BBC examines Holographic TV
December 15, 2011
By Chris Forrester
The BBC’s R&D department has summarised work that broadcasters are doing across Europe in Holographic TV. The engineers are also researching 3D holoscopy for the Internet as well as ‘next generation’ 3D applications.
A technical ‘White Paper’ from the BBC brings readers up to date in the latest thinking in advanced television applications which also extend to the usage of 3D on mobiles and smart-phones.
The work, much of it backed by the European Broadcasting Union or European Commission funding, includes the 3D Vivant project, which is looking at immersive 3D and the spatial sound experiences that could be achieved without glasses.
The concept calls for a single lens camera and for the end-user to view onto a dedicated 3D TV set but without the need for special glasses. A 2D video can be seen demonstrating the concept at http://www.3dvivant.eu/ . Researchers from Brunel University, RAI, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, the EBU, ARRI and others are working on the holographic 3D Vivant project.
Other projects described in detail by the BBC’s White Paper include Helium 3D (glasses free 3D), Sky Media (multimedia stereoscopic transmission), i3D LIVE project (Super High Vision),and the 3D Phone project.