On 3D TV and 4D audio…
So Broadcast Australia has switched off our 3D test channel, the trial period having run its course. Will the rush towards 3D lose vigour, with the big sports events over and the test channel gone? I doubt it. There’s plenty more to come.
For example, we’re only at the beginning of 3D’s gaming potential, with the PlayStation 3’s upgrade already through, to be followed by another upgrade to play 3D movies. And Panasonic has announced its first 3D home video camera — which, as I mentioned a few issues back, should prove downright thrilling for recording those school sports matches etc. Fujifilm and Sony already have stills cameras that can shoot 3D images for display on a 3D TV
Meanwhile Hollywood is gearing up to spew forth a healthy backlog of movies already produced in 3D. And not only recent ones, but titles going back half a century — as Stephen Dawson mentions this issue, Hitchcock filmed Dial M for Murder in 3D during what is considered the original “golden era” of 3D, from 1952 to 1955.
A warning note sounds from one 3D director, Joe Dante, in our interview on p86. Several recent movies have been turned into 3D as post-production — Clash of the Titans, and The Last Airbender for two — an expensive process which just doesn’t work, says Dante, because the ‘rules’ for filming effectively in 3D weren’t followed in the first place. It’s worth checking into this before forking out for a prestige-priced 3D movie ticket or Blu-ray.
We’ve enjoyed good if variable results from the four brands of 3D TV in Australia so far — LG, Panasonic and Sony get full reviews in this issue, and our review of Samsung’s first 3D offering can be seen online at avhub.com.au. The most reassuring news is that they are all excellent 2D TVs in their own right. Also that the fierce competition in the TV market has prevented premium prices being charged. So even if 3D does eventually die in the arse, you won’t have blown your cash on a curio.
Most of the new TVs are also media moguls in their abilities to stream content across your home network and off the internet (usually in limited form). In this regard, the news of Ultraviolet (see p17) could change the way we buy media, if it comes to fruition. Nearly all the main media companies except Apple and Disney are supporting the Ultraviolet concept of ‘buy once, play anywhere’ licensing for music, movies and more. Buy a CD and you’ll get a UV code that enables you to listen to the same music streamed from the UV cloud to your phone; buy a DVD and you’ll be granted access to a streaming version, and perhaps an on-demand version for your internet-enabled TV. It sounds impressive, though history might suggest that for the first few years Australia will get only a screen saying “Sorry, content not available in your country”. But hey, that’s what VPNs are for. Standby also for a shake-up of the PVR market. I had a play this week with Freeview’s new ‘standardised’ EPG, which promises an end to ‘padding’ your recordings because it will use the actual start and end CRID (content reference ID) codes transmitted with broadcasts to ensure precisely captured recordings. Frankly I’m dubious about relying on Australian broadcasters to do this 100% accurately, but it could be a big time and space saver, not to mention a counterweight to Freeview’s continued insistence that any machine carrying its logo must be hobbled by removal of useful ad-skip buttons and exporting abilities. Still, the twin-tuner Freeview PVR on which I saw the EPG operating will have a 1TB hard drive and an RRP of $499. Coo gosh. Full story next issue.
One final note on 3D. A number of products are now promising “3D audio to match your 3D TV!” What marvellous marketing nonsense. It appears they simply mean surround sound, unless perhaps they plan to provide earmuffs that flap alternately at 88.4kHz so we hear things only one ear at a time. In fact you would be justified calling any audio system 3D or even 4D, given it provides an output in three dimensions plus time. In a 2D audio system the sound would just hang around the speakers and never reach your ears. Very messy that would be.
Cheers,
Jez Ford, Editor
www.twitter.com/jezford
Sound + Image: September/October 2010
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