The G3D100 Synapse signal-processing module from Axon is getting a workout in 3-D. In the Netherlands, United Broadcast Facilities (part of the Euro Media Group) used it to broadcast a live political debate in 3-D a few days before to the Dutch general elections; local cable company Ziggo distributed the 3-D signal to the home. The left signal from four 3-D cameras was used for the transmission of the event on national TV in HD and on the Internet.
In another example, Belgian production company Outside Broadcast produced the final of the European Champion League in Madrid in 3-D and supplied the signal for broadcast to the home (and to pubs). Numerous broadcasters took the live signal from the EBU satellite to show the game in 3-D cinemas in Madrid. A total of six 3-D cameras were deployed to cover the game.
While the 3-D debate was United Broadcast Facilities’ first foray into 3-D, Outside Broadcast has produced several 3-D broadcasts before. Last year, the company used the predecessor of Axon’s G3D100, the HXH160, for its first 3-D transmission during the Memorial Van Damme. This year, Outside Broadcast produced a soccer game in 3-D, which was then broadcast live on the Belgacom network and could also be viewed in 3-D in a number of pubs in Belgium.
Axon’s G3D100 is a low-latency module that includes several built-in functions to support stereoscopic 3-D production. It supports horizontal and vertical flip on both inputs to flip/rotate images coming from a 3-D camera set on a rig with a mirror; it can squeeze the left- and right-eye signal to an anamorphic half horizontal size and combine them into one side-by-side stream; and it has two full-blown color correctors onboard that combined with the onboard mixer can be used to create any type of anaglyph 3-D video.
