CableLabs Hosting 3D TV Pavilion at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo

CableLabs, working with some of the leading consumer electronics manufacturers and with the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE), has organized a demonstration of the latest 3D theater and television displays as part of the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, a part of Cable Connection - Fall 2009 in Denver. Expo is set for Wednesday through Friday, October 28-30.

The CableLabs 3D TV Pavilion, co-sponsored with SCTE, will include a D-Cinema 3D demonstration in a mini theater provided by Sony and a home theater experience offered by Panasonic, as well as displays of consumer 3D television sets from Hyundai IT, LG Electronics and Sony. The 3,400 foot booth will be part of the Cable-Tec Expo show floor in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

As part of this 3D TV Pavilion, CableLabs will be demonstrating for the first time ever transmissions of synchronized, full color, high definition stereoscopic 3D video signals over a single cable channel on a real cable system. Unlike the 3D-TV delivery of the past that used colored glasses, this new system works with the new generation of 3D-ready TVs (using either polarized or active shutter glasses) to bring the realism of the theater-like 3D experience directly to the home.

"Our goal in producing this demonstration is to make the cable industry further aware of the power of 3D theater experience in the home as well as at the movies," said Dr. Paul Liao, President and CEO of CableLabs. "We truly value the willingness of these consumer electronics companies to support this endeavor for our industry and we thank SCTE for making us a part of their valuable engineering event," he added.

"We think 3D television delivered to the home may be a way for cable operators to differentiate themselves with consumers and we are very interested in the technology on display in this pavilion as a component of that effort," said Comcast CTO Tony Werner.

"3D plays an integral part of Sony's Lens to Living Room story, and our joint demonstration with CableLabs will further showcase the importance of 3D for the cable connected home," said Dr. Randall Waynick, Senior Vice-President of Strategic Alliances for Sony Electronics, Inc.

As part of the CableLabs exhibit, Comcast Media Center (CMC) will be providing 3D content from cable television programming networks to the CableLabs 3D TV Pavilion. CMC's ongoing technology innovation allows it to deliver scalable, revenue-generating advanced video services to small and medium-sized operators who otherwise may not be able to participate in costly advanced-video services such as 3D.

The Sony Theater will feature a 21,000 lumen 4K SXRD projector in an approximately 900-square foot enclosed cinema. Sony's 4K digital cinema projections systems offer among the highest picture resolution of all available projection technologies, 8.8 million pixels. This is slightly more than four times greater than high-definition. The system employed also uses a RealD XLS 3D passive stereo optical system that includes the RealD recyclable passive cinema eyewear.

Sony will also show its prototype 3D-ready LCD flat-screen TVs using 240Hz HFR technology with active shutter glasses to deliver a Full HD 3D home experience. As part of the connected home future, Sony's is also bringing to the cable customer new ways in which multimedia content can be viewed and shared, by enabling Sony HDTVs to be directly connected over a home network and to the customer's broadband high-speed internet service.

Panasonic will demonstrate its Full HD 3D Home Theater experience in a living room setting with a 103-inch Plasma TV. The entire setting has been built into a 53-foot 3D tractor trailer, part of a fleet of trucks that the company is traveling to industry and other destinations to promote the power of 3D. Panasonic plans to demonstrate 3D delivery over cable systems by participating in this historic first cable delivery of stereoscopic 3D content to the 3D Plasma screen in the truck.

"Panasonic is pleased to be first again with a best-in-the world technology to help cable get the immersive 3D TV experience into cable systems nationwide," said Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, Panasonic Corporation of North America's Chief Technology Officer. "We hope to work closely with the cable industry to realize 3D in living rooms beginning next year."

Hyundai IT will show the latest Model (S465D) 46" LCD Full-HD polarized 3D display with playing real-time 3D digital content. Hyundai S465D is capable of displaying both 2D/3D contents and has integrated real-time 2D to 3D video processing capability.

LG Electronics will demonstrate a 47-inch LCD HDTV model that allows viewers to use passive polarized glasses to view the stereoscopic images displayed by the TV. LG's new 3D HDTV, available on the consumer market in South Korea since August, uses a high-contrast and high-brightness LCD panel that displays high-quality 1080p "Full HD" 2D images and also 3D stereo images that can be delivered over HDMI interface ports in one of many possible formats. The UI presents an intuitive and user-friendly way to select the inputs and format.

Source: CableLabs