SMPTE Focused on 3D in the Home Environment

SMPTE President Robert Kisor has emphasised a need for a standard distribution file format for 3D content viewed in the home. This is a prominent issue on the SMPTE agenda. During the summer, the standards-setting body established a 3D Home Display Formats Task Force to define the parameters of a stereoscopic mastering standard that will enable 3D feature films and other programming to be played on all fixed devices in the home, no matter the delivery channel.

"The goal is to get to a single distribution master, just like we are trying to finalise in digital cinema," said Kisor, VP, engineering and technical services at Paramount Pictures, who likened the situation to the former Blu-ray/HD DVD issue. "Do you do one? Do you do both? Now look at it in 3D, where there are maybe four different formats. That fragments the market even more ... You don't want to have the consumer trying to sort out different copies of something to figure out which one plays on their particular combination of hardware.

"That's why it is important to get CEA to buy into the process," Kisor said. "If the technology side for file formats and interfaces can blend with the CEA development of how the systems work, then there is a good chance a consumer-friendly system can be generated through the task force."

Source: IBC Daily