sPeCIAL feAtUre - 3d
sPeCIAL feAtUre - 3d Comes ALIve When PICtUres Come ALIve meko’s bob rAIkes Looks At the onset of 3d teChnoLogIes Bob Raikes, Founder and President of Meko There is no question that one of the big themes of this year's IFA show is 3D. Technologies often accelerate in development when they change from analogue to digital and over recent years, TV set makers have moved from the CRT, where progress and development was gradual, to LCD and PDP which are developing rapidly. In the end, a display is a communication device, an interface. A TV without a viewer has no purpose. The better that the output interface (the TV) can match to the input interface (the viewer's perception), the better the connection, the closer the involvement of the viewer in the content that is being displayed. Humans evolved stereovision and if the display doesn't take advantage of As the Blu-ray Disc Association announces official plans for incorporating 3D into the Blu-ray format, Hollywood appears on its side to be right behind the project. “Consumer adoption of Bluray continues to grow at a very steady pace,” said Bob Chapek, President, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. “The 3D theatrical market has this, it really isn't using the full bandwidth potential of the human 'perception interface'. Improvements in the speed of driving of PDPs and advances in LCD technology are allowing stereo images to be delivered to viewers. In the case of LCD, in monitors, we've seen double speed sets from companies such as ViewSonic and Samsung that can run each eye at full resolution to exploit the power of the latest graphics cards. There are real technical challenges to be overcome to make Full- HD 3D on LCDs successful. PDP makers have an advantage here. PDPs are fundamentally digital and have very fast response times, so they can maintain full resolution for each eye, something that we believe is very important to a great user experience. However, you also need to have the content in 3D and then to get it to the viewer. Over the last three or four years, Hollywood, led by Disney's Pixar studios but backed by others including Dreamworks Animation have developed some great content for viewing in 3D and studios are increasingly committing to making all of been very successful this year. We are just now seeing all of the true capabilities of 3D and with Blu-ray Disc’s superior technical characteristics, as well as the broad industry support of the format, it makes it the ideal packaged media platform for 3D home entertainment.” According to Victor Matsuda, Blu-ray Disc Association 3D Home Master Source: SMPTE 3D Production 3D Line Event their content available in 3D. This has been made possible by the switch to digital cinema projectors that can deliver a really compelling viewer experience in 3D. The US movie and TV standards body, SMPTE, has developed its 3D Home Master concept to help the standardisation 3D content. In times past, getting that content to the viewer in the home would have been a nearly impossible problem. TV viewers would have been limited by the decisions of broadcasters in supporting 3D. Few broadcasters have really committed strongly to Global Promotions Committee Chairman, “The BDA intends to take full advantage of the format’s high bandwidth and capacity to achieve the very highest possible quality 3D experience.” “Just as Blu-ray Disc has paved the way for next generation, high definition home entertainment, it will also set the standard for 3D home HD, so the chances of them going quickly to 3D are very, very small. (Although BSKyB in the UK which has a good HD service is going to launch a single experimental 3D channel in 2010, although it will be half resolution to fit into its existing infrastructure) However, the Blu-ray Disc Association is going as fast as it can to finalise and publish a specification for 3D content that can be played in FullHD in 3D on new players, but is also fully compatible with the existing 2D player installed base. The latest version of viewing in the future”, said Mr Matsuda. The BDA, comprised of major motion picture studio, IT and consumer electronics companies, is working on a uniform specification to ensure consistent delivery of 3D content across the Blu-ray Disc Platform. The Association is examining a number of criteria and at a minimum, the HDMI interface, version 1.4, which will appear in products in 2010 supports image transfer from a player to a display. That means that 3D content with high quality and high definition, in line with the Blu-ray aim to be 'the best quality viewing experience in the home', will arrive in the next year. The other enabler may well be what is known as 'over the top' TV - that is TV that is supplied through the internet without the need for a conventional broadcaster. WALt dIsney stUdIos home entertAInment bACk 3d on bLU-rAy dIsC hoLLyWood bACks formAt As the “IdeAL PACkAged medIA PLAtform for 3d home entertAInment” By Gérard Lefebvre 3D Post Production 3D Source Master Mobile BD / DVD Streaming Terrestrial Cable Satellite Disc 3D Cinema Master Player DVR / STB AVR Game Video Camera the specification will require delivery of 1080p resolution to each eye and backward compatibility for both discs and players, meaning that 3D discs will also include a 2D version of the film that can be viewed on existing 2D players and 3D players will enable consumers to playback their existing libraries of 2D content. 12 www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday, 4 th September 2009
SPECIAL FEATURE - 3d ComES ALIvE! PANASoNIC INITIATIvE FUELS 3d dEvELoPmENT How mASAyUkI kozUkA IS dRIvINg FoRwARd PANASoNIC’S BLU-RAy ANd 3d dEvELoPmENT In April this year, Masayuki Kozuka was appointed General Manager, Storage Devices Business Strategy Office Corporate R&D Division, Panasonic Corporation. Here, he talks about his role in developing Blu-ray Disc, 3D and other optical media for the modern-day digital lifestyle. You’ve had an interesting and varied career. Could you start by telling us about it… I’ve worked for Panasonic for 27 years. I have an engineering degree and after joining the company I spent a lot of time working overseas. I was in Hollywood for six years working on a variety of projects including the joint-venture with Universal Studios 15 years ago, which was a dream appointment because movies are my hobby. I was there as Project Leader on the development of DVD and then Blu-ray. I was also involved in a digital music distribution system long before the iPod appeared. The SD card was part of the music distribution system. It was developed in cooperation with SanDisk and the distribution side was in conjunction with Universal Music and BMG. In 2001 I was asked to concentrate on HD picture quality, specialising in compression and broadband distribution. So we started working with the studios to make the Blu-ray disc. You’ve been at the heart of Blu-ray discs since the start. What new ways do you think are needed to drive the demand for the format? From the studio point of view, a company like Disney whose main business is aimed at kids, is crucial because kids love to play games. Now, a DVD or Bluray disc can end up being watched once or twice and then forgotten but Disney’s discs offer much greater value because they are all packed with extra features, and of course the Blu-ray can have so many more extras than a DVD and much greater levels of interactivity. What is the roadmap for 3D? After the demonstrations this year our CEO has said that he wants to start commercialising the system next year. We are not just thinking about a 3D TV and HDMI. We’re developing a player and discs. We’re also working together with the studios on developing a 3D disc. Are there differing systems for rendering the 3D images? There are several intermediate formats but we don’t care about them. We are committed to the Blu-ray Association 3HD format. In terms of TVs we don’t need standardisation but we adhere to the HDMI cable standard and the Bluray format. Screen-wise, the challenge with LCD is that it reads the information line by line so 120Hz would not be enough. I think 240Hz would be sufficient though. Plasma, on the other hand, reads frame by frame so that works well and it has enough brightness. James Cameron is a big supporter of the 3D project. Have you met him? Yes. Funnily enough, two years ago I was involved in a joint-promotion with Fox and Disney for Blu-ray. They invited me to look at their joint-project with James Cameron to produce Avatar, his next film. The system had very nice picture quality and I was very impressed by what I saw, so I made an internal report saying that I thought that we should perhaps be thinking about developing 3D. So this was the seed of the current project? Yes indeed. Plus we started providing Avatar with cameras plus LCD and Plasma displays. We arn’t a fully-fledged collaborator though, just a technology supplier. So the 3D rollout starts in 2009. When will we see 3D TVs in the shop? 3D screens will start appearing in cinemas very soon but as for 3D DVD for the public, we are committed to having products available in the US market next year. In fact there’ll be an announcement at IFA this year with more details about our rollout plans. Hall 5.2 / Stand 101 by Richard Barnes Masayuki Kozuka,General Manager, Storage Devices Business Strategy Office Corporate R&D Division, Panasonic Corporation. IFA International is a CLEVERDIS Publication • 65 avenue Jules Cantini - Tour Méditerranée - 13298 Marseille • France • Tel: + 33 4 42 77 46 00 • Fax: + 33 4 42 77 46 01 • SARL capitalised at € 128,250 - VAT FR 95413604471 • RCS Marseille 413 604 471 • E-mail : info@cleverdis.com • www.cleverdis.com During IFA : Press Center – Hall 6.3 – Room 401 • Tel: +49 (0)30 3038 81136 • Fax: +49 (0)30 3038 81146 • E-mail : info@ifa-international.org • www.ifa-international.org • Publisher: Gérard Lefebvre • Publishing Director: Jean-Guy Bienfait • Project Manager: Bettina Badon • Editor-in-Chief: Richard Barnes • Associate Editor: Jooree Cho • Editorial team: Neil Crossley, Marc Dezzani, Emmanuel Poidevin, Gary Smith, Jo Stephens • Photos: Didier Baverel • Videos: Sacha Le Corroler, Farouk Bounouara, Laurent Masini • Art Director: Hélène Beunat • Design & Page Setting: Guillaume Kaercher, Valentina Russo • With the participation of: Laura Howainski, Laura Moessner, Jean-François Pieri, Raphaël Pinot, Masha Polshinskaya, Benjamin Ras To contact them : first name.last name@ifa-international.org • Cover : © Photo Messe Berlin • Printing: Möller Druck und Verlag GmbH (Berlin, Germany) © CLEVERDIS 2009 - Registration of Copyright August 2009 - ISSN pending Information presented in this publication is purely indicative in order to illustrate subjects contained therein. No guarantee can be given as to the accuracy of data or content at time of printing and thus the latter should not be used for professional or commercial ends. While all efforts have been made as to accuracy and pertinence of content and data contained in this publication, CLEVERDIS may in no case be held responsible for the consequences, whatever their nature may be, that may result from the interpretation of this data or content, or any eventual errors therein. Any reproduction of the content of this publication, even partial, by any means whatsoever, is strictly prohibited without the prior autorisation of the publisher. Any copy, whether by photography, photography film, magnetic tape, disc or other means constitutes a forgery, liable to punishment under French law according to the legislation of 11th March 1957 covering copyright. All brands cited in this publication are registered trade marks and/or belong to companies which are their respective proprietors. The publishers and editorial staff decline all responsibility as to opinions formulated in this publication by those interviewed or cited therein. Their opinions are entirely their own, and are included with the understanding that they contain, to our knowledge, no malicious intent. The inclusion of all texts, photographs and other documents supplied by those included in the encyclopaedia imply the acceptance by their authors of their free publication therein. Documents and photographs will not be returned. It should be understood that this publication contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include assumptions relating to the timing of the recorded date. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialises or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the expectations outlined in these statements. Cleverdis assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements during the period of publication. Photo Credits and Copyright: All Rights Reserved. IFA International • Friday, 4 th September 2009 www.ifa-international.org 13
