The sale of 3D TV up until now has not been of great significance. It could be that consumers are either confuse about the technology or that they hate having to wear the 3D glasses. Well it looks like consumer electronics companies are try to solve that hurdle. It difficult to get consumers to accept a technology that they are not sure is full baked. If I were to buy a new TV 3D would not be the selling point. The ability to connect to the Internet and get content apps would be the deciding factor. At the CES show in Las Vegas Toshiba will be introducing a new television with technology that will not require the 3D glasses. This might be the turning point for 3D television. The ability to watch 3D content should be simple and consumers should just be able to stumble onto the built in feature.
Here's an excellent summary from CNET's Stephen Shankland on how 3D TV without glasses works.
3D works by showing separate views to the left and right eyes; the brain reconstructs the 3D world from the two images. Toshiba's TV uses numerous tiny lenses to direct two different views in slightly different directions so each eye sees something different. That's easier to do with a single viewer at a fixed distance to the screen, but harder with multiple viewers. Toshiba's 55LZ2 divides the overall viewing area into nine separate regions so people can use the 3D over a broad range of angles.
It's not quite as easy as regular TV, though. Before watching, a button on the remote control launches face-tracking software on the TV to detect viewers' positions to best control the picture.
