LG 47"/55" LED 3D & Home Theater Bundle

Walmart offers the refurbished Vizio 47" 120Hz 1080p LED-Backlit LCD HD Television, model no. M470VSE, for $398 with free shipping. That’s tied with our June refurb mention and a very low price for any 47" 120Hz 1080p LED HDTV. (It’s also $150 under the lowest total price we could find for a similar Vizio HDTV elsewhere.) Features include a 1920x1080 (1080p) native resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, LED backlight, ambient light sensor, WiFi, Vizio Internet Apps with Netflix, VUDU, Pandora, and more, USB, and three HDMI inputs.

Guys, keep in mind that this uses passive 3D, which relies on polarized glasses to create the separate images for your right and left eyes. Compare that with Active 3D, which uses shutters to alternately block each lens. When an image meant for the left eye is shown, the right eye is blocked, and vice versa. Active glasses need batteries and a driving circuitry while passive glasses are nothing than polarized lenses. That means passive glasses are a lot cheaper, often costing as little as $3 (or free if they’re in cardboard frames).

The major difference is that a passive system the R and L images simultaneously while an active system alternates between L and R. That’s why active systems need to operate at a faster frame rate. The simultaneous-vs-alternating-L/R methods result in different advantages and disadvantages for both systems,

Many people say that you experience fewer headaches using passive because images aren’t flashing in your eyes. While this was a problem in slower displays, better TVs alternate images so quickly that it should be imperceptible. Still, one critic said that although you can’t see flashing, your brain still knows something weird is going on. Passive 3D is very smooth but since polarization blocks out light, images tend to be dimmer. To compensate, passive 3D TVs are usually brighter, making them use more energy. The deal breaker for many though is that passive images are half the resolution of active images. That’s because half of the screen is used for the L image, and half for the R – both displayed simultaneously. Note that all this ONLY applies to 3D material. If you’re watching regular 2D stuff, everything is shown at full resolution and there is no difference between active and passive systems (since no glasses are used!).

I have a 32" passive 3D TV and 3D images look sharp and smooth. I can’t tell that the resolution was halved, and I certainly don’t see the jaggies that some videophiles claim. Then again,I haven’t formally compared it to an active system. And my TV is only 32". Resolution issues are more dramatic on larger screens.

Woot is trying to get rid of stock. As for the PS3, can it play 3D Blurays? I’m not sure but can tell you that a standalone 3D player usually has a lot more options.

That’s not a 3D HDTV. It only display regular 2D media.

There’s a reason you can’t tell that the resolution was halved; the brain “fuses” the left and right images back into a full resolution picture, often giving a better result than active glasses.

The folks over at displaymate.com explain this better than me, stating that “What is even more interesting is that in all cases the small text on the Passive Glasses was actually sharper and easier to read and the fine details easier to resolve than on the Active Glasses.”

Quite an interesting article here; 3D TV Display Technology Shoot-Out

That’s definitely a fascinating article. Thanks! I watch a lot of movies with subtitles so sharp text is definitely important. Admittedly though, there isn’t much 3D contents with subtitles. My 32" Sceptre TV was only $289 with free s/h and no tax. I didn’t expect much but the realism of the images is jawdropping. This is especially true of the demo videos made especially for 3D. In the underwater scenes, some of the fishes literally come within a foot of your face.

It does 3d. Which is why I didn’t need another 3d movie player. You can also play games in 3d on the PS3.

I was reading that earlier today. Very interesting read. When the 4k HDTVs come down in price I predict active shutter will be a thing of the past. It cuts down the light too much compared to the only slight reduction with passive plus the passive glasses are much more friendly to those with prescription glasses.