Many 3DTV doubters often complain about the current lack of 3-D content to populate a 24/7 channel. A company in Italy called 3D Village is working to do something about that… at least for the few European viewers with 3DTV sets.
At IBC, it launched a new initiative that offers broadcasters, manufacturers and content producers a forum for collaboration in building cost-effective, higher-quality 3-D delivery systems and infrastructures.
Using Sisvel Technology’s 3D Tile Format, 3D Village has syndicated access to an extensive and growing library of 3-D content including documentaries on Las Vegas, the Holy Shroud of Turin, the Venice Carnival, sport events and fashion shows.
The syndication initiative, promoted by Sisvel Technology, encourages contributions from any content provider that wants to promote 3-D technology and make the delivery of 3-D content easy and cost effective. They’re also hoping to stimulate lackluster 3DTV set sales across Europe.
Italian Broadcasters Quartarete and Città Digitali have already syndicated their 3-D HD content, which is being currently broadcast in the Piedmont and Tuscany regions of Italy.
3D Tile Format broadcasts are also available all over Europe on Satellite 1L 19.2 degrees East.
The company said new members joining the syndication will benefit from the free exchange of 3-D content among members on a reciprocity basis. The current catalog of the 3-D Village content library can be viewed on-line at the new 3D Village website.
Involving the transmission of two 720p signals within a single 1080 frame (allowing broadcasters to use their existing HD infrastructures), Sisvel said its 3D Tile Format provides better-quality images for 3-D content and maintains backward compatibility, allowing viewers not equipped for 3-D to view the programs as 2-D images on their HDTV sets. The reconstructed right and left images maintain their original spatial and temporal resolution, giving viewers of both versions the full benefit of the original picture, and the transmission of both 2-D and 3-D can be achieved without the need for increased bandwidth.
Davide Boscaini, CEO of Quartarete, said the content syndication initiative gives 3D Village members access to a range of 3-D content “without the prohibitive production costs usually associated with it.”
