Production Technology Seminar 2009 - EBU Technical

3 The future in production
Chairperson: Roberto Cecatto, RAI, Italy
Television, Radio, Web, mobile. Yes indeed we would have enough on our research and development
plates to last us for decades. But should we not also look beyond the scope of strictly broadcasting
developments? 3D-TV for instance, from which the broadcasters have a lot to learn. And what about the
future plans in broadcasting…
3D
3.1 SMPTE Task Force on 3D to the Home
Bill Zou, DTS, Standards & Business Development; Task Force Chairman, USA
The Task Force (TF) was formed primarily under the request of the technology vendors. The driving
force of movies studios produced a lot of 3D content over the last couple of years, and the success at
the box office made them wonder why they just show it in theatres and if they can push this content all
the way to the home. There is also the driving force of consumer electronics. Now, more and more
homes already have HD and what is next? 3D is perhaps the next killer application. If there are driving
forces at both ends, something is missing in the middle. There is no way to move the content from
content owner to home. And without standards you cannot launch a successful business.
Therefore, at the Task Force kick-off meeting, 19 August 2008, 200 people attended at the
Entertainment Technology Center in Los Angeles.
The 3D Task Force mission is first to answer the questions "What standards are needed?" for rapid
adoption of stereoscopic content, from mastering to consumption in the home on a fixed home display
via multiple types of distribution channels (broadcast, package media, Internet) – "What standards
should be written by SMPTE?" in liaison with other bodies to ensure other needed standards are written.
In the 3D End-to-End Value Chain [3], the yellow box relates to what the Task Force is focusing on: the
'3D Home Master' format requirements with consideration from content creation, distribution and display.
The corresponding specific tasks [5] are divided between 4 drafting teams in charge of:
� Defining the issues and challenges related to 3D distribution for the home market, by:
o describing end-to-end distribution chain, to precise the demarcation of the Task Force scope;
o creating use cases (with inputs from cable, DTH, Studios, broadcasters) and prioritize;
o creating standard terms/definitions (3D terminology to ensure that discussions and documents
within the SMPTE 3D Task Force remain coherent);
o identifying unique challenges in determining solutions.
� Defining minimum requirements needed to overcome the issues and challenges, by
o defining functional requirements for each distribution channel;
o defining performance requirements;
o consolidating and prioritizing.
� Defining evaluation criteria for content creation, content formatting, distribution channels, display -
including both 3D quality and 2D compatibility/quality.
� Defining and recommending a minimum set of standards that would need to be written to provide
sufficient interoperability.
We are close to completing a task-force report. This is a document to include use cases, end-to-end
system diagram, terminology and minimum requirements for a single 3D Home Master that can be used
for various downstream distribution platforms. The 3D Home Master will be an uncompressed and
unencrypted image format or file package derived from a 3D Source Master and intended to be used in
the creation of 3D distribution data.
The report of the Task Force should be complete by Q1 2009.
© EBU 2009 / Production Technology seminar / January 27 - 29, 2009
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