Anil.HD
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source-http://www.scatmag.com/focus.htm
You are walking down a jungle path, wildlife & eerie sounds from all around you…. You know there are wild animals there, maybe even watching you, but you don’t know which or where … or even if they are indeed wild!! Adrenalin racing, you slowly move ahead one slow easy step at a time…. and then suddenly with a roar, a sabre-toothed tiger leaps out from front … just 4 feet away – and you feel that you can actually reach out and touch him… !!
Not a fiction scenario … but a viewing experience which is on its way to reality in the comfort of your home!
That 3D television for you!
The 3D experience makes you feel as if you are present within the screen and witness to the action on the screen! Figures and characters literally jump out at you and you feel as if you are part of it! Coupled with a surround sound system in the confines of your home, it could be an awesome adventure!
At the SCaT India Tradeshow in Mumbai last year, Prime Connect, the distributor of the Times channels and others, demonstrated what they announced was India’s first 3D channel to be distributed by cable networks in the country! Viewers were taken to a small private theater within the booth and given a sneak peak into what the experience would be like!
While the channel sampling was not long or action packed, cable operators were quite excited with the prospects! After all, this would be a premium channel and would gain additional revenues & billing for them. Certainly not free-toair material or a channel to be given free to subscribers!
For many years now, cinema goers in India have been exposed to 3D channels in some theaters. Selected films released in 3D format, with special viewing glasses for the 3D experience. While some films have not moved the audience at all, others have left the audiences spellbound! This holds for all those movies with lots of action and special effects.
All this can now be transferred via the cable network into homes.
Of course, it is essential to have a 3D TV set along with the viewing glasses to enjoy the 3D channel. The sales of both of these are increasing, with most new TV sets incorporating full HD as well as 3D as part of standard features in the newer models of their TV sets.
What will the cable operator need to do? … nothing at all, just rebroadcast the channel on one of its standard frequencies depending on whether the 3D channel is in standard definition or HD. For a 3D SD channel, the regular STB is sufficient. However if the 3D channel is in HD format, then of course the STB would have to be HD capable for the subscriber to enjoy the full benefit of the same.
CONVERTING 2D INTO 3D
However, there has not been so much supply of programmes available in 3D for television. Studios in various countries are just now starting to produce television content for a 3D television audience in some volumes. But until the numbers of such 3D TV sets sold in the country is large enough, this is not expected to take off in a big way yet.
The paucity of 3D movies or television programs can be offset largely by using the DDD produced software that converts the 2- dimensional programs into 3D live as they play! The technology analyzes the color, position and motion characteristics of objects in a sequence of video frames and uses depth estimation to render stereoscopic views. The approach is broadly applicable to any 3D display device including glasses-based and glasses-free systems. This will greatly help any 24-hour satellite channel ramp up its software acquisitions to get the volumes required to launch services.
The effect is of course not the same. There will always be a difference between content originally produced for 3D and programs that convert old 2D programs into 3D. Producing decent 3D footage is an art, and it's not one that a simple PC program is able to replicate on the fly. At least not yet.
Of course, it remains to be seen as to how much of the public react positively to this new format. The 3D TV sets are currently priced slightly higher than the regular 2D TV sets, in addition, is the cost of the viewing glasses, which can vary anywhere from Rs.4000/- to Rs.9000/- per unit!
Not surprisingly, when we did a search for 3D TV channels available over Asia, there are not too many of them.
However, there is a tremendous amount of software available for conversion! Which movie producer will not want to monetize his 2D content with a whole new market for the same in 3D format!!?
LONDON OLYMPICS IN 3D
For the first time in history, all of the events taking place as we speak at the London Olympics 2012 are being broadcast worldwide in 3D format. The technology for this has been provided by Panasonic.
In India Doordarshan has the exclusive rights to the Olympic broadcasts, however it was not known if they would also provide for a 3D feed (quite unlikely given the low number of 3D sets in India).
While NBC has exclusive rights to broadcast Olympic Games live on the Internet, Google’s YouTube is streaming Olympic videos in countries where the rights haven’t been sold, including India, where sports fans will get to enjoy three hours of daily highlights on YouTube without having to turn on their television sets.
There’s a new channel on YouTube dedicated to Olympic videos. YouTube will only stream video recordings and highlights made available through the International Olympic Committee. The IOC has already announced that it shall stream it live on its own YouTube channel. Live feeds are operating between 1:30 pm to 3:30 am India time, or change accordingly with the competition schedule with 10 simultaneous broadcasts with English commentary.
You are walking down a jungle path, wildlife & eerie sounds from all around you…. You know there are wild animals there, maybe even watching you, but you don’t know which or where … or even if they are indeed wild!! Adrenalin racing, you slowly move ahead one slow easy step at a time…. and then suddenly with a roar, a sabre-toothed tiger leaps out from front … just 4 feet away – and you feel that you can actually reach out and touch him… !!
Not a fiction scenario … but a viewing experience which is on its way to reality in the comfort of your home!
That 3D television for you!
The 3D experience makes you feel as if you are present within the screen and witness to the action on the screen! Figures and characters literally jump out at you and you feel as if you are part of it! Coupled with a surround sound system in the confines of your home, it could be an awesome adventure!
At the SCaT India Tradeshow in Mumbai last year, Prime Connect, the distributor of the Times channels and others, demonstrated what they announced was India’s first 3D channel to be distributed by cable networks in the country! Viewers were taken to a small private theater within the booth and given a sneak peak into what the experience would be like!
While the channel sampling was not long or action packed, cable operators were quite excited with the prospects! After all, this would be a premium channel and would gain additional revenues & billing for them. Certainly not free-toair material or a channel to be given free to subscribers!
For many years now, cinema goers in India have been exposed to 3D channels in some theaters. Selected films released in 3D format, with special viewing glasses for the 3D experience. While some films have not moved the audience at all, others have left the audiences spellbound! This holds for all those movies with lots of action and special effects.
All this can now be transferred via the cable network into homes.
Of course, it is essential to have a 3D TV set along with the viewing glasses to enjoy the 3D channel. The sales of both of these are increasing, with most new TV sets incorporating full HD as well as 3D as part of standard features in the newer models of their TV sets.
What will the cable operator need to do? … nothing at all, just rebroadcast the channel on one of its standard frequencies depending on whether the 3D channel is in standard definition or HD. For a 3D SD channel, the regular STB is sufficient. However if the 3D channel is in HD format, then of course the STB would have to be HD capable for the subscriber to enjoy the full benefit of the same.
CONVERTING 2D INTO 3D
However, there has not been so much supply of programmes available in 3D for television. Studios in various countries are just now starting to produce television content for a 3D television audience in some volumes. But until the numbers of such 3D TV sets sold in the country is large enough, this is not expected to take off in a big way yet.
The paucity of 3D movies or television programs can be offset largely by using the DDD produced software that converts the 2- dimensional programs into 3D live as they play! The technology analyzes the color, position and motion characteristics of objects in a sequence of video frames and uses depth estimation to render stereoscopic views. The approach is broadly applicable to any 3D display device including glasses-based and glasses-free systems. This will greatly help any 24-hour satellite channel ramp up its software acquisitions to get the volumes required to launch services.
The effect is of course not the same. There will always be a difference between content originally produced for 3D and programs that convert old 2D programs into 3D. Producing decent 3D footage is an art, and it's not one that a simple PC program is able to replicate on the fly. At least not yet.
Of course, it remains to be seen as to how much of the public react positively to this new format. The 3D TV sets are currently priced slightly higher than the regular 2D TV sets, in addition, is the cost of the viewing glasses, which can vary anywhere from Rs.4000/- to Rs.9000/- per unit!
Not surprisingly, when we did a search for 3D TV channels available over Asia, there are not too many of them.
However, there is a tremendous amount of software available for conversion! Which movie producer will not want to monetize his 2D content with a whole new market for the same in 3D format!!?
LONDON OLYMPICS IN 3D
For the first time in history, all of the events taking place as we speak at the London Olympics 2012 are being broadcast worldwide in 3D format. The technology for this has been provided by Panasonic.
In India Doordarshan has the exclusive rights to the Olympic broadcasts, however it was not known if they would also provide for a 3D feed (quite unlikely given the low number of 3D sets in India).
While NBC has exclusive rights to broadcast Olympic Games live on the Internet, Google’s YouTube is streaming Olympic videos in countries where the rights haven’t been sold, including India, where sports fans will get to enjoy three hours of daily highlights on YouTube without having to turn on their television sets.
There’s a new channel on YouTube dedicated to Olympic videos. YouTube will only stream video recordings and highlights made available through the International Olympic Committee. The IOC has already announced that it shall stream it live on its own YouTube channel. Live feeds are operating between 1:30 pm to 3:30 am India time, or change accordingly with the competition schedule with 10 simultaneous broadcasts with English commentary.
