At a press conference Tuesday in New York City, Samsung announced what it described as the "world's first available full HD 3D LED TV," as well as a variety of related 3-D home entertainment products.

'World's First HDTV App Store'

Under a new promotion, buyers of a Samsung 3-D TV and 3-D Blu-ray player or home theater system will get a "3-D starter kit" with two pairs of 3-D glasses and a 3-D version of DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs Aliens. The manufacturer also said it plans to make available a 3-D version of the studio's popular Shrek film series.

Samsung's 3-D offerings include 46- and 55-inch LED TVs being released this month, and others to be rolled out over the next several months. It also touted the 240-Hz refresh rate and Internet connectivity in the new models, as well as access to the "world's first HDTV app store," Samsung Apps.

On Wednesday, Panasonic will start selling its first 3-D TV in the U.S. in a partnership with Best Buy, while Samsung is also launching a 3-D TV and Blu-ray player offer with that retailer. LG said Tuesday it will begin offering its new 3-D sets in India.

Sony's first sales will be in June in Japan, and the company hasn't announced launch plans for the new products in the U.S. It has also said it will be releasing a software update for the PlayStation 3, enabling the video-game console to play 3-D games and movies.

'Pretty Inevitable'

In spite of all this excitement and activity on the part of the manufacturers, the question is whether it will carry over to consumers.

Dmitry Molchanov, an analyst with the Yankee Group, said it is "pretty inevitable" that 3-D TV technology will eventually catch on, but the hardware has, for the moment, outpaced the content.

He noted that "two or three" 3-D TV channels are being planned for launch by the end of the year, and some Blu-ray Disc titles are being released, but it could take as long for 3-D to catch on as it has for HDTV -- about seven to 10 years.

In addition to content and the current high prices, Molchanov also pointed out that "the glasses can be tedious." Some providers, he said, are working on technology that doesn't require glasses.

Michael Gartenberg, a partner and analyst at Altimeter Group, noted that vendors see 3-D TV as a key differentiator, but consumers have been spending their discretionary dollars to upgrade to regular HD.

"Consumers have made these big HD purchases only recently," he noted, and now manufacturers are asking them to upgrade again to more expensive sets. "It's going to be a while before this technology moves beyond early adopters," he predicted.