 Archive for July, 2010‘Lost’ co-creator not a fan of 3-D J. J. Abrams, left, and Joss Whedon, during a panel discussion at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego. Judging from his comments made at the recent Comic-Con convention in San Diego, J. J. Abrams, co-creator of the “Lost” television series and director of the “Star Trek” remake, is not a fan of 3-D. Read the rest of this entry » Terrestrial 3-DTV broadcasting in Australia discussed in white paperTransmission services provider Broadcast Australia has developed a white paper that discusses the challenges of establishing Australia’s new 3-D TV environment and highlights the importance of laying the foundations to ensure the country’s free-to-air broadcasting infrastructure is ready to deliver such service. Read the rest of this entry » If 3-D makes you happy Sony’s new MVS-8000X production switcher handled the 2-D/3-D production in single-mode 3Gb/s. An intimate live show by Sheryl Crow was captured in New York City on Wednesday by All Mobile Video’s new 53ft Epic 3-D production truck, in both 2-D and 3-D, for a future edition on the PBS series “Soundstage.” The production is one of the first 2-D/3-D events captured with a single truck and represents a model of how to produce events more economically than using two separate trucks. Sharp ships 3-D camera module for mobile devices The current 3-D camera cell phone module (developed by Sharp) internally processes image data output by compact left and right cameras. Sharp began shipping samples this month of a new add-on 3-D camera module that allows users of mobile devices such as cell phones, digital cameras and netbooks to record 3-D HD images. According to the company, it’s set to go on sale by the end of the year. The new Sharp external plug-in module captures 720p full-motion video in 3-D, an industry first for consumer mobile devices, according to the company. Images can be viewed auto-stereoscopically (single viewer, no glasses) on 3-D-capable mobile devices or on a larger screen using polarized glasses. Read the rest of this entry » SMPTE 3-D conference provides roadmap for 3-D landscape At a conference hosted by the SMPTE, Panasonic gave a presentation on its new 3D-A1 camcorder, revealing that it made some compromises inside the camera to make 3-D production easily accessible to a wider production community. At the recent engineering conference hosted by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) in New York City, a number of camera technologies for acquiring stereoscopic 3-D images, both established and future-forward, were presented to a highly attentive audience. For the engineers in attendance, eager to get a handle on the tidal wave of information now becoming available and to see innovation in its prototype phase, it provided a good look at the merging worldwide 3-D landscape and how science is helping to bring “comfortable” content to movie and TV screens around the world. The international strength of the SMPTE membership was in full view; the conference brought presenters from Russia, France, Spain and the United States to weigh in on the first day of the two-day meeting. Read the rest of this entry » Quantel Pablo helps PostWorks create 3-D spot for ESPN Quantel's Pablo system includes color, effects, titling and compositing tools that helped PostWorks complete the ESPN 3-D spot project. PostWorks, a New York City-based post-production house, used its Quantel Pablo and Genetic Engineering systems to create one of the first 3-D TV commercials in the United States for ESPN. The 30-second spot, which promotes ESPN’s own “Sportscenter” program, has been running throughout ESPN’s live, stereoscopic 3-D coverage of the World Cup. The spot was shot and posted in just 10 days, according to Corey Stewart, PostWorks chief engineer, and depicts a “Sportscenter” anchor hitting a broadcast camera lens with a baseball bat. Read the rest of this entry » HITS develops 3-D interactive application for cable operators A technology team at the Comcast Media Center has developed an EBIF-enabled interactive application for MSOs that is optimized for next-generation 3-D TV services. HITS, a business unit of the Comcast Media Center that provides content management and distribution services to MSOs, has developed an EBIF (Enhanced Binary Interchange Format)-enabled interactive application optimized for 3-D TV services. The new 3-D interactive application is designed to operate on 3-D TVs and targets video programming that is not in 3-D source code, such as guides or tickers. HITS addresses this concern with technology that allows 3-D and 2-D content to be viewed simultaneously. The technology can be employed by MSOs to ensure that visual elements such as text or buttons can be delivered in high-quality feeds to their 3-D TV subscriber base. This can translate to a wider adoption of popular 3-D technology throughout the industry. Read the rest of this entry » CE stores, consumers desperately seeking content Some of the most frequently asked questions by consumers are about the availability of 3-D content. A new study from the Consumer Electronics Association surveying consumer electronics sales associates states that 80 percent believe sales of 3-D technologies will not be strong until more 3-D content is available. The survey, “The 3D Retail Experience – Opinions of Sales Associates,” polled more than 250 retail sales associates selling 3-D TVs and also found that many consumers are still confused about 3-D technology. Read the rest of this entry » 3-D TV purchases predicted to reach 20 percent of all sets sold in U.S. by 2013 The Consumer Electronics Association estimates 3-D TV set sales for all of 2010 will 1.05 million. In-Stat is predicting that one in five TVs purchased in the United States in 2013 will be 3-D-capable sets. Year-over-year shipments are expected to grow 231 percent between 2010 and 2011, resulting in a doubling of the U.S. installed base of units for 3-D TVs from 2010 to 2011. “High definition did create a wave of activity in the U.S. market, not seen since the introduction of color,” said In-Stat analyst Stephanie Ethier. “3-D TV promises to be the next significant innovation wave for living room entertainment.” Read the rest of this entry » 3-D global sales off to a slow start Globally, only one in eight 3-D set owners will actually watch 3-D programming this year. The numbers are starting to trickle in, and perhaps it’s no surprise: 3-D sales globally have gotten off to a slow start. To be fair, only a few vendors offered 3-D sets in the first weeks of sales, with major vendors like Sony just beginning to offer 3-D sets as of last month. 3-D TV and stand-alone Blu-ray player sales in the United States have exceeded $55 million in the first three months since the launch of these products in February, according to the NPD Group, a market research company. Read the rest of this entry »
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