3-D television could be coming to your home later this year — if you've got the cash, the special glasses and the yearning to see footballs and aliens hurtling out of your TV screen and into your living room.

"It's a brave new world, this stuff," said Scott Yoder, a salesman at WeeBee Audio-Video on Manheim Pike. "The TVs you hang on the wall — this stuff was just the Jetsons not that many years ago, and now it's a reality."

The cutting edge 3-D TVs are generating huge buzz at the Consumer Electronics Show being held in Las Vegas this week.

The sets, which local retailers said could cost about $3,000, may arrive here as early as late summer or early fall.

But whether they will be just a fad or become as ubiquitous as high-definition TVs has yet to be determined.

"I'm skeptical at this point," said Jim Lefever, sales manager of JB Hostetter & Sons in Mount Joy. "A month from now, I might have a different opinion. It's still early, and we'll be eagerly watching the market."

Bill Dorman, a Millersville University communications professor who has worked in the local television and film business, also is unsure about the technology's appeal.

"I think it remains a novelty," he said. "There's just not enough demand. You and I aren't wishing we could see the production from the Muppet Theater in Disney World. We went there. We saw it. We didn't go home and say, 'I want that in my house.' "

Yoder, however, has a different view.

"I believe you're going to see a huge curve of people adopting it within three to five years," he said.

But it's not going to happen automatically.

"If they can do a good job and not price themselves out of the market, there'll be no good reason not to have 3-D," Yoder said.

Several things could fuel the demand for 3-D TVs, according to industry experts.

One is the mainstreaming of 3-D movies. Once a gimmick, the movies have made their way to the local multiplex, where films such as the recently released "Avatar" are extremely popular.

Video gamers also will be drawn to the technology. Sony said its PlayStation3 is capable of adopting 3-D technology if the sets become widespread.

And programmers already are lining up to provide 3-D content, though it is still very limited.

Sony has aligned with ESPN to show live sporting events in 3-D starting in June. Discovery Communications has teamed with Imax and Sony to roll out a full-time 3-D network sometime next year.

Comcast already offers 3-D movies (and free glasses) to its subscribers via its On Demand service, spokeswoman Alana Davis said.

The cable provider is actively exploring what will happen next.

"It's something we're looking at," she said, adding that it's too early to provide specifics. "If the studios provide it, we'll pass it along."

Studios and networks will have to start producing movies and programs specifically with 3-D in mind, Yoder said. For example, football games might be shot more from the end zone than from the sidelines so the ball can be shown moving directly into your field of vision.

Of course, all of this will come with a price tag, which has not been revealed.

None of the manufacturers has released prices, but local retailers predict the first sets will cost from $3,000 to $3,500.

"I would say $3,000 is the breaking point," Lefever said.

"The manufacturers have to make it reasonable," Yoder said. "If you price yourself out of the market, it will just die."

The sets require special, electronic 3-D glasses, not the old blue and red ones made of cardboard.

Yoder said he believes manufacturers may include one or two pairs with a television set. Extra pairs could cost anywhere from $70 to $100, Yoder and industry experts said.

The glasses may be a deal breaker for some.

"My wife, she's a little reluctant to sit there watching a two-hour movie with glasses on," Yoder said.

Lefever said, "I think people are going to think they are a pain."

For starters, you will have to make sure everyone in your household has a pair. If you invite people over to watch the big game, guests will have to bring their own glasses.

And what happens if the dog chews your glasses or you sit on them or misplace them?

Yoder, who saw 3-D TV at last year's Consumer Electronics Show, said 3-D TV "looks slightly misprinted" without the glasses but said that sets will allow viewers to switch out of the 3-D mode.

Dorman said he believes younger viewers may not be so adverse to the specs.

"If you can get 20-year-olds to buy the glasses, and make those glasses a fashion statement or some kind of cultural statement, it might work," he said. "Sort of along the lines of, 'Here's my collection of 3-D glasses. Pick one out.' "

Despite some of the drawbacks, the early adopters already are rubbing their hands together, retailers said.

So that guy in your neighborhood who had the first big-screen TV? And then got the first high-def? And the Blu-ray?

"They probably had their flat panels for five years already," Lefever said. "If they're the kind of person who wants state of the art, they're ready."

Yoder said, "Usually what drives this is the sports and movie enthusiasts. People watching 'Deal or No Deal,' that will happen over time.

"Until it gets to the point where people want to watch 'Days of Our Lives' in 3-D, people are going to have to see it work — and work well."

cstauffer@lnpnews.com