Six Nations Rugby Goes 3D

Two England home Six Nations rugby matches will be broadcast live in 3D with production organised by Inition partnered with SIS Live. The production will deploy 3D Quasar rigs from Element Technica in seven camera positions.

The Quasar will be set up as a converging side-by-side system to enable extreme focal lengths but it can also be configured as a beamsplitter system for close work with wide lenses. Sony HDC-950s and 1500s will be used. Two rigs are being hired from Panavision UK, one is owned by Inition and the rest direct from Element Technica in the US.

Forty Odeon and Cineworld cinemas will screen the matches, beginning with England's official centenary game, against Wales on February 6, as part of a deal with O2, the England sponsor. The match against Ireland on February 27 will also be screened live in 3D.

The cinema infrastructure is being installed using Sensio 3D transmission formats. Graphics studio Wurmsers devised and will manage on-screen 3D graphics. The broadcast will be mastered for archive onto HDCAM SR.

Creative advertising agency Archibald Ingall Stretton commissioned Inition to produce the matches which are set to become the largest ever UK sports events to be broadcast live in 3D. Inition has worked on a number of 3D sports productions from football and ice hockey to gymnastics and track events. It previously shot England's clash with Scotland at Murrayfield in 2008 as part of a 3D test for the BBC.

By Adrian Pennington, TVB Eeurope