Media Makes Passes At 3D TVs That Don’t Need Glasses

To paraphrase Marilyn Monroe’s famous line in the 1950’s movie musical “How To Marry A Millionaire” –

“The media makes passes at 3D TVs that don’t need glasses.”

A report from Yomiuri Shimbun in Japan this week that Toshiba is working on 3D TVs that don’t require glasses and may be shipped by Christmas has created a tsunami of posts this week, all quoting the same Japanese report. (Yesterday the “tsunami” was 566 web items via a Google search.)

This is interesting because plenty of the same media outlets have been lukewarm to the idea of 3D TV so far.

The content sharing of that report may be more of an indicator of the state of journalism on the web than it does about the possible popularity of 3D TV worldwide, but I guess everyone, including this reporter, wants to be on the record about it.

From the company’s point of view, the media covering the item seemed to have spelled “Toshiba” correctly, so execs back in Japan must be pleased with the PR effort.

But for the sake of the typical TWICE reader who either sells or competes against Toshiba, a few obvious points should be made.

This morning Sony in Japan reminded everyone it is developing 3D TVs that do not need glasses. Fellow competitors Panasonic, LG, Samsung, etc. have said they have been doing the same for a while now.

The Yomiuri Shimbun story said that three TVs, one being a 21-inch unit, may ship by Christmas.  And Toshiba America clarified in a prepared statement, “We are developing small-screen-size 3D TVs without the need for glasses, but cannot comment further as we have yet to decide upon when to commercialize such a product, concrete specifications, or any other details.”

Until it is known when the units will debut in the U.S., what the prices are, what the screen sizes will be, which flat-screen format, or formats, will be used for the new technology, and which retailers may get the first shot at selling it,  I’m guessing that the trade will wait until it gets too excited by all this.