[Phil Hinton]

Live Keane Performance Successfully Broadcast in 3D TV Over Sky’s High Definition Infrastructure

Sky last night successfully broadcast the UK’s first live event in 3D TV to a domestic 3D TV set, via its satellite network and existing Sky+HD set-top boxes. The broadcast was part of a 3D music event co-produced by Sky, specialist 3D production company Nineteen Fifteen Productions and Island Records to coincide with Keane’s live performance that saw a 3D webcast of the gig via Keane’s website. Sky’s live 3D transmission took place at London’s Abbey Road studios as part of a three-screen 3D event that involved:

• Sky broadcasting a simulcast of Keane’s live gig and transmitting it over a high definition satellite transponder and displaying the event on a 46 inch high definition 3D TV screen. The VIP audience were able to view the full live Sky transmission in the Abbey Road studio next door to the live gig.
  
  
• A separate 3D webcast over the internet using the traditional anaglyph (red/green) glasses was made available to Keane fans internationally.
  
  
• A live test broadcast via a satellite downlink to a Vue cinema kitted out with 3D equipment.
  
  
• Using polarisation technology, this is the first time a live event has been broadcast to a domestic 3D TV screen in the UK.
  
  
• The content was delivered using Sky’s digital satellite broadcast platform and existing Sky+HD infrastructure (including cameras, transmission facilities and satellite uplink / downlink). Playback, via a Hyundai ‘3D Ready’ TV, was direct from a standard Sky+HD set-top box.
  
  
• The event built on Sky’s demonstration of the following recorded 3D content in December 2008.
  
• England vs. New Zealand Rugby Union Test Match
  
• Liverpool FC vs Marseille UEFA Champions League
  
• Sky1’s Gladiators
  
• Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Lazcano
  

This was not a product launch, but another stage Sky’s ongoing research and development into the technical possibilities and potential demand for 3DTV in the UK. Sky is continuing to work with TV manufacturers, broadcasters, studios and other content owners to establish the potential for commercial 3D TV services. The live broadcast is further evidence that Sky’s current Sky+HD infrastructure is ‘3D Ready’.


Gerry O’Sullivan, Sky’s Director of Strategic Product Development, comments:


“We’re excited to have worked with Keane and their innovative management team to explore how our 3D TV technology might be used to offer a totally new viewing experience for live and recorded music."

“Being able to broadcast a live event in 3D is a real breakthrough as previous demonstrations have relied on recorded material. This is the first time we’ve broadcast a live event in 3D over satellite and it shows the significant progress we’re making with our research and development activity. The Keane event not only gave us new insight into our ability to deliver a rich and immersive live 3D experience into the home, but also confirmed that arts programming is another genre which has the potential to benefit from 3D."

“We are continuing to talk to a range of different partners and content owners to find out how far we can take this technology and most importantly whether there is future consumer demand for 3D TV services.”

[marty2005]

I wonder how much $$$$$$$ky will charge for that?

They already charge extra money for HD which you get free in the USA and Japan.


I have just cancelled $$$$ky and will not go back until they drop the HD charge.

[Steven]

You say "free", but have you seen television studios running telethons across the pond?

[Timbo21]

3D, IMO, is just a gimmick. I think it's much more pleasurable to watch 2D. With 2D you can get some kind of proper colour balance and watch without getting a headache.

[Gae]

With 2D you can get some kind of proper colour balance and watch without getting a headache.

With 3D polarised or shutter glasses, you get proper colour balance and can watch indefinately with no headache or eyestrain. This is not the old anaglyph method to which you are referring.


Give 3D a chance guys instead of knocking it before it has even started.

Proper 3D, when displayed correctly, will blow away 2D in the future. Thats my belief. I watch 3D via shutter glasses all the time at home and I, for one, am converted.

Gae

[Jonstone]

Originally Posted by Gae

Give 3D a chance guys instead of knocking it before it has even started.

Proper 3D, when displayed correctly, will blow away 2D in the future. Thats my belief. I watch 3D via shutter glasses all the time at home and I, for one, am converted.

Gae

The problem is that in general people will not want to sit in their lounge for long periods of time wearing the necessary glasses.

Add in the fact that 3d broadcasting would be extremely limited for a long time and the need to buy yet another television and I think we are some way off this being a commercial proposition

[Mark_a]

3D is a bit like the Wii - there's no denying it's got novelty value, and it's great fun for an hour or two, but you'd have to be something of a plum to want it all the time.

Regards

Mark

[criticalmass]

Originally Posted by Mark_a

3D is a bit like the Wii - there's no denying it's got novelty value, and it's great fun for an hour or two, but you'd have to be something of a plum to want it all the time.

Regards

Mark

[Adamstool]

common how many 3d incarnations have their been, all gimmicks this is no different. Silly industry hype. May ruin them.


Would rather they find ways to increase their broadcast quality away from mpeg2/4


silly people

[marty2005]

When I said you get HD free, I meant that HD has become normal tv.

Buy a tv and receive HD from all the networks in the USA.

Look on the DirecTV and compare that to $$$ky.

[Timbo21]

Originally Posted by Gae

Give 3D a chance guys instead of knocking it before it has even started.

No.

[marty2005]

Besides an "additional $$$$ky subscription" and 3D $$$$ky box you also need a new tv capable of 100Hz/120Hz input.

There aren't any yet apart from some 22" monitors.

I read somewhere that $$$$ky 3D would be available in 2010.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by marty2005

Besides an "additional $$$$ky subscription" and 3D $$$$ky box you also need a new tv capable of 100Hz/120Hz input.

There aren't any yet apart from some 22" monitors.

I read somewhere that $$$$ky 3D would be available in 2010.

Subscription is unknown as Sky have not announced any release of this technology. They are testing it at the moment. You will not need a new Sky box if you have an HD one already. The only missing link is a TV with 3D mode. The way some manufacturers are talking, the 3D part will become a mode that can be switched on and off within new TV models in a few years. So by that I would imagine that the 3D side of things will be there as a standard feature on future TV ranges.
However, I don't remember anyone ever asking for 3D technology other than the studios, so that says a lot. And with every demo I have seen so far, it looks ok in a few scenes but on a whole it needs a lot of work to look convincing.

[andrew markwort]

When I said you get HD free, I meant that HD has become normal tv.

Buy a tv and receive HD from all the networks in the USA.

There's a very good reason for this - have you ever seen conventional NTSC broadcasts? They're awful. [NB - we're talking about broadcasts here; there's zilch difference in DVD quality unless you're a complete nitpicker].

But we're in a different situation in the UK. PAL, although inferior to HD, is way better than NTSC when broadcast. So the improvement from PAL to HD is less dramatic. Hence why there is less perceived need to swap over to HD.

And I'd sooner have our current broadcasts, for all their faults, than the plethora of adverts you get on US TV. E.g. a 50 minute programme can take 90 minutes to broadcast in the US of A. That gives you an idea of how many commercial breaks there are.