Sport in 3D

At a London conference organised by Futuresource Consulting, there was disagreement on whether sport will drive 3DTV into the home. While some speakers saw sport as the route to winning an audience for 3D television, others warned of significant problems.

Brian Lenz, head of product design and innovation at Sky in the UK, saw it as critical for success. "Sport is where we have to make it happen," he told delegates. But Ben Carr, VP of new technology at Walt Disney Studios, had a warning. "There are challenges with shooting live action that are not there with animation," he said.

While good 3D is widely regarded as a compelling, immersive experience, it takes little disruption in the shooting to destroy the effect and potentially upset the viewers, literally. Lenz had already quoted the words of Jeffrey Katzenberg: "Any business model that can make your customers throw up has a low chance of success."

Disney is the parent company of ESPN, the world's leading sports broadcaster, and Carr pointed out that there are no chances to go back and reshoot in live sports. "There are real capture challenges, especially in sports," he underlined. "We are grappling with those challenges at the moment."

Andy Millns, director of Inition, which has been involved in the production of some experimental sports broadcasts, including the 2008 coverage of a Six Nations rugby game from Murrayfield, was specific about the challenges. Talking about the difficulties of working with the sort of affordable rigs broadcasters are currently using, he warned that "the slightest breeze can knock the cameras out of alignment.

"It is possible to create great looking sport in 3D at the moment," he added, "but it does require a very hands-on approach, with a lot of specialist support."

Millns' reported need for increased technical support on an outside broadcast was at odds with the call for affordable production from Sky's Brian Lenz. "3D cannot be a cost of doing business," he said. "Any infrastructure investment must be minimised, and must demonstrate a return.

"Can we produce economically? And can we produce visually compelling 3D content? If we can pull together to make that happen, we have a chance to make 3D the next big thing."

By Dick Hobbs, TVB Europe