A pricey 3D television would not give you eye problems, an Australian vision expert says.

According to Professor Colin Clifford, the latest improvement in TV technology posed no more risk than a regular flat screen TV. The professor is an authority on how the brain interprets signals from the eyes.

He said that the fear about the newly-introduced 3D TVs extends from worries on an earlier version of interactive home entertaniment.

"The concern about 3DTV originates with the development, a couple of years ago, of virtual reality goggles which have tiny screens right in front of both eyes which present a slightly different image to each eye," he said.

Professor Clifford, from The Vision Centre and the University of Sydney, said that the goggles pushed each eye to concentrate on a point that was very close, while the user's brain gets images of objects that seemed to be far away.

He adds that this was not the natural orientation for the eyes when looking into the distance and this process posed issues on "confusing the brain's processing system".

"As 3DTV is usually watched from a longer distance it is unlikely to affect how the eyes and brain perceive depth of field," Prof Clifford said.

"The human visual system responds to a great many different cues in order to interpret the depth of what it is seeing.

"It is not likely to be confused by a single cue - a 3D picture which is in fact being projected on a flat screen."

The professor said that there was a finding that a 3D television in reality created less of a conflict for the brain's vision interpretation processes than ordinary 2D television.

People should watch all kinds of televisions from a distance of two to three metres and within recommended daily limits.

Children are advised to refrain from watching in excessive amounts because their brain and eyes are still developing and their sense of depth could get affected.

As for those who are conscious of their budget, Prof Clifford said there is always the "poor man's 3DTV" experience. Viewers would just have to cover one eye when watching ordinary television.

"By covering the second eye, you lose the cue from that eye that tells you the screen is in fact flat and so the image appears more in-depth and realistic."You could say it's a kind of poor man's 3DTV."

The Vision Centre is funded by the Australian Research Council as the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science.