kicks in and motion interpolation or ME/MC chips will only succeed in causing artifacting.

Where 3D is concerned, plasma would be my only recommendation. The 2009 Viera sets already acheived 1080/1080 motion resolution with no artifacting, the 2010 sets have managed to cut luminance time on the pixel down to 33% of the 2009 models and decay time down to 25% of the 2009 models, acheiving 1/12th of the response time of the TV's that were already the market leaders in this area.