Content, Distribution and Consumer Experience Top 3D Concerns
By Anthony Vagnoni
3D TV is around the corner, that's for sure, according to a standing-room only conference that took place in New York on Tuesday, May 25. That said, there are issues still to be resolved before it gains wide acceptance, mostly dealing with the consumer experience, technical standards and the availability of compelling and quality content.
The conference, titled 3DTV2010, was sponsored by a consortium of TV and video production trade pubs such as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and Videography. It included a range of speakers from manufacturers, retailers, technology companies and broadcasters. Among them were the President of Best Buy and executives with Sony, Panasonic, ESPN, CBS, Comcast, DirecTV, Motorola and HDNet.
SourceEcreative was on hand and came away with the following top lines and bits of news and information that are of interest to those considering the future 3D broadcast environment.
ESPN will kick off 3D coverage of the World Cup starting next month. Sky 3D has launched in the UK, and Major League Baseball games will start being broadcast in 3D via Verizonulls FiOS service in July. The NBA here in the US is planning on shooting a 3D film that will bring the action and excitement of pro basketball to people around the world who canullt make it an actual courtside experience.
ESPN does not expect their 3D channel to make money, they are doing it for "brand elevation." They're planning 85 events this year in HD, and will only run 3D commercials on its 3D broadcasts. They've already started running 3D promos. Sony will also have a 3D spot on the World Cup broadcasts. In addition, consumers can also get 3D programming via DirecTV and Comcast, with agreements that will reach over 40 million homes. Comcast did a 3D broadcast at The Masters golf tournament in April, while DirecTV will be carrying four 3D channels by next month: ESPN 3D, VOD, Pay per View and a DirecTV 3D channel with sports and assorted programming.
The broadcast executives believe advertisers will use 3D commercials to elevate brand marketing, which will in turn drive advertising revenue.
While most broadcasters on the panel said they're moving aggressively with 'event' oriented programming, most of it sports, they note that consumer acceptance and content creation are lagging behind. However, all of them expect that gap to close, with video games and Blu-ray DVDs expected to lead the way for greater home use of 3D.
The most often heard phrase in every discussion was "consumer experience." The critical issues for success are three areas: content creation, the distribution of the content, and the quality of the content.
Most experts see the consumer perception of stepping up from 2D to 3D considerably more noticeable and apparent than the transition from SD to HD. Currently, consumer penetration of HD sets is only 65 percent. The transition to 3D is expected to happen much faster than the transition from SD to HD.
Consumers are still on the fence about investing in the equipment. Their concerns include:
--Cost of glasses for the whole family.
--Lack of content.
--Premium cost of equipment.
--Education and the in-store demo are cited as of critical importance.
Manufacturers, however, expect that consumers who are looking at TVs will upgrade to 3D even though there is little available content now, as they realize that 3D is coming and they want to be ready, given how long they'll own the TV set.
Sony feels consumer acceptance is high, and is launching their 3D models next month. Michael Fasulo, Sony Electronics Chief Marketing Officer, said "We have one chance to get this right. It's not about being first in the marketplace, but about doing this the right way."
Audio is a challenge; only thirty percent of homes are capable of surround sound, which plays a key role in achieving the desired effect of 3D content. Also, closed captioning is an issue.
Standards are still an issue. Only HDMI 1.4 is agreed on so far, and that's for interconnect from TVs to Blu-Ray players; there are currently no broadcast or cable standards.
Up-converting programming from 2D to 3D does not seem to generate acceptable quality.
There are still production challenges to broadcasting in 3D. Among them are:
--Shooting at lower camera angles, especially at sporting events.
--On-screen graphics, a staple of news and sports coverage, donullt work well.
--The picture-in-picture feature of many new TV sets doesnullt work well with one in 2D and the other in 3D.
--Quick cuts between scenes donullt work well, as in filmed entertainment. Broadcast engineers have to try and slow directors down.
--Multi-camera shoots are a challenge, unless all are shooting 3D. For example, many sporting events use dozens of cameras. The Super Bowl uses 48.
--Transitions between scenes and shots need to be depth-consistent.
--One challenge for production is the lack of 3D cameras and field trucks.
Published May 26, 2010
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