The 40in £1800 UE40C7000 will be the first 3D TV on sale and you can read exactly what we thought about it in our review.
It will be available from John Lewis's flagship store on Oxford Street as well as Peter Jones and online at www.johnlewis.com. At the weekend, John Lewis Brent Cross, Bluewater, Kingston and Cribbs Causeway will also have the 3D TVs on display.
Also on sale will be the Samsung 3D Blu-ray player, the BDC6900, for £349, plus a bundle with two pairs of Samsung active-shutter 3D glasses and 3D Blu-ray Monsters v Aliens disc for £149. John Lewis will also be selling a 3D-Ready, version 1.4 HDMI cable for £49.95.
If customers buy the Samsung C7000 3D TV and BDC6900 they will receive the above glasses and disc bundle for free. This offer will run from the 22nd April to 30th June.
John Kempner, buyer for vision at John Lewis, is refreshingly aggressive: “3D TV is an incredibly exciting technology, and once again John Lewis is first to market.
Manufacturers like to use us as their launch partner because our customers are always early adopters of new technology.”
Well, that's us told. Will you be dashing over to John Lewis today? Or will you be adopting an arguably more sensible wait-and-see approach? Let us know.
You can read all about Samsung's 2010 range of home cinema products, including everything 3D, in the news stories below.
Watch our video review of the Samsung UE40C7000
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Published 22.02.10
Samsung today confirmed that its new range of Full HD 3D LCD/LED and plasma TVs will go on sale in Europe from March. The TVs will support new content and applications, including music jukebox service AudioLounge, video-on-demand provider BoxOffice 365 and Cartoon Network.
The company will offer 20 different 3D models, including LCD, LED and plasma screens. The biggest 3D TV will be a 65in plasma, and there will also be a 3D Blu-ray player and 3D home cinema system, as outlined in our original news story below.
"The success of recent 3D film titles is building anticipation from people who want to enjoy the richness of 3D content from the comfort of their living room," says Andy Griffiths, vice president of consumer electronics for Samsung UK.
All of the 3D TVs will include Internet@TV with access to Samsung's own apps. In the UK, these include LoveFilm, BBC iPlayer and Muzu.tv.
We'll publish exclusive First Tests of the Samsung UE40C7000 3D TV and BD-C6900 3D Blu-ray player in our April issue, on sale March 10th.
Published 17.02.10
The chaps from Samsung have just delivered the first production samples of its UE40C7000 3D, LED edge-lit high-definition TV and BD-C6900 3D Blu-ray player for us to test, along with a copy of Monsters vs Aliens on 3D Blu-ray disc.
They're all set up in our test room, and we'll be publishing our verdict in the April issue of the magazine, on sale March 10th.
We've got our hands on the 40in screen which is due to go on sale in March for £1800. The partnering 3D Blu-ray player will cost £349.
3D glasses cost extra
However, unlike rivals Sony and Panasonic, Samsung will not include any 3D specs with the TV as standard. It uses active shutter glasses, which will cost £100 a pair for the battery-powered ones, and £150 for the rechargeable version.
There'll be a special option pack, comprising two pairs of battery-powered active glasses and a copy of Dreamworks' Monsters vs Aliens on 3D Blu-ray disc, for £250.
Samsung says it may include the glasses as part of the package if customers buy the TV and Blu-ray player together. Expect retailers to offer a variety of 'bundle' packages.
The C7000 TV is part of Samsung's high-end LCD/LED range which we first saw at CES in Las Vegas in January. Above it is the flagship C9000, due out in July, and the C8000, due in April.
You'll be able to buy the C7000 in 40, 46 and 55in screen sizes, while the C8000 comes in 32-65in varieties and the C9000 in 46in and 50in versions.
All three ranges are 3D models with internet TV capability, with the exception of the 32in C8000 which is not 3D capable.
A massive 2010 TV range
Samsung has a massive range of LCD and plasma TVs lined up for release in 2010. These include the non-3D, Full HD, LCD/LED C6510 series (32in, 40in) with internet TV, the C6500 due in March (32in-55in), the C6000 series (32in-55in) without internet TV – exclusive to Dixons Store Group – and the entry-level LCD/LED C5000 models (32in-46in).
All models from the C5000 range upwards will also be equipped with Freeview HD tuners.
Among the plasma range are the C7000 3D, 600Hz, internet TV models (50in-63in), the non-3D C6500 600Hz, internet TVs (50in, 58in), the C550 Full HD, non-3D HD plasma (50in) and the C450 HD-ready plasmas (42in, 50in).
There are also non-LED LCDs, including the 3D-capable, 200Hz C750 (40-46in) and non-3D Full HD C650 (32in-60in). Phew!
Blu-ray players and systems
And that's before we get to the home cinema line up. In addition to the 3D Blu-ray player we've already mentioned, there'll be two Blu-ray players with built-in Freeview HD tuners and HDD: the 250GB BD-C8200 (£449) and the 500GB BD-C8500 (£549).
Lower down the range come the super-slim BD-C7500 Blu-ray player with wi-fi and 1GB of storage at £299; the BD-C6500 model with 7.1 analogue out and wi-fi for £199; and the entry-level BD-C5500 which needs an optional dongle (£50) for wi-fi access.
Internet TV, which will include apps for the BBC iPlayer, YouTube and Lovefilm, is standard on all models.
Last, and by no means least, come the Blu-ray home cinema systems. Top of the tree is the 7.1, 3D-capable HT-C6930W with built-in wi-fi and wireless rear speakers, due to sell for £799.
It's joined by the HT-C7550W 5.1 model with wireless rears and tallboy speakers, the HT-C6500 and HT-C5000.
Oh, and did we mention two forthcoming multichannel receivers? They're the 5.1 HW-C500 at £279 and HW-C700 at £349. Both can be bought with a complete speaker package for £349 and £499 respectively.
If you'd like to know more about Samsung's 2010 range, take a look at our CES blog. We'll bring you more news of UK prices and release dates on March 9th, when Samsung holds its official UK press conference.