3D in perspective

July 12, 2010
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As Spain takes home the FIFA World Cup in 2010, at least one company has scored in every match. The broadcast coverage together with many of the images on the web and in print has conveyed one message loud and clear: Sony is about to launch 3D TV.

A dozen or more companies bought space on the on-field electronic signage but Sony managed to generate a disproportionate amount of exposure thanks to a deal with Getty Images to make stills from each match available to media organisations. The Sony make-believe brand message and the Sony 3D logo have been viewed many millions of times since Friday June 11 and there can be few TV households that do not know that 3D TV is imminent.

There are other brands and other companies involved in the race to bring consumer 3D to market and it is to the credit of the industry as a whole that many of the initial fears about standards have been resolved. The Blu-ray Disc association (BDA) has pushed through a format specification that gives hardware manufacturers a target and replicators are producing pilot quantities of the titles that will be bundled with screens and players.

The games business already benefits from a 3D-related sales boost, particularly in hardware where the immersive experience is fully apparent. The current generation of consoles can be updated to create an immediate “wow” factor and adapting a PC is a simple, if pricy, option. A significant advantage is the fact that a single pair of glasses is all that is usually needed to enjoy the experience.

On the software front, 3D versions should command a premium, at least at first, although at a briefing during the recent E3 show in Los Angeles, EA boss John Riccitiello told an executive audience that the positive effect on sales from 3D is one year or more away.

“I don't think it’s a 2010 story in any way, shape or form,” he said.

The Blu-ray player in the PS3 is software upgradeable to 3D, which will deliver a ready audience for commercial entertainment titles when they become available. “Grand Canyon Adventure” from the German studio Imagion using material sourced from Imax, has claimed the trophy as the first commercial 3D Blu-ray release from an independent studio, but there is a dearth of quality product to accompany the ramping-up of 3D-ready hardware.

Some in the industry have already expressed concern about the impact of sub-standard 2D conversions and opportunistic made-for-3D specials. In fact, the emperor’s new clothes might start to look a little threadbare with reports that 3D screenings of the World Cup have not generated the hoped-for interest. The arrival of the World Cup special on Blu-ray from Sony will provide a great marketing tool for CE retailers but is no substitute for a catalogue of top titles.

It might be a heretical point of view, but could this be the moment to take a break, before we are irrevocably committed to a Q4 2010 launch?

Those with long memories will remember the hiatus between the 1996 arrival of DVD in Japan and the “soft launch” in Europe over a year later. Although a squabble about audio standards was at the heart of the hold-up, the delay allowed all involved to polish their skills, build a significant catalogue and work out precisely how playback-only disc media might compete with VHS.

In comparison with the launch of DVD, the decision to press ahead with consumer 3D TV seems to have been made in haste. The go-ahead for 3D in 2010 looks as though it is driven by commercial pressures to boost hardware sales rather than come as the result of a carefully considered strategy.

At its best the results are superb, but effective 3D titles need care and attention at the production stage; they do not become magical just because they are stereoscopic. A rush to fill the shelves could do more harm than good and there are still several hurdles to be overcome.

We live in a world of three dimensions. For a simple demonstration, assuming you are blessed with reasonably normal vision, focus on something in front of you and then move from side to side. You’ll notice that by shifting your head from left to right you can see what lies behind your chosen object. Don’t try this with 3D TV – there’s nothing there!

The illusion that fools the brain into seeing depth in a stereoscopic image is not actually three dimensional, whatever it says in the advertising. The binocular (two-eye) principle was well known long before the invention of photography and was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

It was a logical step to apply the principle to moving pictures, and in 1952 Hollywood described “Bwana Devil”, its first stereoscopic colour feature, as “three-dimension natural vision”. It led to a resurgence of public enthusiasm for stereoscopic content, which faded rapidly when faced with the technical limitations of synchronising two 35mm projectors.

From a theoretical perspective, little has changed in over a century and a half. Digital technology has eliminated most of the mechanical problems and the success of “Avatar” in the cinema has shown that consumers are ready for 3D on the big screen.

At the Futuresource Entertainment Summit in June, members of the consumer panel were in agreement that they liked 3D and wanted it in their home as soon as it is affordable. They also asked searching questions about the format and it is unwise to assume that the industry has all the answers.

For example, producers still struggle with text on screen. Titles, credits and subtitles have to be placed somewhere in 3D space and frequently this conflicts with the on-screen action. If you’ve watched 3D images without glasses (or seen the Sony TV commercials) you’ll know that two separate images seem to be superimposed, offset to left or right. With the glasses, 3D can appear to be a series of flat cardboard cut outs or “planes”, stretching in front of the screen to a point somewhere behind it.

If the text is on a different plane to the action, viewers have to change focus to read it, much as our eyes do when we look up while reading. It’s an issue that arises when match scores are displayed or scrolling text runs at the bottom of the screen. Repeat this re-focusing many times and fatigue quickly sets in.

Other issues arise when objects move to the edge of the screen. It is much less of a problem in the cinema, where the image fills our field of view, but even the largest domestic TV screen can be taken in at a single glance. As objects reach the edge of the frame they disappear from one eye but not the other – something rarely seen in real life – and the 3D illusion is broken. Production techniques and technology can combine to minimise the problem by effectively making the image 2D at the edges, but it might contribute to the “3D headaches” some viewers report.

There are yet more unanswered questions at both the production and viewing level. Moving content from the cinema to the domestic TV is not as straightforward as a simple film transfer. Many 3D settings take into account screen size and viewing distance, which complicates the conversion process. Compressing the 3D image for Blu-ray is a non-real time process that can take up to 10 times the duration of the film, and the result has to be watched all the way through.

Other factors must be considered in the home such as the cost and durability of 3D glasses, their battery life and the integration of 2D and 3D content. What happens when there are more viewers than glasses is also an issue; “bring your own” is not going to work if the technology is incompatible.

Not least of the challenges associated with 3D TV is the difficulty of displaying content in-store. Theft of glasses is a problem that has yet to be resolved and without them 3D cannot be viewed. Although captive solutions are in the pipeline, they have yet to be proved in a retail environment.

The technology standards for TV in three dimensions have been agreed and the sale of 3D-ready screens has begun. Coupled with the impetus provided by upgradeable 3D game consoles and the continuing cinema success of stereoscopic titles, an exciting market opportunity awaits.

If the hopes for the 3D format are to be achieved, everyone involved must be ready to meet the demand. Otherwise the “mean time to disillusionment” will be short, leaving expensively produced content on the shelves.