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I spent some time in the Sony Style store in Dallas yesterday looking at the 3D offerings. I saw three different techniques: 3D on blu-ray, a hybrid 2D/3D HDTV (no glasses needed), and 3D on the PS3.

For 3D on blu-ray, they had a demo disc running that had screensaver type images running in a short continuous loop. The 3D looked pretty good once you got it to work. They had a table behind the TV full of about 10 sets of 3D glasses. People would walk up, try them on, and then shake their heads. Thats because the glasses had a tiny power button underneath that you needed to turn on to make the 3D effect work. Once you did turn it on though, the effect was decent. It was annoying that if you lifted or lowered your head too much or if you rotated your head clockwise or counterclockwise the 3D effect wouldn't work and you would end up watching blurry blu-ray video. I can see people not being able to lay down and position themselves any which way they please with these first-gen displays (assuming the other manufacturer's glasses function the same way). It is also worth noting that the glasses would dim the image slightly; white would be eggshell and every image would receive a light tan. I asked the Sony representative he ad other content he could play. He put on the 3D trailer for Toy Story 3. I did not see Toy Story 3 in 3D, but comparing it to the 2D version, there was some 3D elements and it looked good. There wasn't much gained though and, again, there was color and brightness lost.

The hybrid 2D/3D TV kind of blew my mind at first because I couldn't tell what I was looking at. They were playing the regular 2D version of James Cameron's Avatar, but the image on-screen looked like either behind the scenes footage or way next-gen video game material. It turned out that it was the TV doing a 3D conversion of 2D material which could be viewed without glasses. I admit it was very cool looking at first, but then the gimmick wore off. The depth was simulated and looked nowhere near as good as the theater quality 3D. The colors were completely off and there was a shine over everything that wasn't there before. The human skin tones looked rubbery and the Na'vi had a super bright blue sheen that looked anything but like how Cameron meant for it to. I think the demonstration showed how close we are to having glasses-less 3D, but there is still a long way to go.

Lastly, I I watched and played some 3D PS3 material. I watched a young boy play MLB The Show in 3D. He was pitching and the only cool things I noticed were the depth between the pitcher and catcher and the floating HUD. I played a 3D version of WipeOut HD next (a game I love by the way). To tell the truth, I was pretty disappointed with the 3D effect. This is one of the best looking games for the PS3 normally. It has 1080p graphics, great color, sharp looking ships and tracks, and runs at breakneck speed. All the 3D did for me was muddy up the presentation. I'm not saying 3D on the PS3 won't or can't be effective but it certainly was not on this game. Maybe it just moves too fast for you to get the 3D effect between the back and foreground. The only time I noticed the 3D here was when the info or controls would pop up after a race and float slightly in front of the TV. The 3D glasses really killed the vibrant colors and the sharpness of it. It was very disappointing overall.

Note: I also wonder if switching between 2D and 3D is going to be annoying for these 3D HDTV early adopters. It appears whenever 3D content is fed to the TV, the solution they have is to ask the viewer if they want to watch in 3D or not. Each PS3 game did this as well. When I booted up WipeOut HD, the PS3 asked whether to play in 3D or 2D. I understand the necessity for this but it seems like it would be annoying after a while once you decided you just wanted to watch 2D or 3D.