Stereo 3D in Focus at NAB

Predictably stereoscopic 3D was one of the main subjects at this year's NAB, with a plethora of new announcements and products. One of the main thrusts of this year's NAB was that the stereoscopic 3D bandwagon shows no sign of stopping just yet, and, with some of the biggest names in the industry more than prepared to jump onboard, indeed it looks like it is about to roll right out of the screen and flatten all before it.

Panasonic was one of the largest of the major broadcast vendors to announce that it is to start developing a professional 3D production system and had concept models on display on its booth. The system consists of a twin-lens P2 professional camcorder coupled with special recorder and a 3D-compatible HD plasma display, the company highlighting that it means the end to lashed together, home-brew rigs.

"Panasonic is continuing its efforts to enable consumers to enjoy 3D movies in the comfort of their own living rooms with its 3D Full HD Plasma Home Theater System, which incorporates a Plasma HDTV and a Blu-ray Disc player," said Dr. Paul Liao, chief technology officer of Panasonic Corporation of North America. "The professional 3D Full HD image production system we are going to develop will improve the 3D production environment and accelerate creation of 3D titles."

Silicon Imaging, meanwhile, still glowing in the plaudits of enabling the digital shooting of Slumdog Millionaire, unveiled what it claimed to be the world's first integrated 3D cinema camera and stereo visualisation system. The SI-3D uses two remote SI-2K Mini cameras with a P+S interchange lens mount connected to a single processing system via gigabit Ethernet where they are synchronized and controlled through the SiliconDVR touchscreen interface. It shoots uncompressed raw imagery from the two synched cameras and encodes directly to a single stereo CineFormRAW QuickTime file, along with 3D LUT colour and convergence metadata. The stereo file can then be instantly played back and edited in full 3D on a Final Cut timeline, without the need for proxy conversions.

"The SI-3D camera system streamlines the entire stereo 3D content acquisition and post production process;" said Ari Presler, CEO of Silicon Imaging. "Combining two cameras into a single control, processing and recording platform enables shooting and instant playback like a traditional 2D camera with the added tools needed on-set to analyse and adjust the lighting, colour, flip orientation and stereo depth effects. In post, a unified stereo file plus associated metadata can be immediately graded for dailies, edited, and viewed in either 2D or 3D."

The established players in the nascent 3D industry aren't taking this lying down, of course, with 3ality announcing it will begin making its state-of-the-art 3flex camera rigs available for sale. 3flex camera systems use sophisticated artificial intelligence to sense the environment and feature automated set-up and alignment to address colour ramps, lens aberrations and geometric distortion. The systems also provides broadcasters and filmmakers with a full 3D metadata output package that is generated every six milliseconds.

Three models will be available, from a 3D camera rig with beam splitter up to a modular side-by-side camera system that will hold any camera and lens combination. The company will begin taking orders immediately for manufacturing, with expected delivery in late summer or early autumn.

It's also launching what it calls its 3DIQ training programme, which can lead to several different certifications, and consists of a series of educational sessions that range from a general overview of the principles of 3D production to personal tutorials that provide hands-on experience in operating state-of-the-art camera, production and broadcasting systems.

"Combined with our recent establishment of the 3DIQ training and certification program, 3ality Digital's rollout of 3flex camera rigs represents an aggressive move to empower the entertainment and broadcast industries to create exceptional live-action 3D content," said Steve Schklair, chief executive officer of 3ality Digital Systems, the technology and production arm of 3ality Digital. "Our objective is to supply broadcasters and content creators with professional level tools, technologies, and information that integrate well with existing workflows and production methodologies."

On the post side, all the established manufacturers launched improved 3D toolsets. On the genuinely new front CineForm released Neo3D, which enables Final Cut Pro users to create 3D QuickTime movies that include both left and right eyes, and to edit 3D projects in realtime with full framerate playback to an external 3D monitor. This should allow many projects to eliminate 3D conform entirely and print directly from the Final Cut Pro timeline to electronic 3D distribution or projection files.

Meanwhile, on the live 3D front, Snell's Kahuna now boasts 3D stereoscopic functionality, theoretically making it easier for operators to fine-tune the alignment of cameras, thus enabling faster and more cost-effective calibration of cameras for 3D acquisition.

If you might want to test all this equipment, then Southern California is the place to go. The Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California (ETC-USC) has set up a laboratory where manufacturers and content creators can put stereoscopic 3D to the test. Called the Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab, it allows users to test any and all combinations of content (live action vs animated), display devices, format, distribution paths, and glasses types.

Lastly, and to emphasise the point that domestic 3D is very much the Holy Grail of all this effort, the 3D@Home Consortium completed its first year of operations. Over 40 organisations joined the initiative in the past year, from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment to Eutelsat and many major home electronics manufacturers in-between, and it has been busy performing such important tasks as validating 3D test and measurement procedures, defining and diagramming the connections needed from mastering formats to final signal, and identifying the full landscape of standards-setting bodies and initiating formal liaison relationships and exploring cooperation with evaluation labs and institutes.

"Consumer awareness of the new generation of stereoscopic 3D is increasing daily," noteed Chris Chinnock, 3D@Home board member and president of Insight Media. "3D in cinema is a hit and it is driving a demand for 3D entertainment in the home. 3D gaming is poised to become a mainstream phenomenon with 3D on laptops, cell phones, cameras and picture frames not far behind. But with such opportunities come challenges and cooperating to overcome them is why the 3D@Home Consortium was formed. We are leveraging development activity in all areas to bring this technology to market faster without sacrificing quality."

By Andy Stout, TVB Europe