At CES, we determined that if you insist on buying a 3DTV this year, Panasonic should be on the short list. Now, the company has priced a 3DTV for the first time—$5,900 when converted from yen. UPDATE
https://gizmodo.com/im-sold-on-3d-tvs-and-i-kind-of-hate-myself-for-it-5443165
Though Panasonic announced that they’d be selling 3D plasmas in the US starting this year, they’d never spoken of price until a recent press conference in Japan where they stated that their 54-inch, 3D-capable Viera TH-P54VT will run the equivalent of $5,900.
That’s a lot of money. However, the TH-P54VT won’t be the cheapest model available from Panasonic this year, as Panasonic promised 3D models as small as 50-inches.
CrunchGear notes that Panasonic seems to be pricing 3D as an $800 upsell over their premium 2D plasmas, though from piecing together prices, even that estimate may have been a bit conservative.
https://gizmodo.com/panasonics-new-3d-viera-plasma-v-series-hdtvs-bring-awk-5442011
In truth, there’s no way 99% of the population will drop $5k on any TV when you can finally score a decent quality, 46-inch LCD or plasma for well under a grand. If Panasonic wants glasses-based 3D to take off, they need to price the tech to sell. [Panasonic via CrunchGear]
UPDATE: A European dealer has slipped to us that a TX-P50VT20 (50-inch 3DTV) will run €2500, or about $3500, according to advanced intel from Panasonic. He said that the same TV in a non-3D version will run €2000 (or $2700). In other words, an $800 premium for 3D is dead-on.
