Samsung LCD 3D TV Review

3D has been considered the next logical step in entertainment evolution since long before it was the next logical step entertainment evolution. Nowadays that dream is steadily becoming a reality. Recently a good friend of mine decided it to spoil himself and purchase a brand new TV- a Samsung LCD 3D model. Admittedly I was pretty excited to check it out and get my first taste of modern 3D entertainment. Thanks Thomas! Now the question is, was I impressed?

As a child I always admired 3D glasses and found the concept of 3D media to be fascinating. I loved flipping through 3D comic books, watching 3D monster movies, and customizing my video game characters with 3D glasses. These days the 'retro' ruby and cyan 3D glasses have all but been retired. Now sophisticated 3D glasses exist for the purpose of rendering images in the third dimension. I always dreamed of seeing a 3D Godzilla film or playing a 3D video game console. With Godzilla potentially being brought to iMax theaters (not quite 3D, but equally epic) and the approach of the critically acclaimed Nintendo 3DS, those dreams may be coming true soon.

With all this in mind, I sat down to experience the Samsung LCD 3D television set. We looked at the first two in our possession- Jaws 3D and Spy Kids 3D: Game Over. While neither film was meant to take advantage of the Samsung's capabilities, we dusted off our classic 3D glasses, grabbed some potato chips, and popped the DVDs in anyway.

Without getting through the first dreadful hour of Jaws 3D, we switched over to Spy Kids 3D. Neither film impressed- partly due to the poor quality of the movies and partly due to their lack of impressive 3D features. Spy Kids 3D was passable- made slightly more pleasant from the up-scaling of the Samsung. Now it was time to switch the glasses and get to the real movies! First up was Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.

After the first few minutes, I was impressed. The 3D Samsung screen did a great job emulating the special effects and giving us the feeling of being in a movie theater. The sound system was sophisticated and made it easy to decipher the different sounds- a big plus for movie buffs that care about audio as much as video. The movie was as funny as I remembered it- though also as shallow in terms of premise. The tech showed no stutters or blemishes and the 3D effects were very entertaining. Overall, a very entertaining and high quality viewing! In the end it left me wanting to see some of my all-time favorite movies with the same 3D treatment.

The next two movies we watched were Meet The Robinsons and Toy Story 2 (3D Re-Release.) Being a big Disney fan, I enjoyed both quite a bit. Meet The Robinsons now was a film coupled with witty dialogue and expressive 3D animation. Toy Story 2 was a little more novel in quality with the same touching focus on Woody, but the 3D effects weren't as eye-catching. This could be attributed to it not being originally 3D, or it could have simply been the charm slowly wearing off. Hard to say.

Next to be popped in was Coraline. The surreal characters, twisted themes, and nightmarish late sequences all meshed very well under the 3D format. With Coraline finished, we... stopped. That was it- all the movies in 3D we had between us. While the quality had been fantastic and the 3D effects quite impressive, we had one problem.

There simply wasn't enough to support more than one day of movie viewing- at least in my friend's collection. That was the problem though- there wasn't much else he was interested in getting on the format. In the future he intends to pick up Toy Story 3, Up, Bolt, and potentially a few other Disney movies- but that's about it. For those without the extra money in their pockets, you may want to wait another year or two until the library of 3D movies is a little wider in selection.