Taking 3-D to a new dimension: the TV

"The studios are putting a lot of money into producing 3-D movies for digital cinema, and there's an incredible slate of 3-D movies coming" in 2009, said Brad Hunt, former chief technology officer of the Motion Picture Assn. of America and now president of Digital Media Directions, a consulting firm in Westlake Village. "They're now very interested in creating a thriving 3-D home video market to generate payback for their investments in making these movies."

It's too early to tell whether consumers will bite. So far, audiences have taken well to 3-D releases in theaters. Last year, half of the tickets sold for "Bolt" were for the 3-D version, even though 3-D screens represented just 32% of the total number of screens that played the movie, Wertheimer said.

A joint study by the Consumer Electronics Assn. and the Entertainment Technology Center that's scheduled to be released at this week's trade show found that nearly 15% of the 1,000 adults surveyed saw a 3-D movie at a theater in the last 12 months. And 16% said they were interested in watching 3-D movies and TV shows at home.

"While the numbers may appear small to some, it is important to remember that 3-D is a technology few consumers associate with a home experience," the study said.

One big question: Who will want to don 3-D glasses? The current generation is essentially miniature LCD screens that flicker at high speeds, filtering different images to the left and right eye to produce an image that appears three-dimensional.

"Early pairs looked like welders' goggles," said Dan Schinasi, senior manager of product planning at Samsung's consumer electronics division. "They functioned well but they weren't very stylish. Now, they're pretty lightweight and they look just like sunglasses.

"Of course, in a perfect world, we wouldn't need glasses," he added. "But at this point, we believe glasses produce the best optical experience."

Glasses or not, it will be several years before 3-D TVs become mainstream. That's because the consumer electronics industry, movie studios and broadcasters have yet to agree on standards for recording, transmitting, receiving and interpreting 3-D signals. Many are hoping those technical details can be ironed out this year, Hunt said. Only then can the work of creating discs, players and TV sets to display 3-D video begin in earnest, he said.