3-D Coming to Television

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ESPN to Launch 3-D Network

 

By Doug Gross, CNN

January 5, 2010

 

(CNN) -- World Cup soccer, the 2011 BCS National Championship game and dozens of other sporting events will be shown in 3-D by ESPN in the coming year.

 

The cable network announced Tuesday that it will launch a new channel, ESPN 3D, on June 11 with its three-dimensional broadcast of a FIFA World Cup soccer match between South Africa and Mexico.

 

In the next 12 months, the network will show at least 85 games, including the January 11, 2011, national championship and other college football games, college basketball, and ESPN's Summer X Games, according to the network.

 

"ESPN's commitment to 3D is a win for fans and our business partners," George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, said in a news release. "ESPN 3D marries great content with new technology to enhance the fan's viewing experience and puts ESPN at the forefront of the next big advance for TV viewing."

 

The network has been testing its 3-D technology for more than two years. In September, the University of Southern California vs. Ohio State football game was shown in 3-D in several theaters and on USC's campus by ESPN.

 

The new network will require a 3-D television set -- a technology that is still emerging and a step ahead of high-definition -- and 3-D glasses.

 

Initially, the channel is expected to be dark between live events.

 

ESPN probably won't be the only player in the 3-D TV game. Industry analysts expect DirecTV to announce its plans for a three-dimensional channel this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

[Guest fountainhall]

It may be coming to television, but it will be aeons before it reaches Thailand. We don't even have much HD TV yet, and as it will require new TV sets, I cannot see many people here ditching their new large screen TVs anytime soon. Plus having to wear glasses to watch every time is surely a bit of a pain.

[Rogie]

Plus having to wear glasses to watch every time is surely a bit of a pain.

 

It would be for me as I wear prescription specs to watch ordinary, 2D, TV.

 

Otherwise, whilst it may be a bit of a laugh to don 3D glasses with your mates in a cinema, how stupid are you going to feel doing it in the privacy of your own house.

 

If I wanted to, I could overcome the first 'hurdle' by wearing contact lenses, and, if the technology really was top rate it wouldn't take long for wearing glasses in front of the boob tube to lose its nerdy tarnish as more and more homes got wired in.

 

Has anybody seen the film that came out recently that was in 3D I believe? For some sort of comparison, going back in time, I remember watching Apocalypse Now in the cinema on release - wow! - but I wouldn't bother to get the DVD to watch it on my pathetically inadequate domestic set. So, unless home TV's fill an entire wall, they'll always struggle to achieve potential. There's the sound system to perfect too.

[Guest fountainhall]

It would be for me as I wear prescription specs to watch ordinary, 2D, TV

I also wear prescription specs. I don't mind wearing these 3D spectacles for a special occasion, but no way will I do it just to watch regular TV.

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Toshiba Unveils TV that Converts 2-D to 3-D

 

By Brandon Griggs, CNN

January 7, 2010

 

Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) -- Toshiba on Wednesday unveiled a "smart" TV the company claims will convert 2-D signals into high-resolution 3-D programming.

 

The ZX900 Series Cell TV models, available with 55-inch and 65-inch screens, will go on sale in the United States later this year. Pricing was not announced.

 

Toshiba says the LED TV will have the capability to take any 2-D content, including sports broadcasts, movies and video games, and convert it into 3-D in real time.

 

"It's unlike anything that's out there," said vice president of marketing Scott Ramirez during Toshiba's press event at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show. "This is the new 'it' TV. It's the one everyone is going to be talking about."

 

The TV's biggest strength is a multimedia processing chip previously used in advanced PCs and high-end gaming consoles. Toshiba claims its Cell TVs will have 143 times the processing power available in current TV models, although that boast was hard to immediately verify.

 

With many manufacturers unveiling 3-D and "connected" TVs at CES this week, Toshiba will have stiff competition for the "it" TV title.

 

But its ambitious Cell TV tries hard to offer something for everyone:

 

Like many new or next-generation televisions, Cell TV will allow you to transfer media files from your PC onto the TV's hard drive so that you can display photos and home videos on its screen.

 

The TV's Internet connection will offer access to streaming content from such partners as Netflix and Pandora.

 

Finally, Cell TV will also work as a video phone, but with much higher picture quality than most simple webcams. "You're going to look crystal clear at 55 inches," said Ramirez.

 

In other TV news from CES Wednesday, Sharp unveiled something it called "quad pixel" technology that it claims will change the way TV consumers see color.

 

Sharp's new Aquos LED models add a fourth color -- yellow -- to the traditional red-blue-green trio of primary colors, which the company says will enable it to display more than a trillion different colors.