3D TV Service Meets Roadblocks

A lot of televisions today incorporate support for 3D signals. Most of these are targeted towards games and special 3D content. Now, that list of possible materials could rise as a British communications provider says it’s already testing a 3D TV delivery system and could be ready to offer the protocol to the public within a matter of months.

A few years ago, three-dimensional television content service was virtually something that would happened only in the future. Well, that future in technology could be now.

The provider mentioned, Sky, made the announcement at the annual summit by the Digital TV Group in London. In their statement, they said that their main goal is to refine 3D techniques and TV production and build a content library over the coming year. Sky Chief Engineer Chris Johns further mentioned that Sky started testing its 3D TV technology last year and has broadcast several sporting events using the technology. The events were shot on two side-by-side cameras, and then merged together to create the three-dimensional effect. However, viewers still needed special polarized glasses to see the action in 3D.

So what’s the catch? What’s keeping them from going mainstream? Well, the real problem now lies in the devices. Regular televisions won’t be able to interpret correctly the three-dimensional images shown. So, viewers would need to acquire a television capable of displaying these images. Manufacturers have introduced 3D capabilities on some of their products. Panasonic showed off a 103-inch plasma set capable of showing customized 3D Blu-ray movies, and LG talked about a 3D chip set coming to its screens in the future. However, letting viewers spend to acquire 3D-capable sets is easier said than done.

Aside from the problem mentioned above, the industry also has yet to agree upon a standard protocol for 3D content within the medium, creating another roadblock that must be overcome before 3D TVs could gain mainstream market appeal.

However, once these issues are addressed, providers could freely broadcast 3D content. Now the only problem left to solve is the consumers.