Sony 3D TV - Future Sucess or Failure?

Sony seems to be staking a lot on the belief that their 3D value chain will convince consumers to swap their current home entertainment for an additional dimension in viewing.

The Sony 3D Value Chain:

They aren't alone on the 3D bandwagon, with LG, Toshiba and Panasonic due to release sets this year. Last December, Avatar showed consumers that 3D viewing is not just an 80's novelty. The Bravia 3D TV is set for release in June, and will work in the same manner as how Avatar was viewed in cinemas.

To view your newly purchased 3D TV, you will need glasses. With the Bravia you will need battery operated “active shutter” ones. Will people want to sit in darkened rooms every evening to watch 3D Eastenders in the future? When watching 3D TV it will be near impossible to multi-task, so no tweets about the 3D football match from your iPhone or Laptop.

Sony seems to be riding on confidence gained by winning the hi-def format war with Blu-ray. Will consumers be willing to upgrade there newly acquired flat panels and blu-ray players? Those expensive HDMI cables will need upgrading.

There will also be a serious lack of content come release time. This may be argued by the fact that the Bravia will have built in links to Youtube, Net-Flix and Amazon's video-on-demand. A counter argument would be that 3D movies will be 50% larger than a Blu-ray. Your city would need to win Google's Ultra-Fast broadband competition to stream files of that size without frustration. Thankfully, in the short term broadcasting will see ESPN launch a 3D channel this year with Sony working with Discovery and IMAX to release channels in 2011.

Is this a premature format release for consumer consumption? Will Sony have 3D viewing in our homes by year's end?

Sony Video: