ESPN 3D (ch 106)

That's what my grandmother always said -- I don't need to get a color TV -- too different from natural colors. Watched a B&W until the day she died -- in 1990!

I highly recommend 3D!

I don't have a 3D HDTV, but IMHO....3D home viewing on a frequent basis is not going to get very many people "hooked" specifically for the reasons pointed out by user greywolf. Yes I went to see Avatar in 3D at the IMAX which was spectacular....Shrek Forever at a regular screen "Real 3D" which was pretty good. Don't get me wrong, 3D has come a long way, but until they develop(and rumor mill says they are working on it) a HDTV that will present either 2D or 3D upon selection AND "not require wearing glasses" the popularity will be minimal. It's one thing to go to the theater and wear those glasses for one movie, but to sit at a television for literally "hours" wearing them does not invoke pleasant thoughts to many. My guess is they will have a model to the consumers within 5-10 years that won't require the glasses. Think I'll wait for that so I don't end up with a "doorstop" outdated/discontinued technology 3D HDTV(like I did with the Toshiba HD DVD player:0)

Well, plasma TVs don't really last.  I am sure that in 5-6 years the TV will have to be upgraded no matter what.  They lose a lot of their brightness with time, just like CRTs, if not more.  Not to mention that technology marches on.  Maybe they will all be OLED or even better in 5 years.  So as far as I see it -- when technology is good enough and better than the previous technologies -- the experience is really worth it. 

I am just sharing my experience here.  3D in the living room is really enjoyable.  Kids and adults like it.  It is really nice and it is hard to watch 2D after that.  As far as waiting for the next technology iteration all the time -- you will wait forever.  First you're going to be waiting for the affordable 3d lenticular, then for the prices on those to drop, then for the models which can be viewed by more that 2 people, then for the prices for those to drop some more and then you go blind on one eye and will miss it all. 🙂

Would be nice to hear from people who actually have a 3D TV and watched ESPN 3D this morning.  Are you as excited as I am?

Maybe somebody should start another thread -- for people who have never seen a 3D broadcast and thus don't think it is any good? 🙂

The plus side is we are early in a workable technology. This will develop into an even better look. There will be a time when it really is like looking out a window. There has to be a time with early adopters for the progression to be viable. After about 10 minutes into watching Avatar in the theatre, I forgot about the strangeness of the experience and only noticed the 3D effects when they produced a positive awareness. Programming alone could hook me at this level of tech. It just hasn't happened yet.

nlk2k,

I totally agree with you. My comments of my reservations about investing in a 3D HDTV real soon for my home aside, I too would think that you and user greywolf can't be the only DirecTV customers that have watched the Channel 106 content and I would welcome some opinionated feed back from others to your post!!!

I just watched the Argentina-Nigeria game in 3D, I have the H24-100 DTV receiver, a Panasonic P50VT25 TV and a Panasonic BX500 AVR.

I have the DTV Receiver connected via an HDMI 1.4 cable directly to the TV, and running an optical cable from the DTV Receiver to my AVR. All other channels appear to transmit surround sound, but channel 106, the ESPN 3D channel does not. The receiver says it's getting a Dolby Digital signal from the DTV Receiver, but my rear speakers are silent. Channel 206, the regular HD broadcast of the same game, had proper 5.1 sound.

Unless the audio is transmitted in TruHD or some higher end audio format, I don't see why this channel would not transmit proper surround sound. When I run an optical cable from my TV back to the receiver instead of the optical to the AVR, I get no surround on any channel.

As far as the content itself, it was OK. I wasn't blown away I have to admit. The close up shots of the action were great, excellent depth, great clarity, but the wide shots were just not that good. And when there were long, far passes, the ball appeared to flicker.

I also have a 3D BluRay player though, and have Coraline and the latest Ice Age in 3D and that looks amazingly good.

HDMI 1.4 cable from H24 is not necessary, I think.  3D is the same total resolution and thus the same bandwidth as 2D.  They cut horizontal resolution by half.  1920/2=960.  So it is 960x540 per eye per field.  No wonder the ball is hard to see.  I really worry about tennis in 3D with current sat. technology -- will the ball be visible at all.

I agree with you Nik.I saw the game on Sat and thought that the 3D was nice and as far as waiting for new glasses-free 3D,tomorrow is not a promise for any body and if you can do something now that gives you enjoyment do it.

Argh, this is going to drive me batty. There is no reason I shouldn't hear sound from all my speakers on the 3D channel. All the other channels work fine. Dolby Digital is lit on my AVR, so it's getting some kind of digital signal , but whatever is being passed to my speakers isn't going to my rear speakers. I have an H24-100 DTV Receiver.