3D Broadcasting Available From Technicolor
Technicolor has launched the first independent broadcast services platform ready to broadcast 3D channels out of its Chiswick facility in London. The company is now ready to offer a suite of services to its cable, television, and satellite network service provider clients.
Technicolor said it is able to manage live or pre-recorded content, from post production through encoding for satellite, cable, IPTV or terrestrial distribution. The company is also able to generate logos and other visual effects for 3D broadcasts. The Broadcast 3D transmission suite at Technicolor’s Chiswick Park offices features equipment from Sensio, Orad and Miranda.
“With the availability of 3D televisions, we are very excited to be the first to offer this new Broadcast 3D service to our customers,” said Chuck Parker, president of Technicolor’s Digital Content Delivery business. “Broadcast 3D is a natural extension of the many services we’re already providing, including upstream in production and post production, as well as delivering the highest quality 3D images to theatres and to the home via Blu-ray Disc, broadcast, and digital delivery.”
In addition to Broadcast 3D, the company provides a low cost and high quality film-based theatrical 3D solution, services for Blu-ray 3D, automated 3D subtitling, and auto-stereoscopic content delivery on mobile phones.
Source: CSI
3D TV to Launch in US by DirecTV in 2010
Satellite cable provider DirecTV has a new satellite in the air, and according to HD Guru, one of the 200 new HD stations to be broadcast from it includes the first U.S. HDTV channel in 3D.
There are still some technical hurdles to clear before you’re watching zany sitcom antics flying toward you, but the trend is clear. The satellite begins full operation in March, and existing DirecTV set-top boxes will simply need a firmware upgrade to support the 3D programming. Unfortunately, you’ll still need to pick up a 3D-capable HDTV to play it back, and that’s where the market lag will play a role in determining how fast 3D will penetrate.
Although 3D content has a long history stretching all the way back to 1922 — when the first public 3D movie was displayed — a number of optics and display challenges, as well as market realities, relegated 3D to a periodic novelty for decades. With the vast majority of the technical hurdles now solved and 3D displays making steady inroads at seminal trade shows like CES over the past couple of years, 2010 is poised to be 3D’s breakout year. The emergence of a string of blockbusters like Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and more rounds out 3D’s emergence — or re-emergence — on the big screen. Soon, consumers will come to expect the same experience in their home theater as well.
Sony, Samsung, Mitsubishi, LG and other manufacturers will be showing off 3D displays at CES 2010 next week. They’ll be hoping the stars will align properly to make 2010 3D’s breakout year, and DirectTV’s news is a timely piece of that puzzle. Are you excited about 3D’s inroads to the home, or is your pocketbook still weary from the last cycle of high definition upgrades?
DirectTV 3D Channels Scheduled
In June, DirecTV will become the first pay-TV provider to offer 3-D channels compatible with the new 3-D TVs just now arriving in stores across the country.
TechNewsDaily caught up with Steven Roberts, senior vice president at DirecTV to talk about 3-D TV in the home, including the equipment, the content and the technology choices consumers will face.
DirecTV will initially roll out three 3-D channels in June, with several more to be introduced in the months following. Roberts said the company has been planning for this moment for a long time.
The June offering will include a 24/7 pay-per-view channel, a free general entertainment channel, and a video-on-demand channel, similar to its 2-D on-demand channel.
DirecTV has partnered with Panasonic, which will be one of the first companies to sell 3-D capable TV sets. Panasonic will deliver its first 3-D TVs to retailers this Wednesday. Best Buy is ready with demonstration displays for Panasonic’s 3-D TVs and compatible Blu-ray players in 250 locations.
How will DirecTV and Panasonic work together?
DirecTV and Panasonic will team up on both the marketing of the new 3-D channels and on the production of content for the channels, Roberts said.
“As an industry, we realize we’re going to need to seed the marketplace with as much 3-D content as possible, so we’re working closely with Panasonic to produce 3-D content,” Roberts told TechNewsDaily. “They’ll be offering up 3-D equipment like cameras, as well as funds for producing the content itself.”
The 3-D channels produced by DirecTV and Panasonic will display the Panasonic logo, but will be viewable on any 3-D TV set, Roberts added.
“In fact, we have deals with Samsung, LG and Sony as well as Panasonic to put our software into their television sets, so it’s a seamless transition from 2D to 3-D,” Roberts said. “Once you get to our 3-D channel, the TV will automatically transition itself into the 3-D mode and then back to 2D if you go back onto a 2D channel.”
Without the built-in software, viewers would have to go through the time-consuming task of using their remote control to find the 3-D and 2-D settings on their television set and then make the appropriate adjustments.
When high definition content first became available, it required expensive equipment and an additional, substantial fee. Roberts said he hopes to make 3-D content more affordable from the very beginning.
“No, there will not be an extra hardware charge. Any type of bundling of content, we haven’t really figured out yet,” Roberts said. “We’re trying to make it as affordable as possible, so that as many people can enjoy the experience as possible.”
No Burger King glasses
It’s possible to view 3-D content on a standard television set, as demonstrated at last year’s Super Bowl, when thousands of people picked up paper glasses from Burger King to watch the 3-D ads. This is anaglyphic technology using glasses with red and blue glasses, while the new 3-D TVs will use more sophisticated technology for better displays.
The new 3-D technology can be passive or active. Roberts likes both. He explained that the passive technology uses the same glasses you would get in the movie theater, and that more of the technology for passive is built into the TV set. Active technology uses shuttered glasses, which have a battery in them. More of the technology is built into the active glasses rather than into the TV, which makes them more expensive, but also may be more comfortable for some viewers.
“As an experience, both are great. We support both of them on our set top boxes,” Roberts said. “Samsung, Sony and Panasonic are marketing the active glasses and LG is in the market with passive glasses, but may be coming out with active pairs as well.”
Roberts believes 3-D TVs will be bundled with a certain number of glasses. Samsung will offer a 3-D starter package with the purchase of a 3-D TV and 3-D Blu-ray player that includes two pairs of active glasses and the 3-D version of Monsters & Aliens.
3-D content production
DirecTV is working with Fox to produce a 3-D version of the Major League Baseball All-Star game in August, and will offer a wide range of sporting events throughout the second half of the year. Roberts was enthusiastic about his plans for 3-D concerts and documentaries. “The nature types of films are unbelievable in 3-D, so you’ll be seeing that type of content as well.”
DirecTV is also working with AEG/AEG Digital Media, CBS, Fox Sports/FSN, Golden Boy Promotions, HDNet, MTV, NBC Universal and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., to develop additional 3-D programming for this year and next, Roberts said.
While few 3-D movies are slated for home release in 2010, that number will increase in 2011 after sure-to-be 3-D blockbusters like “Toy Story 3″ in June and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in November have finished their theater runs. However, it’s still unclear how long it will take for movies to come to DirecTV.
“We’ll follow the same window we have with traditional 2D movies,” he said. “It’s really up to the studios, but you can expect those 3-D theatrical releases to be on our pay-per-view, no doubt.”
Sky to launch 3D TV in 2010 following record Sky+HD growth
Sky has announced that the number of customers choosing Sky+HD, the UK’s only high definition (HD) service currently capable of broadcasting 3D services, has increased to 1.313 million following record growth.
Customers have responded in record numbers to Sky’s high quality and great value HD service. Sky has more than doubled the number of HD customers in the last year alone with over 90 customers* an hour joining Sky+HD.
In the next step in the Sky+HD journey, Sky today announced that it will launch the UK’s first 3D channel next year. The channel will offer a broad selection of the best available 3D programming, which is expected to include movies, entertainment and sport. The service will be broadcast across Sky’s existing HD infrastructure and be available via the current generation of Sky+HD
set-top boxes. To watch 3D, customers will also require a new ’3D Ready’ TV, which are expected to be on sale in the UK next year.
This commitment follows extensive research and development activity into 3D, which included Sky becoming the first TV company in Europe to broadcast a live event in 3D TV. On 2nd April 2009 Sky successfully broadcast a performance by Keane live from Abbey Road Studios via the company’s satellite network to a Sky+HD set-top box and domestic 3D Ready TV.
Sky has also confirmed the launch of a comprehensive ‘pull’ video-on-demand (VOD) service next year, to provide Sky+HD customers with additional choice and control to complement Sky+ and the current Sky Anytime ‘push’ VOD service. This new service will use the broadband capability of existing Sky+HD boxes.
Brian Sullivan, Managing Director of Sky’s Customer Group, comments:
“Well over a million homes have future-proofed themselves with Sky+HD, a platform for choice, quality and future innovation. With Sky+ as standard, our customers are already enjoying amazing picture and sound quality on a range of high-quality HD channels which cater to the interests and passions of the whole family.
“Next year we will make our HD boxes work even harder for customers by launching Europe’s first 3D TV channel, as well as introducing a comprehensive video-on-demand service to complement Sky+ and the current Sky Anytime service.
“3D is a genuinely ‘seeing is believing’ experience, making TV come to life as never before. Just like the launch of digital, Sky+ and HD, this is latest step in our commitment to innovating for customers.”
Sky launched the UK’s first national HD service in May 2006 which has since become Europe’s most successful HD service. Today Sky+HD customers can watch 33 HD channels from leading brands such as Sky Movies, Sky Sports, Channel 4, Disney, MTV, BBC, Discovery, FX, Sky1 and National Geographic. Sky+HD customers can choose up to 400 hours a day – or 13,000 hours a month – of quality HD content, which is significantly more than any other TV platform.
Further channels are due shortly, including ESPN HD (August 2009), and Sky News HD (Spring 2010), with a view to growing the offering to 50 channels over time.
Further details on Sky’s pull VOD and 3DTV services, including pricing, packaging and entitlement, will be announced closer to launch.
* On average in the year to end June 2009
Sky+HD:
Sky reported today that in the fourth quarter of 2008/9, it added 291,000 Sky+HD customers, to reach over 1.3 million – more than double the number just a year ago. This means that 14% of Sky’s customer base now chooses Sky+HD (up from 6% last year).
About Sky:
Sky is the UK’s leading entertainment and communications company, operating the most comprehensive multi-channel television service. Over 9.4 million homes – a third of households across the UK and Ireland – enjoy the very best entertainment, movies, news and sports channels. In delivering entertainment through the TV, PC and mobile, customers have more control and flexibility over what, how and when they watch. Almost 5.5 million customers now choose Sky+, Sky’s digital video recorder, to record and store their favourite programmes and 1.3 million enjoy the unprecedented picture and sound quality of Sky+HD, which offers 33 dedicated HD channels. Sky is also the UK’s fastest growing broadband and fixed-telephony provider with over 2.2 million customers taking Sky Broadband and over 1.8 million customers taking Sky Talk.
About Sky 3D TV:
There will be no need for customers to upgrade their set-top boxes to access to the new 3D channel, as all existing Sky+HD boxes are already ‘3D Ready’. However, customers will need a new 3D Ready TV, which are expected to be on sale in the UK during 2010. More details on the channel, including timing, pricing and packaging will be provided in due course.
What has Sky captured in 3D?
On Thursday 2 April Sky successfully broadcast the UK’s first live event in 3D TV to a domestic 3D TV set, via its satellite network and existing Sky+HD set-top boxes. Using polarisation technology, this was the first time an event had ever been broadcast live to a domestic TV screen in the UK.
Other events recorded in 3D include:
- Usain Bolt, sprinting 150 metres down a specially designed track on Manchester’s Deansgate during the Bupa Great City Games (17 May 2009)
- Swan Lake, a special performance by English National Ballet to capture the UK’s first ballet for 3D TV (9 April 2009)
- England vs. New Zealand Rugby Union Test Match (29th November)
- Sky1’s Gladiators (December 2008)
- Liverpool FC vs Marseille UEFA Champions League (26th November 2008)
- Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Lazcano (12th March 2008)
3D explained
The human eye’s ability to see things with variable depth and wide perspective is based on how the brain processes two separate images, as received by each eye. When someone looks at something the brain is able to merge two separate images together to create a field of vision which is both three-dimensional and allows the viewer to focus on specific areas within any given scene.
The jump from 2D to 3D
TV has traditionally only been able to deliver a single image to a television screen. For all the innovation that we’ve seen in TV (including the move to colour, the migration to digital, and more recently, the launch of high definition services), all of these developments have only been able to work within the parameters of a single incoming TV feed – a 2D experience.
So even though HD delivers an intensity and richness which results in exceptional clarity and detail, it is still based on the same underlying picture delivery mechanism as previous TV formats.
3D TV is possible because of a series of major breakthroughs (principally in camera, post-production, encoding, set-top box and TV set technology) which means that domestic TVs are now capable of processing an image in a way that can deliver the depth information to the brain – much like the human eye – and hence add a further dimension to HD.
For the first time, two images can now be merged and played out simultaneously on the same domestic TV display. Polarising glasses are currently used to help direct the correct left or right full colour on-screen image to the corresponding eye. The brain then processes each feed to create a single image, providing a level of depth and focus which means that the content is able to move to and from the foreground and therefore becomes three-dimensional.
