coverstory_cover story 30/08/2013 12:13 Page 2
COVER STORY
overall 3D experience... It may be possible to relaunch 3D to the viewing public when autostereoscopic screens have been developed for Ultra HD and 4K. Movie house enthusiasm might help increase interest in 3D for the living room, and nVOD delivery of movie content for Ultra HD can augment the idea of 3D in the home.” According to Trow, the industry is about two to three years away from the point where screen technology allows for glasses-free 3D and Ultra HD as part of the same package. “The greatest challenge will be whether content and screens make sense from a business perspective. It will be a tough sell, especially with glassesbased 3D stalling in the living room,” he warns. MOVIE. Peter Ostapiuik, Intelsat’s VP, media product management, is another who thinks that cinema screens are a much better venue for 3D content. “It has proven to be a popular format that generates additional revenue for studios, though not every movie lends itself to the 3D format. The 3D effects should be complementary to the visual experience, as was the case with Avatar and many animated films. The concept of showing live sports and events in movie theatres has a long way to go to prove itself, independent of 3D,” he suggests. In terms of glasses-free 3DTV, he admits that so far, demonstrations have been rather underwhelming and also require viewers to be at a very precise position and distance from the screen, which is not very practical in the living room setting and probably more limiting than glasses. Steve Plunkett, CTO, Red Bee Media, is wary of saying that 3D TV is never going to be a consumer proposition in the home, but notes that despite the best efforts of the global CE manufacturers and broadcasters over the past few years it simply hasn't proven to be compelling enough for the mass market. “Like the hula hoop and space hopper, it probably needs time to fade from public consciousness before again being positioned as the next big thing. Only some amazing content and ease of use can overcome the current reality. However, if auto stereoscopic displays on smartphones were to become mainstream (a big if) then consumer attitudes to the concept might shift,” he notes. “Auto-stereoscopic displays are still expensive and restrictive in their viewer placement and image quality. Unless there is sig nificantly increased consumer demand or advances are made in other areas (such as mobile devices) it is unlikely that the manufacturers will invest heavily in the short term to improve things greatly,” he says. Thomas Wrede, VP, reception systems at SES, feels that 3DTV’s long-term future is not just limited to the cinema and leisure venues. “Instead, we see that there is also a future for 3D content in living rooms for content such as live sports or certain movies. We believe that 3D content is something people will continue to “There is still a lot that watch in the living needs to happen to room, but not for enable mass market hours and hours adoption of U-HD like the way we content.” view SD or HD STUART CLEARY, content, mainly AKAMAI because the 3D viewing glasses will be a factor that prevents people from watching 3D content for a long period of time,” he suggests. “There has been much progress with glasses-free 3DTV sets. For example, while Dolby and Philips are committed to taking the 3D experience to the next level with Dolby 3D format, it is still a few steps away from entering the mainstream markets. It would probably take more time for glasses-free 3DTV to deliver the standard that we hope it will and to become widely available in the market,” he accepts. HOLD. With a number of major broadcasters putting their 3DTV plans on hold, will the CE industry consider scaling down production? According to the DVB's Wood, the additional cost of providing the stereoscopic feature with a TV display is relatively small, and there are now many 3D Blu-ray discs available, and he expects any scaling down in 3DTV receiver manufacture to be modest. “It's hard to determine at this point,” says Akamai's Cleary. “Broadcasters will make content to extend audience reach. But audience reach is dependent on an end point that can support the content, and the consumer's propensity to view the content in certain settings. There are many more 3D compatible play-back devices on the market, but consumers are hesitant to use 3D glasses.” “The competition is as fierce as ever on the display industry, which keeps driving a high level of innovation by the top brands,” says Benoit Fouchard, CSO of ATEME. “Some of them do not make it a secret that they have looked at Ultra-HD as a way to put to good use some of the display technology breakthroughs that had been initially intended for 3D. In fact speaking for ATEME, the Ultra HDTV display that we will use at IBC for our demonstrations relies on technology meant for 'Full resolution' 3D in order to support a 60 Hertz frame rate, which we find to be essential to create a true 'wow effect' with Ultra HD.” BARRIER. Intelsat's Ostapiuik recognises
Keith Wymbs, VP marketing, Elemental, says that for the most part, consumers have not been eager to buy new TV sets that require wearing active
TV
shutter and/or passive glasses to view sports content in 3D. “Cinema content in 3D yields more hope for a longer term, sustainable revenue stream – although even movie goers may baulk at the format because of high ticket prices, the variability of experiences based on different individual reactions to 3D content, and the differences in how content is shot. All of these stand in the way of widespread adoption,” he advises. Ian Trow, senior director, emerging technology and strategy at Harmonic, feels that glasses-free 3D is a way off, at least as a quality viewing option. “The current crop of auto-stereoscopic screens is extremely limited in terms of viewing position. A slight change in head position can cause very annoying viewing effects. Overcoming consumer pessimism will be the biggest commercial issue, as those who did buy 3D screens are frustrated by the lack of content and with the
EUROMEDIA 17