To 3D or not to 3D…

Posted by Salma Conway Thursday, December 18th, 2008

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If the future is as crystal clear as the market for high-definition televisions has indicated, how long will it be before 3D images start bursting through our screens? Not that long, it would appear.BSkyB certainly doesn’t seem to think so. I went to a 3D demonstration at Sky’s headquarters in West London this week, and the results were pretty impressive. Not just in terms of picture quality, but also for the fact that the technology can be launched on the existing broadcast infrastructure.

We were shown footage that had been beamed over the satellite system and recorded on a Sky Plus set-top box. The only new piece of equipment was the 46 inch Hyundai 3D TV, and Sky is in talks with all the major 3D TV manufacturers for a launch of the technology on the UK retail market. It hasn’t set a date for launch though.

The Hyundai TV uses stereoscopic technology, which means that without wearing a pair of polarised glasses, the image looks blurred. Sky says that it still hasn’t made any final decisions about whether this is the best choice of technology for 3D broadcasting, but for now it seems to offer the best experience.

Having seen the alternative 3D technology I’m inclined to agree. This is called “lenticular” technology being developed by manufacturers like Philips, which creates a 3D optical illusion without the need for glasses. But the picture quality suffers and the effect is more often “2D plus depth” rather than eye-popping 3D.

During the Sky demonstration we were shown some sports footage that had been filmed using 3D cameras (that’s two HD cameras fixed side by side on a brace), and a trailer that had been filmed using a single camera and converted in the editing suite to appear in 3D.

The result was certainly impressive and the HD picture quality combined with the 3D illusion was excellent. And I was pleased to find that the Hyundai TV’s 3D glasses don’t lose their effect when you tilt your head, which is vital for sofa-lounging layabouts like me.

Although the technology has been proved, there is still a lot to explore in terms of what can be done with 3D. Although it has been acknowledged that HD can and will be applied to any genre, filming a programme in 3D can cause headaches – not just for the viewer but also for the producers and editors who have to make sure they don’t cut quickly from close-up to wide-angle shots.

But the real issue for anybody with enough money to buy a 3D TV is going to be the inevitable fashion faux-pas it brings in the form of a pair of glasses that look like the sort of thing you might force upon a toddler on an unexpectedly sunny day after an impulse buy from a market stall. But that’s an issue for the TV manufacturers.
Maybe they should have gone to Specsavers.