Philips Disputes Panasonic’s Claim That Plasma Beats LCD for 3D

Philips disputed Panasonic’s assertion that plasma is superior to LCD for 3D display (CED Feb 22 p1). Like Sony, Philips defended its choice of active-shuttering LCD for 3D, telling us Wednesday that LCD and plasma have equal merit. On Tuesday, Philips announced a line of eight “3D-Ready” LCD TVs that go on sale this summer in Europe.

Danny Tack, Philips’ top engineer for TV in Europe, said “I don’t believe you can say either plasma or LCD is better for 3D. You can equally well use either. … Crosstalk does not just depend on the speed of the panel. A lot will depend on how the demo is done. For instance, crosstalk can depend on the picture content. Some material, like Avatar, has been tailored for 3D so is less likely to show crosstalk,” he said, alluding to the recent box-office hit directed by James Cameron, which has received kudos for the subtle use of 3D effects.

"What you see will also depend on other factors like where you are sitting,” Tack said of 3D crosstalk. “There is also the issue of light output to take into account. Viewing in 3D with glasses and filters always reduces the picture brightness. The fact that you can get more light from an LCD compared to plasma may well be an advantage,” he said.

Among other factors affecting 3D-viewing quality is the vendor’s firmware, Tack said. “The picture processing done by the set may be more of an issue than whether it is using a plasma or LCD panel. If the performance of a set is better for 2D, it will generally be better for 3D."

Tack detailed the technology used for its 3D demonstrations to European retailers in Barcelona this week. The 9000 and 8000 Series sets, which will be sold as “3D-Ready” to work with an optional 3D kit of transmitter and two sets of active-shutter 3D spectacles, both have an LCD refresh-rate of 200 Hz, he said. But, significantly, the LED-backlit 9000 sets have a 200 Hz scanning backlight -- making for a combined refresh rate of 400 Hz, Tack said. The 8000 Series 3D-Ready sets use LED edge-lighting. Also at the Barcelona meeting, the demonstrations used glasses switching at 60 Hz for each eye, as used by Panasonic in Munich, to avoid flicker. The 24p Full-HD movie material was up-converted to 60 Hz inside the sets, Tack said.

U.S. availability of the Philips 3D sets remains unknown -- including for its flagship “21:9” TV with cinematic 2.39:1 aspect-ratio like that used for cinema widescreen presentations. A spokeswoman for P&F, the Philips/Funai joint-venture that markets Philips-branded products in the U.S., said P&F is “very excited about the Philips announcements and looks forward to discussing with Philips different ways to bring the technologies to the U.S. market.” Pending those discussions, P&F had no further comment. “But we're definitely excited and definitely looking into it,” the spokeswoman said.