Sony 3DBNDL/ALICE 3D Deluxe Starter Kit, Black Review

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(More customer reviews)This kit contains everything you need to make use of the 3D features of a Sony 3D-capable television.
Installation is dead simple: Turn off the TV. Plug the emitter cable into the special jack on the back of the television, attach the emitter itself someplace for maximum room coverage, and you're almost good to go. The manual suggested attaching the emitter in front of the set, attached to the TV base, for those not having the TV mounted on the wall, but we found we got better coverage with it on top of the set.
It's also recommended to use the HDMI cable included in the kit to connect your 3D-capable blu-ray player or PS3 to the television, because it's guaranteed to support 3D data transfer speeds.
One thing I did need to do, since we'd been using our firmware-upgraded Playstation 3 -before- adding the 3D accessories, was to go into the PS3 video settings and set it to recognize the new configuration. Once I did this, 3D options became available on several of the games already on the PS3, and the "Alice" 3D blu-ray was recognized as playable (1st attempt, the PS3 said we didn't have accessible 3D equipment, which was my clue to go check).
Turn on the glasses with the little button under the front right temple hinge, and enjoy.
The 3D experience was pretty awesome, the illusion of depth is undeniable and convincing, and it increases the immersive feel of movies, although it does take some getting used to. Also, for some reason, one of the sets of included shutter glasses fits me well, while the other doesn't. No clue as to why the difference.
Note: This kit only includes two pair of adult-sized glasses. If you have more family members and/or young kids or older youths, you may want to buy more pairs. Get Sonys or the Xpand universal shutter glasses, or they won't work (each manufacturer uses a slightly different standard, not unlike the way a remote control for one TV brand won't work for other brands).
Pros:
- The Sony glasses seemed sturdier and better made than other models (Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic were those I tested and compared at a local Costco), and were among the most comfortable
- Undeniably solid 3D effects with minimal ghosting, mostly caused by me shifting my head around too much because I was eating dinner while watching the movie
- 3D video games are quite amazing (Super Stardust HD was free along with several other downloadable 3D PS3 games as bonus gifts with our Sony Bravia TV -- and it's incredible)
- The simulated 3D was kind of neat, although I can't see using this feature much
Cons:
- The shutter glasses work by blocking your vision in alternating eyes with LCD lenses. Unavoidably, this causes your TV to look dimmer and darker. A way around this is to adjust the TV picture to Vivid, image and backlighting both to Max, Cinemotion OFF (reduces shutter-flicker, especially with the simulated 3D mode), color temperature to Cool. Setting Motion-Flow to Standard also seemed to improve the picture crispness and clarity, although we never use the feature outside of 3D because it looks too weird.
- Obviously if you have only one functioning eye (and thus no actual depth perception), this product is not for you.
- The glasses are a little heavy and can be tiring during a long film, and while they're designed to fit over normal prescription eyeglasses, some folks' eye-wear might be too large.
- There just aren't very many 3D films available yet, although with this year's major manufacturer push to make the home equipment available, this should go up and the prices come down. That said, the prices for the 3D versions of 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' and 'Open Season' (both are animated films) are reasonable. We'll probably see lots of Pixar films released in 3D blu-ray before long, because the re-encoding isn't that difficult for the studios to do. Be careful when shopping for 3D movies, because quite a few of them are the old-style blue-and-red nausea-inducing kind, and not these new shutter-glasses films. Amazon helpfully lists all the genuine new 3D blu-rays on a special page...which, if you go look, is sadly short in length.
Important note: If you are buying this Sony 3D kit in the hope of picking up a copy of "Avatar" in 3D soon, forget it unless you have a lot of disposable income. Panasonic locked in exclusive rights (reportedly for a full year), and right now the only way to get Avatar 3D is to buy their 3D accessory kit or look for other people selling their copy on eBay (and as of Dec 2010, several hundred bucks a copy, which is even more ridiculous). If you do acquire a copy of the disc, it will play on the Sony equipment however, as will any other 3D blu-ray disc.
Another note: If you got this kit along with a new Sony Bravia 3D-ready TV, go through all the papers and inserts that came with it, along with any other new Sony equipment you may have purchased recently. With the new TV, I found the 3D Playstation 3 free games offer, and a bonus from Sony to receive two 3D blu-ray discs (Bolt (yay!) and Michael Jackson (meh)) just for registering the television on their website.
Would I recommend this product to others? Yes.
Why four stars instead of five? Two factors: The current extreme paucity of 3D blu-ray movies available, and the difficulty I've had in getting a really good, comfortable fit with the glasses, although I'm doubtful any of the other models are better.

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Enjoy an incredible, high-quality 3D entertainment experience when you combine this 3D deluxe starter kit with a compatible BRAVIA 3D HDTV. The starter kit includes two pairs of 3D active glasses, a 3D sync transmitter, Disney's Alice in Wonderland 3D Blu-ray Disc, and an HDMI cable.
3D Active Glasses.

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