Chris Chinnock Senior Analyst and Editor for Insight Media

In an interview published by The Broader Issue, executives from Quantel (Newbury, UK; www.quantel.com) described their yearlong mission to showcase their 3D workflow tool, Pablo, and some of the lessons, insight and changes it yielded.  Naturally, the movies studios have been interested in their product, but what surprised Product Marketing Manager Norman Rousse and Strategic Marketing Manager Mark Horton was the enthusiasm with which broadcasters are evaluating 3D.  According to Horton, at least nine major broadcasters are experimenting to determine the viability of transmission/broadcast of 3D content.

Apparently, the broadcasters are feeling the competitive heat from alternative content providers, such as YouTube; online games, such as SecondLife; and channel proliferation; which is challenging a once profitable and predictable business model.  What gets the broadcasters excited about 3D is the potential to offer a new service within a reasonably short period to start winning back audiences.

Movies are the most talked-about driver, followed by sports, which is just getting started.  But some of the other content possibilities caught Rousse and Horton’s attention.  Stunning 3D natural history content, for example, is making broadcasters think they can charge more for this.

3D, of course, also is being rolled out for advertising-based digital signage networks.  3D displays will need 3D content, and Quantel says many people see Pablo as a way to create this content efficiently.  For example, they said, a supermarket chain could promote toys on auto-stereoscopic displays.

They cited reality shows as a possible TV-based application.  3D could make viewers feel as though they are sitting in a close-spaced room with actors, creating a sense of claustrophobia.  I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, however.

In the theater, imagine projecting a 3D version of Aladdin’s cave, which would be much cheaper to create that a full-sized set.  Musicians are viewing 3D a potential new revenue stream.  They could perform on limited concert tours, film the events in 3D and then sell the viewing of these events in 3D.

Not surprisingly, Rousse and Horton found blossoming interest in stereo 3D at post-production houses as well as consumer electronics companies.  To date, they claim their yearlong worldwide demo tour has reached 8,000 industry people, excluding exhibitions.  That’s a lot of skeptics converted!

And they claim they have answers to all of the common questions and hurdles that are thrown at them on topics such as content availability, 3D displays, 3D infrastructure and 3D media.

As for live 3D, they said they have become aware of much more activity than they realized, and they have learned a lot about post-production for live broadcast, including editing of live sequences for pre-packaging and action replays.

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