3D TV’s have been trying to break into the mainstream for some time now, will 2012 be the year? They were certainly the buzz at this years Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

Sony is making a big push with both 3D TV’s and movies. They introduced a 60″ Brvia LX Series that is ultra thin and looks pretty amazing.

But Panasonic was the WOW of the 3D TV market introducing its 152″ 3D Plasma TV. Yes – 152 inches!  3D aside, this is one amazing visual display – the resolution is 4000 x 2000 – that is where the WOW comes in. You have to see this TV to appreciate the clarity. It will be available this spring, so I have some time to convince my wife to make some room on the wall!

At this point, 3D seems like a novelty to me and I’m not sure if it will really take off until it’s just another feature that comes with nearly every TV.

Check out the video above for more details on these cool new TV’s coming in 2012.

As any real gadget fanatic knows – you’ve got to do your research. To many features, too many brands. How the hell do you know what to buy? Personally I research the hell of everything. Here’s a new site worth hitting the next time you go to buy. TestFreaks.com. They’ve got a ton product categories with scored product reviews, plus user feedback and forums. Pretty awesome for finding out if that new Wii game sucks before you own it.

Design student Joonas Saaranen has created a backpack that is actually a speaker system. The hardshell pack contains both speakers and an amplifier for on the road use. (And I’m assuming a metric ton of batteries as well?). Pretty cool concept though I’m not sure I’d walk my streets rocking one. But bonus points for designing it to look like it came right off the back of a Stormtrooper. Just wonder, is there storage built in for an iPod? Or a six pack?

Details in the press release below, or you can visit bestbuy.com/hddvd.

With Blu-ray declaring victory over HD-DVD in the high definition movie format war, Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer, is giving $50 gift cards to customers who purchased an HD-DVD player or HD-DVD attachment from its U.S. stores before February 23, 2008. Customers will get a gift card for each player or HD-DVD attachment that they purchased. Through this program, Best Buy will distribute more than $10 million in gift cards to customers across the country.

“The DVD format war has divided our customers in a way we haven’t seen since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago,” said Brian J. Dunn, president and chief operating officer for Best Buy. “At Best Buy, we understood and shared our customers’ frustrations as they were being asked to choose one format or the other. Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs.”

Most Best Buy customers won’t have to do anything to receive their gift card. As a demonstration of its commitment to its customers, Best Buy will proactively mail cards to all customers that the company can identify as having purchased an HD-DVD player. Members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased Performance Service Plans (PSPs) or who made their purchase on BestBuy.com should look for their gift cards in the mail by May 1. Other customers who may not be easily identified can call (888) BEST BUY to receive their gift cards with proof of purchase through a credit card or their Best Buy receipt.

“The beauty of this offer is that it doesn’t require our customers to give up their HD-DVD player,” said Barry Judge, chief marketing officer for Best Buy. “We know that many people who purchased these players have HD-DVD movies that they would like to continue to watch. We’re telling our customers they can keep their players to play these movies as well as their older DVDs and use the $50 to treat themselves to anything else in our stores.”

Best Buy Press Release

DirecTV’s satellites will automatically transmit a limited number of popular movie titles to customers’ digital video recorders, where they will be stored for viewers to order whenever they want. Viewers will be able to order other titles, including TV programs, by streaming them from the Web through a high-speed Internet connection on the DirecTV set-top box. DirecTV says that about half of its customers currently have high-speed Internet connections.

DirecTV has been late to the VOD game, as cable and rival satellite provider Dish already have a video on-demand service up and running since last fall. One aspect to the story that is intriguing is the mention of how DirecTV plans to use the data it gets from subscribers to sell ads.

More than just offering video on demand, this arrangement will let DirecTV tap what some analysts think could be a big growth area for TV providers — selling highly targeted ads.

With a set-top box connected to the Web, DirecTV will be able to track what programs people order through real-time data about a user’s television viewing behavior and allow the company to target ads. Cable operators already have similar plans, using the interactive capability of their set-top boxes.

With the launch of Hulu, and the recent update to Apple TV, 2008 is shaping up to be all about getting content to viewers in as many ways as possible.

[via WSJ]