Silicon Imaging Leverages NVIDIA Quadro Digital Video Pipeline

Silicon Imaging has teamed up with NVIDIA to launch the new SI-3D Live System – a stereo HD-SDI Video Processing and 2K recording platform, based on the NVIDIA Quadro Digital Video Pipeline that will enable users to shoot and transmit live stereoscopic 3D events using the SI-3D cameras. SI-3D Live is the first stereo camera system to allow for synchronized capture, stereo correction, Iridas color grading, 2K raw recording and simultaneous generation of live stereo, independent left and right, SMPTE HD-SDI genlocked outputs. It is also the first to support NVIDIA 3D Vision for direct viewing on 120Hz 3D HDTV’s for on-set monitoring.

The SI-3D Live system is ideal for closed-circuit events and live broadcasts, providing robust, real-time controls. Stereoscopic 12-bit RAW image data is transported via Gigabit Ethernet to the processing system containing an NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800 GPU and a Quadro HD-SDI digital video output module. The data is interleaved into a stereo pair for recording to a single QuickTime file for 2K RAW postproduction. It is also sent to the NVIDIA GPU for real-time 30-bit 3D-LUT color processing using the IRIDAS SpeedGrade rendering engine. There the images are developed and spatially repositioned for correct stereo display. The NVIDIA Quadro HD-SDI module outputs the Left-Right stereo pair as a genlocked dual SMPTE 4:2:2 broadcast stream at 1080 or 2K for direct projection.

With the SI-3D Live, broadcasters and production companies can shoot and record 2K cinema-quality stereoscopic images, while simultaneously outputting stereo HD from the same system. And since Silicon Imaging’s 2K data is overscanned, (2048 X 1152 at 24/25fps or 2048 X 1080 at 30fps compared to a DCI standard 2K image at 1998 X 1080), operators have 50 lines of horizontal shift, allowing them to adjust convergence issues without losing any resolution. This means that the parallax can be set for broadcast, with enough data latitude remaining for cinema.

Source: Silicon Imaging