million 3-D TVs are expected to be shipped worldwide this year. Of these, just about 1.6 million will be in North America.

“While TV manufacturers have bold plans and a lot of new products, consumers remain cautious,” says Paul Gray, director of TV electronics research at DisplaySearch.

3-D TVs were billed as the breakthrough consumer electronics product of the year. Spurred by Hollywood’s success with 3-D movies such as Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, TV makers rushed into launching big-screen 3-D TVs. Almost every major TV manufacturer including Sony, LG, Panasonic and Mitsubishi showed 3-D TVs at the Consumer Electronics Show this year.

Earlier this week, LG introduced a 72-inch 3-D TV, claiming it is the biggest 3-D commerical TV available to consumers currently. In the U.S. big retail stores such as Best Buy and Costco have started selling 3-D TVs.

But so far, consumer reaction to 3-D TVs, has been muted.  Consumers haven’t entirely bought into the value of having 3-D content in their living room. Eyestrain, fatigue and nausea in some people who watch 3-D content has also dampened enthusiasm for 3-D TVs. (See: Four things that could keep 3-D TVs out of your living room)

What TV makers haven’t also solved is the problem of special glasses required to view 3-D. Despite the introduction of the Nintendo 3DS, a 3.5-inch handheld 3-D game console that doesn’t require any special glasses, glass-free technology is years away for the big screen.

But even for those consumers who are ready to don a pair of glasses to watch the TV in their living room, it isn’t easy. 3-D glasses are engineered so they will work only with the brand of TV with which they’re shipped. That means glasses that work with Sony’s 3-D  television won’t work for watching Monday night football at a friend’s place on his Panasonic 3-D TV.

Meanwhile, 3-D content remains scarce. Channels such as ESPN, DirecTV and Discovery have promised 3-D channels that will begin broadcasting only in 2011.

DisplaySearch says it is hopeful some of the constraints around 3-D TV can be solved and 3-D TVs will catch on. Prices of 3-D TVs are likely to fall, says the firm, even as the technology gets better.

Sales of 3-D will TVs grow from 2 percent of all flat panel TVs shipped this year to 41 percent, according to DisplaySearch’s forecast.

See Also:

• 4 Things That Could Keep 3-D TV Out of Your Living Room
• Toshiba Crams Supercomputer Guts Into 3-D, Web TV
• Wired Explains: How 3-D Television Works
• 3-D PCs Will Make a Splash at Computex
• 3-D: Coming Soon to a Cellphone Near You

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Authors: Priya Ganapati

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