3D gaining momentum

David Austerberry April 20th, 2009

Several companies have launched 3D stereoscopic products, or have stated that they will develop 3D products for release in the future. Although the movie industry is producing blockbuster movies in 3D, for live sport, 3D television is a compelling proposition.

Panasonic is one company which has embarked on a development project for an end-to-end system. This includes a twin-lens P2 camcorder, all the way through to consumer equipment including a 3D blu-ray and 3D displays.

Miranda is showing a 3D multiviewer aimed at the truck market, for monitoring live 3D sport and events. As Michel Proulx of Miranda pointed out, you need a 3Gb/s infrastructure to support the L/R signals. With their new product releases supporting 3G/b, 1.5-only products look set to follow 270Mb/s-only products into history.

I have seen experimental transmissions from Sky in the UK, and they show great promise. There are some issues to resolve about camera work, and how best to shoot, but the rest of the processing chain can be built with adapted 3Gb/s infrastructure. The Sky system even uses their regular HD PVR.

There is no doubt that the CE vendors will push 3D, with games being a big draw, but the availability of 3D movies means that the repository of content is growing rapidly. Whether this is the right year to invest is another matter, but these developments have long lead times—just look how long it took HD to become mainstream.

Harris is showing a different way forward with their mobile TV products. With trials and rollouts starting, it has finally become a reality, and offers new business opportunities to hard-pushed stations. Although it can be received on handsets, it can be used to delivery over-the-air TV to a multitude of devices: signage in public transportation, netbooks—anything that isn’t harnessed to a roof-top antenna.