Thinking about buying a 3D TV? You might be wise to sit on your hands for a while longer, because you’ll save a few hundred dollars and get more equipment at the checkout line to show for your patience.

Sunday’s Best Buy insert showed a Panasonic 3D TV package that includes the TC-P50VT20 3D plasma TV (comes with one pair of glasses, PLUS an extra two pairs of active shutter glasses, PLUS Geek Squad delivery and setup, all for $2249.96. That supposedly reflects a $700 savings over full list price. (The extra two pairs of glasses are valued at $300).

A few months ago, Panasonic announced a 3D bundle of the TC-P50VT20, one pair of glasses, and their BDT-300 3D Blu-ray player ($399.00) for $2,899, exclusively at Best Buy. That package likely ran out of gas quickly because there are only a handful of 3D Blu-ray discs available to watch right now.

So Best Buy’s new deal shifts focus to ESPN’s 3D coverage of the World Cup soccer matches, which started on June 11. All fine and dandy, but the ‘catch’ is that cable TV customers have to upgrade to new, MPEG4-compatible set-top boxes with HDMI 1.4a outputs to receive the ESPN 3D channel – it can’t be done on older MPEG2-only set-tops. (And good luck finding out exactly where and if ESPN 3D pops up in your service area!)

Samsung and Best Buy may have put together an even better deal. For $2769, you can get a UN55C7000 55-inch 240Hz LCD TV (LED backlit, of course) PLUS a BD-C6900 Blu-ray player, PLUS a 3D starter kit (two pairs of AS glasses and a copy of Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D), PLUS the Geek Squad delivery and setup as before. Don’t need a 55-inch screen? Substitute a UN40C7000 40-inch LCD 3D TV, and the price drops to $1799.

The 3D 'kit' is all yours for about $2800 bucks.

‘New kid on the block’ HH Gregg (at least, new in eastern Pennsylvania) has the same deal on the 55-inch set, or you can go with a 46-inch model for $2139. (They don’t mention anything about installation and setup, though.) Sixth Avenue Electronics also has the 55-inch and 46-inch packages, and will do free delivery and installation on both.

The Sears Sunday flier states that you can get the BD-C6900 BD player and the 3D starter kit free with the purchase of any Samsung 3D TV, which might be the best deal of all. They’ve priced the 46-inch LN46C750 3D TV (CCFL backlight) at $1529, while Samsung’s PN-50C7000 3D plasma TV is tagged at $1799.

Imagine that. We’re barely three months from all those big 3D product launches in New York, and prices have already started dropping like a stone. To make matters even more interesting, XpanD announced a few months ago at the NAB show that they plan to introduce universal ‘learning’ active shutter glasses to the marketplace later this year, which will directly impact the sales of proprietary AS glasses.

These bundled prices make you wonder about the real value of the glasses and Blu-ray players. In a business where margins are very tight, accessories such as glasses, cables, and even installation services are very important to the bottom line. Both the Panasonic and Samsung BD players list for $400, but my guess is that neither is selling very well right now: Hence, Panasonic’s decision to de-emphasize the player and Samsung’s ploy to throw theirs in as an extra to drive TV sales.

What will be telling is how much this year’s World Cup 3D coverage drives TV sales. You may recall that the World Cup did little or nothing to stimulate sales of HDTVs four years ago because Asian TV manufacturers overlooked an obvious fact: World Cup fanatics in Europe prefer to watch matches in pubs and taverns with their pals – not at home.

While ESPN is to be commended for making a substantial effort and investment to produce 3D coverage, it’s unfortunate that one of the least-appealing sports to Americans (historically speaking) is the focus of this coverage and not something like baseball, or basketball (NBA Finals), or even tennis.

What happens after July 11, when the Cup tournament concludes? How much 3D coverage will be available to drive TV sales throughout the summer?

Apparently not very much, based on the announcements made to date. And that means we’re likely to see even bigger discounts on 3D TV packages by September.

(By the way, none of the package deals I mentioned includes an HDMI cable. Hey, retailers have to make a buck someplace!)