I've only seen a couple of movies in the theaters where I would say that 3D actually enhanced the experience. And they were "gimmick" 3D movies, like Piranha 3D and Jackass 3D
With every other 3D movie I've seen - including Avatar - I preferred the 2D version where the image was brighter, the motion looked stable and smooth, and the image just looked sharper and higher in resolution.
In the home market, I find all of the current 3D LCDs to be disappointing. They all exhibit substantial "cross-talk". Some worse than others, but not one of them is acceptable to me.
The only 3D television that has impressed me have been Panasonic's plasmas. Samsung's plasmas also generally look fine, but I've noticed their infamous "phosphor" lag on a couple of occassions, which decreases both 2D and 3D image quality in my eyes.
It is a happy coincidence that Panasonic's 3D plasmas are also the best 2D displays available at the moment. Essentially, to me, choosing which TV to buy is insanely easy these days. You get a Panasonic plasma!
For my super picky nature, the VT30 series is worth the extra cost. But you can get a very large (65") ST30 for substantially less while giving up relatively little in the way of image quality. 3D performance on either series is as good as 3D gets at home right now.
Another nice benefit is that Panasonic's new PT-AE7000U front projector makes use of the same active-shutter glasses that are used with Panny's plasmas. So while you can't use the Panny glasses with any other brand, at least you can use the same pairs for both your plasmas and your front projection setup if you have one. The 7000U is also one of the better 3D performers according to all of the early testers. Panasonic really focused on getting cross-talk as minimal as possible, so at least one brand out there actually gives a crap, rather than trying to cram 2nd and 3rd rate 3D down our throats.
Where 3D shines most is with videogames. Hook up a powerful 3D gaming PC to your Panny 3D plasma and you can revel in the best 3D images that you're going to see anywhere! The PS3 and Xbox360 offer a handful of 3D games, but the resolution is decreased in order to permit the extra processing needed for 3D and it doesn't look anywhere near as good as what a high-dollar PC can muster. I fully expect the PS4 and Xbox3 to manage some great looking 3D gaming though.
For broadcast 3D television, you are losing resolution because the signal still needs to fit within the existing 1080i or 720p broadcast. For each frame or field, the left and right eye images are packed either top-and-bottom or side-by-side. Either way, you're giving up half of your resolution for each eye. So instead of a 1920 x 1080 interlaced 2D image, you're getting a 1920 x 540 interlaced image for each eye in most cases with broadcast 3D TV. Being interlaced, you're essentially seeing a 960 x 540 resolution image at any given moment. So it's hardly as crisp or sharp as it ought to be.
Overall, I really can't say that I think 3D is worth it. There's very little content and what content does exist isn't really enhanced by 3D. In fact, for most of it, I prefer the way it looks in 2D. I really only like 3D for the "gimmick" movies that really play with the effect or for gaming on a powerful PC.
That said, if you just want to get yourself the best TV that you can right now, you're going to want a Panasonic plasma. It just so happens that it's likely going to have 3D capability - even though that isn't the primary reason at all to buy one
