Is Live 3D TV Fatally Flawed?
Despite Hollywood pouring millions of dollars into the embryonic 3D movie market with more than 40 currently in production, delegates attending TVBEurope’s annual two-day HD Masters event at London’s Hotel Russell were told that practical limitations could hamper live 3D television production for many years to come.
Ex-Sony and Snell & Wilcox HD guru Peter Wilson, now Director at High Definition & Digital Cinema Ltd, said that while movie makers could spend time optimising images in post, live 3D TV events ran the risk of inducing nausea. “During live 3D production it’s likely that viewers will inadvertently be presented with images requiring their eyes to diverge, or for one to look up while the other looks down, neither of which is a comfortable experience,” he said.
Another risk was ‘giantism’, caused by the use of long lenses converging at too high an angle. “The brain attempts to resolve pictures apparently viewed by a giant being, leading to the impression that a bunch of dwarves are running around the sports field,” said Wilson. “Given that long lenses are a staple of sports, a whole new grammar will need to be developed for 3D coverage.”
Bravely entering the lion’s den of 3D TV at HD Masters — which for anybody doubting the connection relies on HD to obtain sufficient resolution — was BSkyB, showing a mixed programme of 16Mbps variable bit rate (VBR) content from a secure test channel received from BSkyB in Osterley via a standard Astra dish on the new £5,000 46-inch 3D TV set from JVC.
Prior to transmission the left and right images are anamorphically squeezed side-by-side into the same picture. In the set, images are expanded to full width and an opposing polarisation applied to each, matching the polarised spectacle lenses so that each eye receives its own image. All other links in the chain, including the set-top box, are compatible without modification.
Chris Johns, chief engineer for Broadcast Strategy at BSkyB, freely admitted that Sky was still learning about 3D TV production and conceded that 3D TV camera rigs were currently bulky, perhaps occupying five otherwise revenue-generating seats at a sport stadium.
However he suggested that the edit cut rate and hence the number of cameras could be reduced for the viewer to ‘linger longer’ and explore each scene, an argument reminiscent of that used for early HD coverage.
Peter Angell, who produced both the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan and the first all-HD 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and Austria, and is now Director of Production and Programming at Host Broadcast Services including its 3D production activities, could hardly disagree more.
“For the World Cup in 2006 we used 18 cameras per match,” he said, “but some 31 will be deployed for each game in 2010. There’s no way we can reduce the number of cameras if we want credible live 3D TV.”
By Richard Dean, TVB Europe
