The big trend at this years CES is 3D because real life is missing a few dimensions. Now I now what you’re thinking, “Marvin, I just bought a new TV, its got thousands and thousands of p, 1080 in fact. Why in the world would I spend my hard earned money on another television?” Well Mr. Consumer, honestly you don’t, not for now anyway. Hardware adoption works in cycles, 3 years ago, high definition 1080p HD was the big thing, but no one actually bought into it until they where available at Walmart for under 800$. The same will be true with 3D. One day a few years from now you’ll walk into to a store and buy a TV without even realising it does 3D. This new feature will just be another bullet point to put on the box. While you wait, here are somethings you can look forward to in the near future.

Let’s start with content. ESPN announced that they will be launching a 3D network later this June during the World Cup. That’s soccer, right? Or football, or maybe by football they mean soccer? Which one is soccer again? If you want balls in the face ESPN has got you covered. Wait, I think that came out wrong. Anyway, these will be live 3D telecasts and they are expecting to do around 85 sporting events during the first year ranging from the Summer X games, NBA games, and college football and basketball. However, at times there will simply be nothing on and they don’t plan on showing reruns so expect an ominous black screen where your 3D channel is supposed to be from time to time.

Toshiba trotted out a line of new Blu-ray players, and low and behold one of them is 3D ready. The Toshiba BDX 3000 can play 3D enabled Blu-ray content. The other models in the series can also stream movies through services like Netflix thanks to the built in or optional Wi-Fi attachment. Which is very useful if you don’t already have something to do that like an Xbox, a Playstation 3, or a computer plug to a TV. These new players should be out this Spring for 200$ to 250$, but the 3D enabled one should be released this Fall in time for the holidays, and no price on that one just yet, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be cheap.

Now where can you watch all this stuff? Well Sony showed off a gorgeous 24 inch 3D capable OLED TV. That doesn’t sound so big, but wait a few years for the technology to get cheaper, and for the sizes to grow. Then you too can have an enormous 3D TV as thin as a credit card. Like everything else at CES, it will surely max out a couple credit cards, but boy will it look pretty.

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