Taking 3-D to a new dimension: the TV

That hasn't stopped companies such as Philips, Samsung, Mitsubishi and Panasonic from introducing "3-D-ready" sets. Philips last fall demonstrated a 3-D display that didn't require glasses. Panasonic is expected to make announcements about its 3-D plasma technology at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Some 3-D-capable televisions are already in consumer homes, including a number of Mitsubishi rear-projection models as well as Samsung's rear-projection and plasma TVs. They still need the 3-D programming, conversion software and the glasses to display such images.

"There's in excess of a million TVs in homes today that are capable of showing 3-D, and most people don't even know it," said Darrow, the brand and marketing manager for Texas Instruments' DLP Group in Dallas, which makes high-end chips responsible for displaying 3-D images in the vast majority of rear-projection TVs.

Darrow said that figure would easily double by the end of the year as the format gained momentum.

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alex.pham@latimes.com