3-D television expected to come to homes in 2011

Three-dimensional images are expected jump out of movie theaters and into living rooms by next year.
Sony and Panasonic say they will release home 3-D television systems in 2010; Mitsubishi and JVC are reported to be working on similar products.
"TV finally becomes real" in three dimensions, said Robert Perry, an executive vice president at Panasonic. "You're in it. It's the next frontier."
Perry compared the 3-D transition to the switch from black-and-white to color television and the shift from standard- to high-definition images.

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ESPN is test-recording some sporting events in 3-D, using cameras with two sets of lenses, which would make football players appear to jump out of home television screens during live 3-D broadcasts.
And, although television makers haven't released specifics, the price of 3-D TV -- which requires a new television, broadcasting content and 3-D glasses -- is not expected to be substantially higher than some high-definition televisions on the market now.
Still, there are skeptics who say that 3-D is not ready for prime-time home viewing.
There are concerns that 3-D broadcasts, which require twice the data, will gobble up an unworkable amount of television bandwidth. And some worry that 3-D glasses and graphics won't make a smooth transition to American living rooms.
Shane Sturgeon, publisher of HDTV Magazine, said some of the glasses give him a headache and will block some people from buying the new technology.
"From what I've seen from most of the manufacturers, it's just not there yet," he said of 3-D TV technology. "I think right now, the technology -- whether you're talking about the refresh rate or the strobing or the glasses -- there are too many things right now that get in the way of enjoyment of the film for it to kick off."
All 3-D technology relies on the idea that if separate images are presented to the left and right eyes, the human brain will combine them and create the illusion of a third dimension.
TV makers go about this in different ways, though.
Panasonic and Sony, which demonstrated their products for CNN at a recent tech expo in Atlanta, Georgia, use "active glasses" and TVs with high refresh rates to achieve the effect.