It’s An Ordeal Finding 3D TVs Demonstrated at Retail, Our Search Finds

The findings were similar to what we unearthed in November when we first began shopping for the right 3D TV. Any customers, ourselves included, who had set their sights on heavily discounted large-screen 3D TVs were mostly out of luck on Black Friday in 2011 as retailers offered very few such models and demonstrated very few 3D TVs on their floors then (CED Nov 28 p5).

The first store that we visited as part of our recently stepped-up effort to find a 3D TV was a P.C. Richard & Son location in Levittown, N.Y. Based on positive product reviews, we were specifically looking for either the Panasonic TC-PST50, TC-PVT50, TC-PUT50 or TC-PGT50 series plasma TVs, the Samsung PNE6500 series plasma TV, or Sony KDL-HX850 LED-backlit LCD TV. None of the models we set out looking for was demonstrated on the store’s floor. When we asked a salesman to demonstrate the passive 3D of an LG TV, he attempted to demonstrate what the 3D looked like on a Samsung active-shutter model at the front of the store instead. It was the only TV in the store demonstrating active-shutter 3D. The salesman said customers weren’t asking for 3D.

We then visited Best Buy’s Levittown store and, as usual, it was only demonstrating 3D via four 3D kiosks, featuring Sony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic models. The LG passive 3D display was working in 3D, but the Sony and Samsung active-shutter displays were not. The Panasonic model was the TC-PST50 and because we were desperate, thinking that our rear-projection TV was dead, we decided to buy the $1,449.99 plasma TV as the store was getting ready to close even though the limits of the stationary 3D display barred us from viewing the TV’s 3D from anything other than dead center. Before leaving the store, we wound up spending an extra $199.99 for a two-year extended warranty, $169.99 to have it mounted on our wall, $50 to haul away our rear-projection TV and $49.99 for a Rocketfish mounting kit that we later realized would be inadequate because it wasn’t a model that would allow us to move the TV away from the wall once mounted. We decided to wait on buying HDMI cables and 3D glasses. The TV, which was to be delivered and installed this Wednesday, came with no glasses.

Once we got home, we did further investigation and realized that Best Buy was selling the superior TC-PVT50 for $500 more, but we didn’t see it at the store because it wasn’t displayed or, according to the Bestbuy.com website, even in stock there. We visited Best Buy and P.C. Richard stores in Manhattan to find the TC-PVT50 and see if we could see it demonstrated in 3D, with an eye towards changing our purchase to that model if we could see it demonstrated somewhere and liked the way it looked. Neither store had it on display and, like the other stores we visited, had few 3D TVs being demonstrated in 3D. A visit to the Sears store in Hicksville, N.Y., yielded similar findings, with the TC-PVT50 not on the floor and most of the few 3D TV demonstration areas featuring broken active-shutter glasses. A salesman there said manufacturers had not replaced the glasses in a timely fashion.

We also visited Sony’s store in the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y. There, only one TV -- the Sony XBR-55HX929 active-shutter 3D TV, at about $3,000 -- was demonstrated in 3D.

We finally found the Panasonic TC-PST50 in the Magnolia section of Best Buy’s Westbury, N.Y., store on Saturday. The TV wasn’t being demonstrated in 3D, but a Magnolia Home Theater “sales professional” offered to demonstrate it in 3D for us. However, the active-shutter glasses needed to be recharged. He told us to return in about 30 minutes. We returned about one hour later and the glasses were still charging. A few minutes later, he attempted to use the glasses but realized they weren’t working. We threw in the towel. In the interim, our rear-projection TV returned from the dead. We returned the TV we bought at the Levittown Best Buy store and decided to hold off on our purchase of a new TV until the Mitsubishi died for good.

Best Buy, P.C. Richard and Sears didn’t comment on why they presented so few 3D TV demonstrations at their stores and why so many active-shutter glasses were defective. Panasonic, Samsung and Sony also didn’t immediately comment.

But David Workman, president of the PRO Group, said 3D was “just not top of mind.” The maintenance required for a 3D display is a hassle, he indicated. “You have to make sure the glasses are still there and the content is playing correctly. It’s a cause and effect kind of thing in that as you get fewer and fewer customers asking about 3D that buzz that was associated with” 3D “has come and gone,” he said. The technology is now just mentioned as a feature of a TV and there is no “compelling need to demo it,” he said. “As a result, displays are following suit in that you are not getting store sales staff caring for displays in the same fashion they might have a year or two ago,” he said. “Retailers are seeing they can present 3D as a feature without having it be constantly demonstrated. You just don’t hear many people talking about it at all,” he said.

"Many U.S. consumers have seen several waves of 3D hysteria and been disappointed, so there is a hefty amount of cynicism and skepticism about how good 3D is this time around,” said Paul Gagnon, director of North American TV Research at NPD DisplaySearch. “As a result, there is plenty of apathy all around (retail and consumer) and therefore the offering of in-store demos, and the request for in-store demos from consumers is somewhat low,” he said. Another issue is that 3D “content is still lacking, much like the early days of HD,” he said. “Only so many movies are in 3D and most of the 3D channels run content loops that get boring after a while."

Another factor: The cost of 3D is “still high,” Gagnon said. “Most 3D sets today are mid-range or high-end models, so there is a premium when most consumers are looking for the biggest, but cheapest set they can afford. In addition, glasses are still pricey, but coming down on cost quickly. Even so, there is certainly an aversion to wearing them.” Adoption of 3D TVs is “better in emerging regions and in Europe” than in the U.S. because “there is less of a negative memory around previous experience with 3D and the prospect of future-proofing is more valued,” he said.

The “lack of attention at retail” for 3D is “more a result of consumers not showing an active interest in the technology,” said Ben Arnold, NPD director-industry analysis. “We're seeing sales of TVs with 3D continue to grow, but that doesn’t mean 3D is the reason they are selling,” he said. Looking at LCD TVs specifically, NPD’s recent 3D study showed that 68 percent of interested buyers said 3D was a “nice feature to have,” while only 16 percent described it as a must-have feature, he said. “The technology certainly has a wow factor,” he said, telling us 67 percent of those who saw a 3D demo said they were either “amazed” or “impressed” by the technology. But that’s “not translating into sales,” he said. “The added cost of a 3D set and glasses were a big issue, but I suspect with price declines, they may have subsided a bit,” he said.

However, the need to wear glasses is “still a big hindrance,” Arnold said. “People just don’t want to wear 3D glasses to watch the content,” he said, telling us 45 percent of consumers polled said wearing glasses was a serious drawback to their adoption of 3D TVs. For those with a 3D TV, it’s also still “kind of difficult to find programming,” he said. “Selections differ by cable provider but there hasn’t been a big nationally available 3D network that is pulling people in with content. I think there is some more marketing of events (like what we saw with the World Cup in 2010) that needs to happen to generate some buzz. Perhaps it starts not with telling people to buy a set so they can watch” the Super Bowl, but with “an effort to get 3D TV owners who don’t use the technology to break out the glasses for the big game,” he said.

Arnold thinks retailers might sell 3D TVs more effectively if they demonstrated more models on their sales floors and if their retail displays had fewer broken glasses, he said. That there are two competing 3D TV formats also “might complicate the display and selling,” in part because retailers have to explain paying a small number of dollars for the passive glasses and more money for the active-shutter glasses, he said. “Still, I think if people were coming in and asking to see the 3D sets, you would see many more displays, more education and merchandising around passive versus active,” he said.