Headin’ Out: Alfacam does 3D HDTV
Yes, you read that right.
Last night, Alfacam held a great event to celebrate a couple of things. First of all the company celebrated its 20th birthday a few weeks ago. Secondly, the culture channel EXQI will celebrate its first birthday on the first of October. It was also announced that EXQI will become available via Telenet Digital TV on that day (in standard definition, of course). And lastly, Alfacam had another first. The very first commercial recording of 3D HDTV images. But what to film?
Electronic music God, Jean-Michel Jarre, played a special gig for the occasion, although the music itself is not quite my taste, the concert was truly something special. Everything was played live on electronic instruments that were over thirty years old. Today all that would be squeezed out of a little laptop, but it just wouldn’t be the same. The sound was spectacular.
The set was recorded by the Alfacam crew and will be released on DVD in 3D. You can watch the show on your “regular†HDTV at home with some funky glasses on your nose. Or you can watch it on the new 3D television sets Philips had on display yesterday. More about those in a sec.
The concert took place in the very new, very big studios of the Alfacam complex. They already had four big studios in the main building (where the offices are), but now they have transformed their former warehouse into four more studios, a sports hall, a day care center and some classrooms.
After the concert, we headed back to the main building where dinner would take place. I was unable to attend because of time constraint, but thanks to Annemie, one of my former colleagues, I was able to sneek in and take some pictures. More importantly, I was able to check out the 3D technology from Philips up close.
The big thing with these new screens is that you don’t need any special glasses to see the images in three dimensions. The technology is based on those flipping cards things, you know, you tilt them left to right and the image changes. That principle is used in these screens.
The same demo was running on four HDTV’s that were set up around the room. Some rolling dices coming at you, hot air balloons, and last but not least… what does every showreel need? … Nature images!
I must say, I was somewhat underwhelmed by these images. You really had to sit still, in a straight line in front of the set to be able to get the full experience. I couldn’t really see this working in anyone’s living room, if you have more than two people watching. But the technology and the idea behind it, is pretty cool.
However, I don’t know if this can become a commercial success any time soon. You need a lot of processing done before your images are 3D, and you would need a new screen. Again. I’m not sure if there are any implications towards bandwidth, I forgot to ask, so if anyone knows, shoot me an email. It could be a cool feature for company lobbies, but I have my doubts for many other applications. Maybe in ten years, when we’re all buying new TV’s again.
They also showed images of the concert on a big screen, but you needed the geeky glasses for this. The problem with that is that it was innovative and exciting, maybe twenty years ago. We’ve been there, we’ve seen that. They were even unashamed to pull some classic 3D trickery. There were three cool lamps set up on each side of the stage (see picture) with only one purpose: standing in the way as the camera swoops behind them, so you get an emphasis on the 3D aspects of it all. Added value = zero.
I know this was the first time and all that, but why would you want to see a concert in three dimensions? I want to see explosions and junk flying at me, cars and rocket ships, laser beams and gigantic spiders from space… or something. Maybe I’m being a boy here, but you catch my drift.
But I don’t want to be a Negative Nancy, Alfacam hosted a great dinner event, I saw a excellent concert, 3D is always cool and the Alfacam crew can add another first to their resumé. You can invite me for the next premiere, thank you very much. ☺
Many thanks to Yves for keeping in touch and the invitation, and to Annemie for letting me in to take some shots…
Edit: Trusted reader Stijn was also at the event and took some shots of the material Jarre used for his set. Very cool stuff... Thanks for sending this in!
Posted by Nils Walravens at 09:04 0 comments
Tags: Alfacam, Euro1080, HDTV, Philips
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Coming soon...
I apologize for the lack of updates, but work has been quite hectic, especially when combined with moving to Antwerp.
If all goes well, I should have a fun update tomorrow, as I will be attending an event tonight...
Oooohh...
Posted by Nils Walravens at 09:23 0 comments
