For those who like their blood and guts as close to reality as possible, Australian cable operator Nine Network said it will broadcast the Harvey Norman State of Origin rugby league tournament live in 3D, using video processing technology from Ericsson.
The broadcaster is calling the rugby league tournament, which begins today and continues on June 16th and July 7th, “the first sporting event to be broadcast live in 3D on free-to-air television.”
Last month Comcast Corp. televised selected holes from the Masters golf tournament in three dimensions. The 3D golf was viewable over 3D sets from LG and Sony, using special glasses.
While the relatively wealthy demographic that tunes into Australian rugby league and major golf tournaments is likely to include at least some early adopters of 3D TV, it’s not clear that television in 3D is a technology that will break into the mainstream anytime soon. With many service providers having already announced their intent to broadcast select 3D programming, there are several challenges to overcome to deliver 3D signals to the home using currently deployed infrastructure and devices. The Consumer Electronics Association forecast last year that 1 million U.S. households will have 3D TVs by the end of 2010.
At the National Association of Broadcasters trade show last month in Las Vegas, Motorola debuted a set software enhancements for its DCX line of set-tops that the company said represents a breakthrough in 3D video processing. The new programs enable 3D content to be processed in the set-top box before delivery to a 3D-capable TV, so that consumers will not be forced to reconfigure the equipment each time they switch toa 3D broadcast.
Nine Network will televise the rugby tournament using an Ericsson setup that includes the EN8190, Ericsson’s latest HD encoder, along with Ericsson RX8200 receivers, and the MX8400 multiplexer.
