With 3D technology dominating the conversation in both the consumer electronics industry as well as the electronic integration industry, it only makes sense that this year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show would be dominated by talk of 3D technology as well. Held last week in Las Vegas, NAB Show is one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of professionals from across the broadcasting industry, including television and motion picture industries. Whereas other trade shows like the Consumer Electronics Show focused on 3D technology in the home, the 2010 NAB Show focused primarily on acquiring and distributing 3D content for broadcasters, which up until this point largely remained a glaring question mark. And just how there are competing and differing technologies for showing 3D content at home, the broadcasting industry has yet to decide on a single technology for shooting movies and TV shows in 3D.
The first technology uses a device known as a beam-splitter, which is essentially an angled two-way mirror allowing one camera to shoot images through the mirror, and another camera mounted on top to shoot images that are reflected off the mirror. This setup, shown here with two Red One cameras, is typically used for filming motion pictures in 3D, such as the mega-hit Avatar.
The second option is to mount two cameras side-by-side, which is typically used when shooting live programming like sports events in 3D. This image was taken during ESPN’s first-ever test 3D broadcast of the USC vs. Ohio State college football game last fall. While it works well for live 3D events, a special technician known as a stereographer looks ahead a few shots to ensure that the two cameras do not lose convergence—essentially going crosseyed—due to the distance between the two lenses. These cameras also present logistical challenges for broadcasters and venues, as they cannot be placed in the typical stadium camera locations.
Just introduced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and put on public display for the first time at the 2010 NAB Show is Panasonic’s new AVC-ULTRA3D camcorder, which features new split lens technology. This eliminates the need for two complete cameras to be placed side by side in a special rig and enables handheld shooting, making it more cost effective for broadcasters and filmmakers to produce 3D content.
3D TV and More at the 2010 NAB Show
TechNotes: Cutting Through the 3D Hype
At the Consumer Electronics Show back in January, the major TV manufacturers made it clear: this year was going to be the year when three-dimensional technology came out of the movie theaters and into your living room. They called 3D “…the next big thing,” and were making the same claim that going from high definition TV to 3D is the same as going from standard definition to HD. Lofty claims for sure, especially when we all know the difference between HD and SD is so great. While the technology that makes 3D at home a possibility is indeed groundbreaking, it’s hard to escape the feeling that it’s also shrouded in an inordinate amount of hype.
SoundVision's opinion of the difference in overall experience between SDTV, HDTV and 3D TV.
It is our opinion as an organization that the technology behind 3D still has some significant maturing to do before it can become as widely adopted and essential as HD. The technology behind the 3D TV sets today is a vast improvement over the anaglyph method that has been used to reproduce both still and moving 3D images since the turn of the 20th Century, there still is a requirement to wear glasses in order to view 3D images. The glasses required by today’s 3D displays use active shutter technology, opening and closing the lens in front of each eye many times per second. The human eye cannot detect this motion, and the technique tricks our brain into seeing a 3D picture. This technique of reproducing 3D can also slightly sacrifice image quality by reducing the overall resolution of your TV.As we talked about last week in our post about the new 3D flat-panel TV lineups from Panasonic and Samsung, with the upcoming 3D Blu-ray Disc and cable network launches, there is going to be demand from early adopters to integrate 3D technology into media systems. As always, SoundVision is here to help our clients navigate the 3D waters. Most high-performance plasma and LCD TVs will be “3D ready” in 2010, so it’s a very real possibility for anyone purchasing a new TV this year will be bringing this new technology home, and we’ll be here to help you get the most from it.Do you have an opinion on the new 3D technology? Let us know in the comments!