Singapore will be running a S$5 million, year-long trial of 3D TV from today, just months after the first 3D TVs started going on sale here at retail stores.
The trial will be run by broadcasters SingTel, StarHub and Mediacorp, said Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Lui Tuck Yew, at the opening of the CommunicAsia show this morning.
This means some lucky trial users from the industry will be among the first here to don their stereoscopic 3D glasses to view 3D content made in Singapore.
We’re not sure how many couch potatotes will excited by it, but this year’s National Day Parade will be recorded in 3D and expected to be viewable in the more realistic viewing mode. Great news if you’re a fan of the yearly extravaganza.
More seriously, it’s a good thing Singapore is spending dollars to develop content, talent and media services for 3D programmes, since other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have already broadcast 3D programmes like football matches, in the past 12 months.
Details are still sketchy for the Singapore trial now, and it is unclear if this industry-based move will bring 3D content to actual home users, like the nationwide high-definition TV (HDTV) trial of four years ago, which enabled viewers to watch the last World Cup in HD.
For the new 3D TV trial, broadcasters “may choose to extend the trial to include consumers,” said an MDA press release.
What we do know is that TV makers such as Samsung, LG and Sony will be really happy that sales of 3D TV sets have got a nice push here.
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I viewed the 3DTV demo at communicasia and was quite disappointed by what I saw:
First, on display were 2 3DTVs (samsung I think). One was in 3D mode (which required active shutter glasses) and the other was in 2D mode. In 2D, we could see that what the broadcasters spliced the left/right eye images into a normal HD channel (1080i)@60hz?; so imagine 2 squashed 16:9 images side by side. By doing this, they could use the current SH HD Hubstation to transmit 3D pic.
So it feels like what we are watching is non-HD 3DTV… which had me scratching my head as it seems that we have to choose between watching a “normal” HD programme and sub-HD quality 3DTV in future?
Correct me if I’m wrong here
It won’t take off for sure. Look at the state of HD5 half cooked channel. How many people subscibed to Singtel/Starhub HD channels (at a premium) ? 3D? no way.