Las Vegas TV manufacturers and broadcasters are trying to bring the magic back to the living room.

Soon through your TV set you will be able to watch immersive 3D, talk to your grandma, browse all your favourite websites and update Facebook.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week a blizzard of TV innovations were unveiled to bring high tech 3D, video chat and internet capabilities to the humble box in the corner.

The TV makers’ big weapon at the world’s biggest technology showcase was a range of new 3DTV sets and channels launched to persuade the public that 2010 will be the year when the technology moves from the cinema to the sofa.

3D as a concept has been around for decades — the first 3D movie Bwana Devil promised “a lion in your lap” and “a lover in your arms” in 1952 — but the technology (and the glasses you have to wear) have remained chunky and unsatisfying. But now filiming advances and more sophisticated TV sets mean the set manufacturers and TV executives think high-quality 3D TV in the home is more than an illusion.

The industry is counting on the recent billion-dollar success of 3D movies, especially James Cameron’s Avatar, to jump-start the transition. Consumers who have got used to wearing a pair of clunky glasses in the cinema will be happier to wear them at home, it is hoped.

Sport, in particular the World Cup, is also set to be a major catalyst. A US network will broadcast the opening match from South Africa in 3D and in the UK Sky is likely to launch its 3D service in time for the start of the tournament. However it is not clear yet whether Sky will offer matches in 3D because ITV and the BBC — not Sky — hold the broadcasting rights. Sony is filming all 64 matches in the format but any agreement to allow Sky 3D rights may also be blocked by Fifa, the ultimate rights holder.

Top TV makers including Sony, Panasonic, LG and Samsung featured 3D screen advances in Las Vegas. Top of the 3D range was Toshiba’s ZX900 series CELL TV, which even promises to convert two-dimensional images into 3D in real time, so users can watch everything from sports to video games and previously recorded shows in 3D. The Cell system boasts 143 times the processing power available in current TV models.

But 3D TV sets do not come cheap. In most cases the sets will cost £200-£300 more than comparable LED or plasma TV sets, analysts estimate. Toshiba’s CELL TV, which is expected to hit US stores in the autumn, is likely to retail at a price of more than £6,000.

The expense might be quite a hurdle for a lot of consumers who have only just recently shelled out for an expensive new high definition TV set. Equity analyst Knight Chang at the Panasonic stand said: “It looks great, and there’s no doubt it’s wonderful to look at, but the price may scare people away.”

At the product launches optimistic executives were having none of it. The Consumer Electronics Association, which runs CES, is bullish about the technology. It estimates that 2.2 million 3D TVs will be sold this year. Howard Stringer, the Sony chief executive, said: “When it comes to home entertainment, there really is no experience like 3D.” Sony promised to beam live concerts in 3D right to your sofa.

For now, the various 3D technologies all involve wearing glasses. Efforts are under way to provide the illusion of depth without the specs, but it is likely to take years before the technology is ready.

3D stereoscopic technology is built around showing each eye a slightly different perspective to copy the way we see things in the real life. Since the 1950s this has been done with colour filters such as the cardboard glasses used in a “3D Week” by Channel 4 last year. Recently this same effect has been achieved using polarisation to produce dual images.

But the industry is pinning its hopes on more advanced “active eyewear” which uses synchronised shutters to block the 3D TV image from one eye and then the other very quickly to fool the brain into interpreting two separate images into a much more immersive stereoscopic view. This will be the new technology at the heart of the 3D revolution, the industry hopes.

This week Sony, Toshiba, Samsung and JVC announced they had signed technology deals with RealD, a pioneer in 3D technology based in California, which is behind the leading active shutter technology. The hi-tech glasses are not cheap — costing up to $50 (£30).

Video chat is also coming to your living room, giving consumers an excuse finally to talk to their TV sets. Millions of people use Skype and other video chat software to talk face to face using their laptops and PCs but now Skype will now be built in to a new range of televisions from LG and Panasonic.

The manufacturers will offer specially-designed HD webcams with “special microphones and optics that can pick up sound and video from a couch-distance”. There are no pricing details but the TVs are expected to be available in the UK later this year.

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems also plans to offer an affordable home version of its TelePresence videoconferencing system. The immersive system, which makes you feel as if you are sitting across a boardroom table from the other person, can cost companies up to $300,000 a unit. The new videoconferencing system will use consumers’ existing HDTV sets and broadband connections. Field trials are due to begin in the US and Europe this spring.

Cisco chief executive John Chambers demonstrated the system with a video chat with his wife. He also showed how a doctor could conduct a consultation with a patient and a tutor take a student through a maths lesson — all while the participants were miles apart.

Companies were falling over themselves at CES to launch software applications for a new rash of internet-enabled TVs. Samsung announced what it called the world’s first HDTV applications store, where users can buy and download software programs — ranging from news and games to Twitter and Facebook or Blockbuster video rental services.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 6:17 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.