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Sky to launch 3D TV service

Published on 31st July 2009 by Gareth Halfacree

Despite some false starts in the past, 3D TV could soon become a household reality with Sky's launch of a 3D channel.

3DTV is firmly back on the horizon wit the news that Sky is due to launch a three dimensional channel some time in 2010.

Despite the seeming failure of 3DTV technologies in the past, Sky's Brian Sullivan believes that it represents the future of broadcasting: calling the technology a "genuinely 'seeing is believing' experience, making TV come to live as never before."

According to Neowin, the technology will operate on the same hardware as the current high-definition broadcasts offered by the company, meaning all Sky+ HD customers won't need to upgrade. Sadly, the offering is going to require a 3D-ready television - which could be a difficult sell, with many consumers having only recently upgraded to an HD set.

Currently the company has a small selection of content it has recorded in 3D - using a pair of HD cameras to record two separate video streams - including a performance of Swan Lake by the English National Ballet, England vs. New Zealand's Rugby Union Test Match from November of last year, episodes of Sky 1's Gladiators, and football and boxing content.

Sky has yet to confirm whether those on its top HD packages will be getting the 3D channel for free, nor how much extra it will cost others to upgrade.

A video demonstration of the 3DTV offering is available on YouTube, courtesy of Stuff.tv.

Does the thought of 3D TV fill you full of joy, or do you think the technology is going nowhere until they make a system that doesn't require dodgy glasses? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

11 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

AshT 31st July 2009, 10:24

Joy!

They had better not be charging extra for this service, I'm already paying for HDx2, Multiroom and the full set of channels - its extortionate!

Nearly bought My Bloody Valentine 3D from Tescos yesterday ... anyone know if the home version is any good 3D-wise?

Jamie 31st July 2009, 10:34

So this will work the same as the nvidia 3d glasses for gaming?

mjm25 31st July 2009, 10:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by AshT
Joy!

They had better not be charging extra for this service, I'm already paying for HDx2, Multiroom and the full set of channels - its extortionate!

Nearly bought My Bloody Valentine 3D from Tescos yesterday ... anyone know if the home version is any good 3D-wise?

doesn't the home version use the magenta glasses? i know there's blood everywhere but its still not the best experience to see red and yellow

scrimple3D 31st July 2009, 11:22

It's not the same system as nvidia. They only show one image at a time with the glasses effectively stopping light from reaching the eye that's not supposed to see the displayed image. I guess I could have made that a bit clearer.

The Sky system shows two images at the same time, but each one is polarised differently, which allows simpler glasses to be used.

mjm25 31st July 2009, 12:08

i saw the new ice age in 3d on wednesday night with a pair of simple £1 3D glasses, it was very effective and had you leaning back on occasion. it was well done but you felt like your eyes weren't working if you looked at the screen without the glasses :P

p.s. why do kids movies have THE WORST AUDIENCES EVER?!

"This is a funny bit!!! and then after this there's a really good 3d part!" why are you at the cinema?! grrrr!!!!

Er-El 31st July 2009, 14:25

Something about 3D TV/movies/games comes across as a huge gimmick to me. I mean it's nice for the occasional viewing, but too distracting from what's actually going on because half the time I'll be moving my head about, looking around; so I'm very skeptical about 3D for regular entertainment. Still, I'm open to change my mind about it and that definitely won't be any time soon as long as we have to wear those ridiculous glasses.

Another thing, why can't the industries focus on getting '2D' right - by moving to 48 bit displays and wait for larger broadband penetration to distribute this heavy bandwidth stuff - before we start worrying about 3D!?

kenco_uk 31st July 2009, 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrimple3D
It's not the same system as nvidia. They only show one image at a time with the glasses effectively stopping light from reaching the eye that's not supposed to see the displayed image. I guess I could have made that a bit clearer.

The Sky system shows two images at the same time, but each one is polarised differently, which allows simpler glasses to be used.

Will it only work on tv's with a certain refresh rate?

War-Rasta 31st July 2009, 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Er-El
it's nice for the occasional viewing, but too distracting from what's actually going on because half the time I'll be moving my head about, looking around

Same thing happens to me, but I think that will only last a short while. Once you get used to having 3D and it stops being a novelty then it'll be just like watching regular TV now.

scrimple3D 1st August 2009, 11:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenco_uk
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrimple3D
It's not the same system as nvidia. They only show one image at a time with the glasses effectively stopping light from reaching the eye that's not supposed to see the displayed image. I guess I could have made that a bit clearer.

The Sky system shows two images at the same time, but each one is polarised differently, which allows simpler glasses to be used.

Will it only work on tv's with a certain refresh rate?

I don't think refresh rate comes into it..... because the image you see is both images combined. There's no flipping between images for left and right eyes.

LordPyrinc 2nd August 2009, 02:17

In my opinion, 3D gaming sounds really cool. After setting up a 5.1 surround sound speaker system and configuring the individual speakers via software for distance an decibel boost, it really made a big difference in the gaming experience with FPS games.

I'm thinking that 3D visuals could also enhance the gaming experience and make the gamer feel like they are more immersed in the environment.

AshT 2nd August 2009, 20:06

All you gotta do Lord is watch Tron Legacy trailer on Apple.com/trailers and imagine that in 3D on your surround system. Aint no gimmicks there as someone earlier said, it'll hopefully be awesome, Avatar as well 'should' be pretty special.