Long gone are the red and green cardboard horrors of the 1950's 3D films spectacles - rightly consigned to the dustbin of technological history. Enter Samsung with some "Easy Rider" style snappy eyewear that actually works and after a few moments gawping with amazement at the effect of 3D high definition imagery hurling itself out of a plasma screen into your lap, are completely forgotten. Mind you, these are not just any dark glasses. You need a pair of liquid crystal glasses, which cost about SR500 and are powered by a lithium battery - although you would never know it to look at them.

This is how it works: The TV image is split into two and shot from slightly different angles. The glasses separate the images into left and right eye, and the brain combines them to give an illusion of depth.

Samsung provides a couple of free pairs with its television. They work working with the screen's shutter technology, a neologism invented for the device. They trick your brain, by rapidly switching their transparency on and off allowing you to take in two separate images - one for the left eye and one for the right. It is too rapid to notice except when first switched on and as they warm up to speed - you notice a slight flickering that disappears in a few seconds.

Ultra weird is that they are "intelligent"; they know when you are watching the screen and when you are not. Look away for any length of time and they shut off, taking a moment to resume when you turn back.

The screen is an Active Shutter is compliant with both 3D Blu-ray and Sky and with several standard 3D modes; side-by-side, top and bottom, line-by-line, vertical stripe, checker-board and frame sequential BD.

Television; love it or hate it, the goggle-box's latest iteration of 3D TV is here to stay. The only question is whether the programmers will be able to make the content of future programs match the spectacle possible with Samsung's revolutionary technology?

The hype over 3D TV in the home has been enormous. There is a huge amount of investment riding on the impression the first wave of 3D enabled sets - if they fail to score with the viewing public, then there will be heads rolling in the corporate aisles.

However, Samsung has cleverly built in an insurance policy; switch off the 3D mode and the picture quality is still stunning in 2D. The Samsung 40C7000 overcomes the problem of availability of 3D material, which is severely limited as yet because it features a 2D-3D conversion function which adds depth to any flat image.

Naturally, it does not work as well as with 3D-mastered material. The only way to get the full effect is from a 3D-enabled Blu-ray player. Samsung make one, the BD-C6900, which should be available in stores ahead of the TV.

The 40C7000 is an LED edge-backlit LCD set, and is incredibly thin at only 27mm deep. Its other dimensions - 757x579mm - and weight of 15kg with the stand, allow you to carry it comfortably under one arm.

The shallow depth of the set means that it does not have space on the back for most types of standard socket. The set comes with special adaptors for Scart, LAN, antenna, optical digital audio, PC, component video and AV connections.

More than just a stand alone TV, the 40C7000 is designed as the center of a home entertainment hub.

Whichever way you use it - simple 2D television or 3D spectacular, it is a wow of a TV set.