Stereoscopic Broadcasting

Project Objectives

The objective of this project is to take a practical step forward towards satellite delivered 3D TV at home. There are many companies engaged in the production of 3D TV screens for domestic use and in parallel many companies engaged in the study of new techniques for encoding 3D content and its transportation over satellite networks. However, to date these elements have yet to be integrated to yield a complete service offering for consumer oriented 3D TV broadcasting.

Within the scope of this project is an evaluation of the entire end to end chain, followed by a pilot trial where current technology and user experience will be assessed in depth. The pilot trial will consist of both pre-recorded 3D content and the production of live 3D events. It is recognized that satellite technology, as well as being inherently broadcast in nature, is associated to providing live images from around the globe.

In summary the project objectives are:

• Set up a complete end to end chain for satellite 3D TV broadcasting,
• Target viable solutions for consumer 3DTV products,
• Produce 3D content and deliver 3D events for an on-air pilot trial,
• Set up reception sites which will be used to gather end user feedback.

Features

The general system architecture is summarised in the follow figure.

click for larger image

As can be seen in the figure the project aims to set up a broadcasting solution for 3DTV. The figure presents the two contribution chains: one for recorded content, one for live events.

Project Plan

The duration of the project is 13 months, starting from September 2008 and running until November 2009.

Requirements and System architecture until end 2008
During this period a requirements analysis will be performed together with key industry players. In parallel, an intensive survey on technology is required in order to assess current standards, products and solutions.

System integration (from December 2008)
Pilot deployment and Integration. There will be two types of reception site. One will mimic a home environment using longer duration content and the other will be a public venue with a short duration content:

• 3 home sites installations
• 5 public sites installations
• 3 live events in 3D

Final Review (November 2009)

Key Issues

Preliminary technology analysis.
The technological solutions proposed by vendors are at an early stage and not all elements of the broadcasting chain are yet fully developed to carrier-grade equipment. This project is now investigating all the relevant solutions available in the market and potentially the pilot will test more than one solution if none is stable enough and complete. Risk of market fragmentation due to different technologies and no driving standard is also being monitored.

Expected Main Benefits

Bring 3DTV to the home:

1. Activation of the first satellite 3DTV channel,
2. Identify and finalize a commercial, consumer solution for a 3DTV service.

Increase the satellite market.
With the launch of a 3DTV broadcasting service a major innovation is possible and furthermore this innovation will be highly visible to the market. 3DTV is a step forward from HD by offering an exciting new dimension to home viewing and which benefits from the ability of a satellite HD channel to carry the necessary 3DTV information. 3DTV will enable the satellite broadcasting industry to maintain its ongoing leadership for the delivery of HD content to the home audience. It will be another evolution brought about by satellite and leveraged by satellite

Current Status (dated: 07 Jan 2010)

The procurement and engineering work to set up the channel has been completed. Transmissions began on the 12th of March 2009 via the EUROBIRD 9A satellite located at 9 East (Transponder frequency 11747MHz, SR 27500,Horizontal).

The content catalogue for the channel now includes a range of material and program lengths including sport, short film and trailers. Novel operational experience is being gained in the ingest, coding and synchronisation of high definition 3D TV over extended periods.

The 3D TV's and standard reception equipment are being deployed around europe. One of the home sites has been deployed at ESTEC.

From January 2010 the project will start the pilot phase. During the next six months 3D live events and demos of channel will be planned in order to collect feedback from users all around Europe.