BBC's Digital Olympics Group to Bring the 2012 Olympics in 3D

The publically funded corporation has formed a Digital Olympics Group, which is drawing up a paper to decide which events would be best to capture stereoscopically.

"We are looking at how this might be achieved and whether it would be possible and useful to show the footage at some stage in cinemas or on big screens," said BBC technology publicist Sarah Mines.

"The 2012 Olympics is a massively important event so as we have said before it is likely that broadcasters will seek to capture elements of the games in 3D."

Currently Super HD, a format significantly higher in definition that current HD standards at 7680 × 4320 pixels, and 3D technology are far from being consumer friendly. However, it is possible that the footage will be stored on archives for when the technology is adoped en masse.

The public could also view the 3D broadcasts on 3D cinema screens like the iMax. The BBC has not yet begun puchasing av equipment to capture the 2012 Olympics in these formats.

By Tom Hall, AV Interactive