3D TV coming to your home

Posted on 18 Dec 2008 at 19:17

3D television could be coming to your living room soon, as Sky claims to have developed a new system to bring high definition 3D TV to our homes - as an enhancement to its existing Sky HD service.

The company reckons it can tailor the existing images it transmits as part of its HD package, so that when it is combined with 3D screens - costing around £2,000 and are increasingly coming on the market - the resultant image can be viewed in 3D.

Sky's solution will still need viewers to wear special 3D glasses, but the company claims that in the future, even they may no longer be needed.

"This is the first way that we've been able to get consumer quality 3D into the home - using passive 3D glasses and this screen filter technology ," said Sky spokesperson Brian Lenz.

"We're going to continue working with active 3D glasses manufacturers to see what we can do in that space, and I think, ultimately, 3D doesn't go mainstream until the TVs are glasses-free; five to 10 years down the road."

The company has carried out early tests - mostly at sporting events and Sky One show Gladiators - and the trials have shown that 3D TV needs to be directed slightly differently to normal television shows.

According to Sky, in recent years the emphasis has been on deploying more cameras to see every angle, and combining that with slick, fast cutting to give the production real pace. In a 3D world, producers have found this is not required, so shots are allowed to run for longer so viewers can appreciate more detail.

However, the system Sky has developed so far is a working prototype, and the company admitted it is not necessarily the one which will eventually be offered to subscribers.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota

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