New York City-based 3D Fusion used a live basketball game outside of the Las Vegas Convention Center during the NAB Show to demonstrate its new 3DFMax autosteroscopic transmission system, which allows viewers to watch live 3-D images without special glasses. The 3-D platform, which is designed to mimic the way the eye sees, addresses the entire production chain, from live camera capture and control room engineering to viewer display. The company also makes a 3DFMax system that requires 3-D glasses.
“Although we are targeting the richness of the ‘with-glasses’ 3-D imaging, our 3DFMax images are designed to mimic the way the eye sees,” said Steve Blumenthal, president of 3DFusion. “With the 3DFMax 3-D TV technology, the viewer can adjust the 3-D depth impact to his personal preference, on the fly, in real time. He has the same control as he would in correcting color or adjusting volume with his remote control.”
3DFusion’s PC-based 3-D TV platform is based on a combination of depth-mapping algorithms and stereoscopic left/right 3-D data. The company worked with 3ality Digital and Bexel for the demonstration.
“This is the best autostereoscopic display I’ve seen to date,” said Steve Schklair, CEO of 3ality Digital. “For certain commercial applications, the 3D Fusion ASD is ready now, and this technology for the home is a lot closer than I previously thought. Their live 3-D camera capture/ASD display, complete with on-the-fly depth adjustments, clearly demonstrates beyond proof of concept — it works.”
In addition to offering glasses-free autostereoscopic 3-D display technology, 3DFusion is bringing to market state-of-the-art 3-D content players and intelligent 2-D-to-3-D content conversion technology. Its main focus is on a few vertical markets, such as 3-D digital signage and content conversion for 3-D cinema/broadcasting with glasses. 3DFusion live camera capture and ASD displays are supported by a full line of technology offerings from content conversion tools and video game plug-ins to post-production editing suites for 3-D content conversion and creation.
Production services company Bexel helped set up the camera systems for the outdoor, half-court basketball showcase between the Central and South Halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center. In addition to providing a full engineering crew, Bexel supplied its portable Hercules HD fly-pack and Eagle Announcer System, in conjunction with six 3ality Digital acquisition rigs.
The Hercules system includes a Sony 8000G HD production switcher; a Calrec Artemis audio mixing console; a 96-input LCD production monitor wall with Evertz MVP multi-image display processors; a PESA Cheetah multiformat video router and DRS audio router; multiple EVS LSM XT[2] six-channel HD DDRs; and Sony SRW-5800 HDCAM SR VTRs.
Bexel’s new Eagle Announcer System made its debut at the NAB Show. Created to meet the needs of the sports broadcasters and commentators, the Eagle system helps reduce space requirements while providing superior on-air audio performance. While other integrated announcer products contain the circuitry and processing hardware in the desktop unit directly in front of the announcer, the Eagle Announcer System maximizes performance in both physical format and audio performance by splitting the functionality into three compact parts.
