A 3D Reality Breakthrough

While plenty of industry attention and press ink has been directed toward the rise of stereoscopic 3D it’s refreshing to find a 3D TV system that not only goes against the grain, but is also operational. Indeed German producer Telcast Media has been pioneeering stereo production since 1992 and claims to be the only company to have successfully produced 3D TV for major broadcasters including TF1, RTL, Discovery and the BBC.

It created 3D versions of Doctor Who, Top of the Pops and EastEnders for Children in Need a decade ago, while its own 3-D Megashark aired on Discovery. The company’s patented system is still finding favour among broadcasters. The latest to licence it is Thai subscription cable channel Truevisions TV which will use it to produce live sections of its highly popular talent-based reality show True Academy Fantasia.

Truevisions TV’s chief programme officer and the series’ executive producer Attaphon Na Bangxang wanted to use the 3D experience to bring something new to the production’s sixth season, which launched on 29 June. True Academy Fantasia is described as a mix between X Factor and Big Brother. The contestants for the song-led talent show live in the same house fitted with hundreds of hidden cameras. Audiences can watch them 24/7 live on TV and online.

Telcast produced sections of the live opening and closing concerts in 3D as well as recorded segments of the contestants, a virtual tour round the house and a 3D commercial for one of the show’s sponsors (7/Eleven or Pepsi). It is in essence an anaglyph format, often derided by exponents of the new stereoscopy, but according to Telcast president Thomas Hohenacker, the only format which will be successful in the home.

“Polarised systems have two different perspectives — one for each eye — that are broadcast or projected at the same time and separated again by the glasses,” he explains. “This is no problem in a controlled environment like a cinema, but in the home viewers without glasses will be discriminated against since the double signal superimposed on the image renders a 3D polarised broadcast redundant for viewers in 2D.”

He adds, “It was always clear to me that a successful 3D television system is one that doesn’t discriminate against any viewer which is why our system can be viewed with the Telcast 3D glasses in 3D or without glasses perfectly in 2D.”

Instead of superimposing the two individual perspectives and broadcasting them at the same time, Telcast broadcasts with a delay of one field, exactly 1/50th or 1/60th of a second. Doing so means the double lines, which would blur a 3D stereo image viewed in 2D, are negligible. Telcast’s patented 3D glasses in connection with its 3D shooting method merge the two perspectives into a three-dimensional image in the brain of the viewer.

It also means capturing at 50 individual fields (50 or 60i, not 25p or 30p although 50p is possible). Telcast uses a single HD camera and standard lens, modified with the firm’s patented ‘special sauce’ contained in a black box attached to the camera, the detail of which Hohenacker isn’t revealing.

Telcast doesn’t just license the technology but the camera operator as well, believing that the success of a 3D production is just as reliant on craft skills. Martin Winkler, the producer-cameraman for True Academy Fantasia has 15 years experience under his belt and claims not to need a monitor (even though one is hooked to his Steadicam) when shooting, but to judge the 3D effect by instinct.

The signal output from the camera, or recorded to tape, is produced and transmitted normally. “No other equipment or post production intervention is required,” Hohenacker says. “That’s the big advantage for broadcasters who don’t have to change or invest in any hardware.” Edits will tend to be held a little longer and slowmotion, unless shot at 150fps, destroys the necessary frame ratio.

The special 3D glasses, usually cardboard framed and distributed free with programme promotion (in this case with the cable customer’s magazine) contain patented film that “instead of filtering individual colours from the superimposed image like red-green anaglyph glasses, creates a time delay in perception.”

For Winkler, the key to preparing the shoot is to look for scenarios with a foreground, mid-ground and background and if an element isn’t present, to shift his position or that of an object around accordingly.

“It’s about the choreography of the camera, people or objects,” he says. “The opening sequence of this show will be straightforward since there are 12 contestants which we can frame at different distances. The concert stage has also been redesigned for 3D (in terms of placement of a band, the stage width has also been extended to allow Winkler more room to move) but some rooms of the house can look flat (such as a bedroom with row of 10 beds) so I’ve shifted tables, plants or lambs to the foreground.”

Telcast transported over a million 3D glasses to Bangkok — weighing over 4,400 kg. A symbol appears on screen alerting viewers to wear them for the next scene. “Each 3D section, such as a song, is around 3-4 minutes long although we can go up to 45 minutes in 3D,” explains Winkler. “Much more than that and any 3D system starts to feel uncomfortable.”

Telcast has signed a deal with Jordanian broadcaster ATV to produce a 10x5min series on the venues for the 2010 World Cup. Although it won’t be producing live action from South Africa, Telcast has done sports in the past including Sydney 2000 Olympics and French league soccer for TF1.

“Polarised systems are great for the cinema where everyone has a pair of glasses but when you move to mass market broadcast our system is definitely the only way,” Hohenacker says. “There is no alternative without swapping out hardware for consumer and broadcaster.

“We have a track record of increasing ratings of shows filmed in 3D by 50%,” he claims. Telcast holds the record for TF1 ratings for its 3D production of Miss World a decade ago. Perhaps that’s not so suprising, but the Thai example shows that even reality shows can benefit. “Even on long-running series where we’ve inserted 3D elements, ratings have gone up 80%.”

By Adrian Pennington, TVB Europe