3D Vision Blog

Not long ago we had one major sports event in the USA – The 2010 Masters golf tournament in 3D and now there are some interesting news that The 2010 French Open tennis tournament will also be shot and broadcasted in 3D too. The 2010 French Open will run from May 23th to June 6th in Paris, so after it finishes it will be just about time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa – the next major sports event to be shot and shown in 3D. These are definitely very good news for all the sports fans all over the world as it seems that the big sports events are one of the first to go 3D in trying to provide you similar experience as actually being there live, but at the same time from the comfort of your home while in front of your new 3D TV. After the Masters 3D broadcasts there were a lot of people that were quite impressed by what they saw, although they were not interested in Golf or even found it quite boring. Tennis for example is also not the most common and widely popular sport, but with the football matches coming up this summer the new generation of 3D TVs should become a big hit.

But back on the topic of the 2010 French Open tennis tournament being shot and broadcasted in 3D, not all matches of course, but all that will be played at the center court at Roland Garros will be shot and broadcasted in 3D. It seems that the organizers of the The 2010 French Open have partnered with Panasonic, Orange and Eurosport to make the 3D broadcasts possible. The 3D broadcast should be available to all Orange subscribers throughout France on special 3D TV channel. Eurosport will also be delivering live 3D coverage of the sports event to thousands of retail stores throughout Europe on Panasonic VT20 Plasma 3D TVs, but it seems not to the homes of the early adopters of 3D TVs that still have some issues with finding content in 3D. Still Panasonic expects to have around one million people that will be able to see the 3D broadcast from the tennis tournament in Europe, which is not bad at all.

I’m sure that not everyone is fond of Golf as a sport, but this year you might be willing to watch the 2010 Masters Golf Tournament at least for a few hours a day. The reason for that is, because the tournament will be shot in 3D and then broadcasted on a special 3D TV channel and online. For that purpose the golf field will be equipped with multiple 3D cameras placed strategically throughout the course providing views to the audience just like being there, while they’ll be sitting comfortably in their homes. Unfortunately it seems that the live 3D broadcast will be distributed only to those in the United States with 3D-capable television sets or 3D-capable computers. It is still not known if the live online 3D feed will be accessible from outside USA, but if it isn’t people that have access to it will be more than welcome to record the stream and share it with other 3D enthusiasts around the world.

Unfortunately you won’t be able to watch the whole tournament in 3D, but still it should provide you with a good insight on what to expect from the future 3D TV broadcasts of sports and other type of live events. The 3D broadcasts will consist of two hours of live afternoon coverage that will be available each day beginning during Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest on April 7th (3-5 pm EST) and continuing throughout the four Tournament rounds, Thursday, April 8th – Sunday, April 11th (4-6 pm EST on Thursday and Friday and 5-7 pm EST on Saturday and Sunday).

More information on how to watch the live 3D stream online is available at the official website, but you’ll need to stay tuned and check back before the tournament starts for the exact streaming URL. The good news is that if you own a 3D Vision kit and a 120Hz monitor you’ll be able to watch the 3D stream either through the 3D Vision Video Player (the latest version 1.5.5 supports streaming 3D content) or through the Stereoscopic Player (even with other 3D setups… most likely). It seems that the broadcasted 3D TV stream will be in a Side by Side multiplexed 1080i format which is the standard for the new 3D-ready TV broadcasting as defined in the HDMI 1.4 specs. The exact format for the online broadcast still has not been officially announced, but it might as well be 720p to ensure better user experience and less problems with regards to internet speeds, and the format will be Side by Side with 16:9 aspect ratio.

- For more information on the 3D Online streaming feed of the Masters Golf Tournament…
- For more information on the 3D TV broadcasts of the Masters Golf Tournament on TV…

The guys from Explore Media Group continue to provide us with stereoscopic 3D videos, the latest one shows us some shots they did at a practice Soccer/Football game. What is most interesting is that the video can give you an idea on what to expect from sporting events being broadcasted in 3D. Because sport events are going to be one of the major topics for the first 3D TV channels and not only for them, so you should take a look at the video even if you are not a sports fan.

The video in a Side by Side HD format that you can watch in 3D Vision stereoscopic video player of the Stereoscopic Player, just don’t forget to select Side by Side format and manually set the 16:9 aspect ration in the player. There is an HD version of the video available on YouTube 3D, so you can also watch it there with a pair of anaglyph glasses or any other of the 3D systems that the service currently supports, but for best quality you better download the video. You can also go to the 3DGuy website for some interesting things related to stereoscopic 3D and as usual please don’t forget to leave your comments if you watch the video.

- Download the new Football practice S3D Video – mirror 1 – mirror 2