The third dimension

zoom

Live and recorded 3D stereoscopic productions are on the rise fuelling consumer interest in 3D screens capable of viewing them, writes Adrian Pennington.

The technology to produce, transmit and view three-dimensional programming in the home just requires fine-tuning.

Philips is already selling 3D TV sets to the commercial advertising market for up to US $40,000 each, and the company is confident that cheaper versions costing $2,400 will be available by 2011 when enough content would be available to justify splashing out on the new technology.

There are signs that this is happening - particularly in the field of live sports and wildlife documentaries.

Stereoscopy is booming in Hollywood, where 3D features are taking around three times more box office receipts per screen than 2D versions of the same film.

Its eye-catching success has attracted the attention of the corporate communications industry where 3D can deliver a genuine wow! factor on digital out-of-home signage. Live pay per view or public large screen events are also seen as ripe for exploitation with music and sports being the most applicable genres.

"The rise of stereo is not dissimilar to the evolution of HD," notes David Wooster, a director of 3D production specialists The3DFirm. "There's an element of test and experiment before delivery to a mass audience. The next step is to expand 3D techniques into outside broadcasting."

If Vince Pace has led the field in Los Angeles, (his expertise is behind the pioneering feature work of director James Cameron and the first 3D broadcasts of a live event - NBA basketball), The 3DFirm is Europe's leader.

It piloted the first satellite-delivered multi-camera 3D event (of an international rugby match last March), and subsequently worked with Swiss producers HBS to create a 3D feed from the Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Canada.

The interest of HBS is significant since it holds the contract for the host broadcast of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. "3D is on our radar and we'd like it to be on FIFA's radar," says Peter Angell, director of HBS' Production and Programming Division.

There's an increasingly strong likelihood that major sports events like the World Cup, and the 2012 London Olympics will feature simulcast 3D/HD production.

The stereo transmission will be viewed over large screens and HBS, one of the world's leading OB producers, is keen to establish a workflow.

"One of the critical things about the way we tackled ice hockey was to start by adopting a regular broadcast workflow and trying to make that work in 3D rather than taking a feature film 3D approach and trying to make that work in a broadcast environment," says Angell.

"What that effectively means is working with existing OB equipment and not designing bespoke rigs for each project. If 3D OBs are to take off, production needs to be plug-and-play as well as cost-effective using standard EVS machines and vision mixers," Angell adds.

Three static pairs of Thomson LDK 6000 cameras were triax-cabled and gen-locked to a vision mixing truck.

The feeds were then recorded to EVS XT[2] servers and then to HD recorders synced by timecode.

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

READERS' COMMENTS

View all comments (0)

Have your say

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM