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Broadcast Engineering on 3-D
Archive for November, 2010
by Michael Grotticelli November 23rd, 2010
 Zoran’s frame-rate conversion technology assigns interpolated pixels according to the motion of the corresponding object. Sunnyvale, CA-based company Zoran has developed a new frame-rate conversion platform that it claims will “noticeably improve” the video quality of both 2-D and 3-D images on a TV display.
Called the SupraFRC 301 frame-rate conversion processor platform, the technology is available only to qualified LCD and DTV manufacturers that want to improve their video display quality, Zoran said. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: conversion, frame rate, platform, signal processing, SupraFRC 301, Zoran Corp.
Related Topics: Acquisition, Application, Broadcast, Film, Infrastructure |
by Michael Grotticelli November 23rd, 2010
 Without enough pairs of compatible glasses, some people end up staring at a blurry screen, according to Phil Spencer, the corporate vice president for Microsoft Game Studios. For the head of the gaming division at Microsoft, there’s a lot of hype surrounding 3-D TV technology, but not enough compatible TV in the marketplace and too many limitations to make it a success with consumers; however, 3-D gaming has been touted as one of the few success stories with consumers thus far.
Phil Spencer, the corporate vice president for Microsoft Game Studios, told CNN in a recent interview that “we’re trying to do things that millions of people can enjoy today” and “people just don’t have TVs in their house right now that are going to do 3-D in a way that’s going to work.”
The need for glasses is an Achilles’ heel to acceptance by consumers of 3-D TV technology, Spencer said.
“A bunch of people sitting around the living room wearing $150 glasses, I’m just not sure that’s kind of mainstream today,” he told CNN. “Trying to get a bunch of people playing together in a room where not everybody sees the same thing is kind of a weird disconnect to me.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3DTV, auto-stereoscopic, Game Studios, gaming, glasses, Microsoft, Phil Spencer, television, video games
Related Topics: Application, News, Products |
by Michael Grotticelli November 22nd, 2010
 3Dfusion’s new 42in 3-D display features a lenticular lens design that creates nine distinct autostereoscopic views. After a number of public events involving presentations of its 3-D TV display technology in the past two months, a New York-based startup called 3DFusion is beginning to receive recognition as a promising new way to watch 3-D in the home or at a retail location without special glasses.
Leveraging the company’s 3DFMax image optimization technology, 3Dfusion now offers a new 42in 3-D display with a lenticular lens design that it said creates nine distinct autostereoscopic views. This allows multiple viewers to watch from a large comfort zone. The display and internal 3DFusion technology is designed for a wide range of applications, from home viewing to digital signage and immersive information provisioning. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3DFMax, 3DFusion, auto-stereoscopic, display, glasses, image optimization, monitors, technology
Related Topics: Application, Broadcast, Products |
by Michael Grotticelli November 22nd, 2010
 ESPN continues to seek ways to produce live events in 3-D “with an absolute minimum of additional cost” over standard 2-D production. The production and broadcasting of live 3-D content at ESPN remains on shaky ground. Despite a new internal survey showing that ESPN’s fans prefer its 3-D programming over 2-D HD fare, the network has still not decided how or if to proceed beyond the 94 live events, which it will carry through mid-2011, it has committed to produce in 3-D.
Regardless, the network said it would continue to do research into new production techniques and viewer/advertiser metrics to develop a viable business model. Operating at the cutting edge of technology has always been important to ESPN’s image (and attraction) among viewers. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3D set sales, holiday season, LG Electronics, Panasonic Corp., Samsung Electronics, Sony Corp.
Related Topics: Acquisition, Application, Broadcast, News |
by Michael Grotticelli November 22nd, 2010
 With consumers remaining reluctant to spend on 3-D TV sets, manufacturers are hoping for greater demand in corporate purchases. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but the sale of 3-D TV sets in the United States has hit bottom as the holiday shopping season opens. There are several reasons for this, including a lack of content and consumers’ general aversion to the required (and expensive) active-shutter glasses.
The four largest TV set manufacturers are bracing for a dismal Christmas holiday selling period. Business is down as much as 25 percent this year for all of them, especially 3-D set sales.
Sony, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have all made dire predictions for the season. With the U.S. unemployment rate high and consumers remaining reluctant to spend, manufacturers are hoping for greater demand in corporate purchases. It had been hoped that more expensive 3-D sets and brighter LED screen TV would keep prices from being cut, but U.S. consumers apparently aren’t biting. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3D set sales, holiday season, LG Electronics, Panasonic Corp., Samsung Electronics, Sony Corp.
Related Topics: Application, Broadcast, Products |
by Michael Grotticelli November 22nd, 2010
 Figure 1. The 3-D image in Figure 2 shows how captioning can be disconcerting for the viewer, compared to the 2-D captioned image in Figure 1. As more content is being produced in 3-D, the need for captioning, now mandated by the U.S. government, has been brought to the forefront. While all of the vendors in this category are aware of the need to do it, very few customers have asked for it, which holds back development.
“We certainly have the capability to produce captions in 3-D space, but we’re not investing a lot in R&D until there is customer demand and a standard specification for how to do it,” said José M. Salgado, president and CEO of Los Angeles-based SoftNI, a veteran captioning and subtitling software provider. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3D, CEA, closed captions, Computer Prompting & Captioning, FCC, industry standards, SoftNi, subtitles
Related Topics: Acquisition, Application, Broadcast, Infrastructure, News |
by Michael Grotticelli November 9th, 2010
 James Cameron said no one is willing to spend the two or three or four months on the post-production process necessary to do conversions right. The high-quality conversion of 2-D movies to 3-D is slow, painstaking, hands-on work that costs at least $15 million per film to do “reasonably well” and much more to do perfectly, said director James Cameron, who is in the middle of converting his “Titanic” feature film to 3-D.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Cameron said the field of enhancing existing 2-D movies with 3-D elements is emerging, and that the handful of special effects companies that do such work “have been low-balling their bids … to get a foothold in the market.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3D, conversion, Director, feature films, James Cameron, Post Production, signal processing
Related Topics: Application, Film, News, Post Production |
by Michael Grotticelli November 9th, 2010
 The new study was conducted by ESPN during more than 1000 testing sessions (about 200 lab hours). It appears that sports fans liked watching ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup tournament this summer in 3-D TV more than 2-D HDTV. The results of a new study conducted by the sports network encompassing more than 1000 testing sessions (approximately 2700 lab hours) found that subjects showed “a higher level of viewer enjoyment” and “a stronger sense of presence” with the 3-D telecasts. Quantifying that even further, ESPN said fans’ enjoyment increased from 65 percent to 70 percent in 3-D, while “presence” went from 42 percent to 69 percent. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3D, Disney Media and Ad Lab, ESPN, Internet-Connected TV, market study, viewing habits, Web, World Cup
Related Topics: Application, Broadcast, News |
by Michael Grotticelli November 8th, 2010
 While most marketing efforts have focused on 3-D TV, Internet TV has progressed quietly but steadily. Nearly a year ago, at the CES trade show in Las Vegas, the “next big thing” was said to be 3-D TV. Now, new research shows that another technology has usurped 3-D’s thunder in “a quiet revolution” that is stealing sales from the nascent technology.
More than 40 million Internet-connected TV sets will be shipped worldwide in 2010, with the number growing to 118 million by 2014, according to market research firm DisplaySearch. 3-D TV sales, on the other hand, will equal only 3.2 million sets sold worldwide this year. That means 3-D TV sales will end the year with only 2 percent of all flat-panel TV shipments. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3D, CES Show, DisplaySearch, Internet-Connected TV, market study, Web
Related Topics: Application, Broadcast, Products |
by Michael Grotticelli November 8th, 2010
 All of Miranda’s Kaleido multiviewers can now provide stereoscopic 3-D monitoring, while the company’s Densité 3DX-3901 signal-processing card performs all of the necessary conversion to go from full stereoscopic to frame compatible, as well as providing camera alignment adjustments. In this time of broadcaster uncertainty, manufacturers of 3-D production and distribution equipment have been challenged to figure out how to sell their next-generation products to a customer base that doesn’t necessarily want it. At least not right now.
What many manufacturers, such as Miranda Technologies in Montreal, have done is tailor their message to those most interested in launching new 3-D channels by next year. Theoretically, the rest will follow at some point. It’s enough to cause headaches among sales personnel far worse than what some 3-D content elicits.
The first goal of manufacturers is to educate the market about what needs to be done to existing infrastructure to make 3-D broadcasting a reality. Whereas new production tools are required to create the content, legacy servers and automation systems can still be used to distribute it. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Michel Proulx, Miranda Technologies, OmniBus
Related Topics: Acquisition, Application, Broadcast, Film, Infrastructure, News, Products |
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Michael Grotticelli is writer and editor of Broadcast Engineering’s “Beyond the Headlines” and “Sports Technology Update” e-newsletters. Each week, he provides a fresh perspective on the latest in 3-D technologies and innovations as well as report on real-world applications of 3-D in the broadcast, professional video and film industries.
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