DVB Publishes 3D Requirements

The Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB) steering board has approved commercial requirements for 3D-TV, with the group opting for the Frame Compatible Plano-Stereoscopic System. Plano-stereoscopic imaging systems deliver two images (L, R) that are arranged to be seen simultaneously, or near simultaneously, by the left and right eyes. Special glasses are usually needed by the viewer.

“The main implication for the requirement is that the L and R images must be arranged in a ‘spatial multiplex’ such that the resulting signal can be processed by the STB substantially as a conventional HDTV signal,” says the document. “Following ITU and other terminology, this is termed a Frame Compatible (FC) format.”

The document defines DVB 3D-TV commercial requirements for DVB members from the key industry groups utilising existing high-definition TV infrastructure. It also deals with issues such as subtitling of 3D content and graphics and text display.

While the group has gone for the Plano-Stereoscopic System, there could be room for another set of standards within the DVB Project. The document says: “Other DVB members have expressed the potential need for a set of standards that are appropriate to a different set of commercial requirements. These commercial requirements are in the process of being discussed and agreed, and they are not considered in this document.”

By Rose Major, Rapid TV News