Your browser is not Javascript enable or you have turn it off. We recommend you to activate for better security reason<div class="billede"><img src="pictures/mini-lglx9500-2.jpg" alt="LG CInema 3D hands-on"></div>First experiences with LG’s Cinema 3D TVs - FlatpanelsHD LG CInema 3D hands-onFirst experiences with LG’s Cinema 3D TVs">

LG CInema 3D hands-on
First experiences with LG’s Cinema 3D TVs

04 Feb 2011 | Rasmus Larsen |

Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and Sharp have announced new TVs with active 3D technology, but LG believes that consumers need an alternative in 2011. LG has also announced active 3D TVs, but also a new so-called Cinema 3D technology will arrive. Cinema 3D utilizes the much cheaper 3D glasses that you know from movie cinemas. 

LG 3D Cinema with many advantages

Basically LG’s Cinema 3D technology is the same technology as in cinemas – only in a flat panel TV variant. With Cinema 3D LG plans to make it easier and cheaper for consumers to travel into the third dimension.

LG LW6500 med Cinema 3D
LW6500 is one of LG’s first TVs with Cinema 3D


Cinema 3D is the same as passive 3D. The term refers to the polarized – or passive – 3D glasses. The polarized 3D glasses are much cheaper, weigh less, and require no batteries. At the same time flicker, eye fatigue and 3D crosstalk issues are all reduced considerably.

This means that all members of the family can join in on the 3D experience without having to invest a fortune in 3D glasses. The polarized glasses only cost a few dollars and you can reuse the ones used in most 3D cinemas – and vice versa.

LGs 2011 polarized 3D glasses
LG’s 2011 polarized 3D-glasses


LG plans integrate their Cinema 3D technology in a range of new TV in the 2011 ranges called LW6500 and LW5600.

No disadvantages?

We have mentioned all the advantages of the passive 3D technology and I’m sure the pressing question is if the system has no disadvantages? And yes the Cinema 3D technology has one disadvantage.

As said before the Cinema 3D technology is a variant of a passive 3D technology and therefore the two images for the right and left eyes needs to be displayed in the same frame, contrary to the active 3D technology where images are displayed in different frames. This also means that each picture takes up half of the image, thus halving the 3D resolution.

In theory this means that Cinema 3D TVs only display half of the pixel count in 3D movies and 3D games but as always the real test is to try it out in real life. In the next section we give you our first hands-on experiences with LG’s 2011 Cinema 3D TVs

First experiences with Cinema 3D

I've seen passive 3D technology demonstrations before – many times actually. Not only in the cinemas but also as prototype TVs. But I have not yet seen it based on Cinema 3D that is based on a so-called FPR technology.

LG 2011 TVs
LG Cinema 3D with passive 3D glasses


My skepticism quickly turned into a pleasant surprise - and I was not the only person in the room who felt like that. There was general consensus among journalists that we had just seen a very convincing demonstration.

The 3D images looked good. The 3D depth was very nice and the overall picture quality left you with a feeling that we’re very close to the active 3D TVs. Personally I was able to spot a minor reduction in detailing but it’s probably mainly because I know and use the movie - A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey - for testing here at FlatpanelsHD. But the difference was really quite small; so small that most press people in the room wasn’t able to see an actual difference.

LG 2011TV
LG LW6500 Cinema 3D


The 3D images virtually gave us the same experience that we know from cinemas. Sometimes we would even forget that we had stupid 3D glasses on as they are much lighter than the active 3D glasses from all 2010 3D TVs.

You can also watch 3D from any horizontal angle on the Cinema 3D TVs. However, when looking at the TVs from the top the 3D effect disappeared – but who is actually looking at their TV from the top?

We got a chance to see 3D movies and 3D animation on several of the new models from LG – ranging from cheap to expensive. I personally experienced no issues with crosstalk, flicker or headache. Crosstalk is one of the most significant problems with most 3D TVs from 2010 and therefore it was extremely positive to see that LG has managed to reduce crosstalk to a minimum.

So, does the Cinema 3D technology deliver? Yes, I certainly think so - perhaps even more than that. I could see Cinema 3D make it as a more mainstream 3D technology that appeals to the typical TV watcher. We look forward to running some in-depth tests on the new Cinema 3D TVs from LG soon. Stay tuned.

Learn more about 3D on our 3D coverage page here.
Learn more about LG’s 2011 TVs in this article: LG 2011 TV line-up - with full spec list.

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