rue frontenac article in English3D TV will be at the forefront at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the largest annual fair of the electronics industry, which officially begins Thursday in Las Vegas, and Montreal's Sensio will be at the heart of some announcements made on the spot.
Now, a decade that Sensio works behind the scenes to develop technologies related to 3D TV. Its products are not intended directly to consumers, but rather to be embedded in other products: televisions, scanners, etc.. For example, it developed an encoding format reducing the bandwidth required for 3D television than television 2D. This technology was used to broadcast in 3D the most recent World Cup soccer.
Three new products
At CES, Sensio introduce three new products. The first, Sensio Autodetect installed in a 3D TV, allows it to automatically detect the format used by 3D content sent to it (side-by-side, upside down, etc..). Currently, owners of 3D TVs themselves must select the appropriate mode when you activate the 3D mode of their TV.
The second, S2D Switch enables 3D content to bring in two dimensions in order, for example, watch a quick excerpt recorded in 3D without having to wear glasses.
These are two seemingly trivial technology, but nevertheless greatly relieve the TV manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, LG or others, said Richard LaBerge, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing at Sensio.
"When we introduced the guys Autodetect television, their eyes were enlarged," says LaBerge. Yes, it's simple, but you must understand that these are not people in 3D. Generally, they have two or three experts in the box, that's all. Their strength is still dealing with signs, either LCD or other housing, negotiate the price of components, etc.. We, the 3D is our specialty. "
Sensio will also announce at CES have laid hands on the rights of an entire movie collection (some for adults) and documentaries filmed in 3D in order to encode in its format and make them available to distributors who will in turn offer their customers video on demand. One can think of cable companies like Comcast and DirecTV in the U.S., but also services called "over-the-top (OTT) as iTunes, Netflix, Xbox Live or PlayStation Network.
"With this announcement, it takes a little from the world of technology itself," says LaBerge. It demonstrates our commitment to the industry. We will always remain a technology firm at the base, but if we want to raise the industry, we must step outside our box. If you wait for the others, we will wait a long time. "
The lack of 3D content is indeed now one of the problems which faced the industry. Only a handful of films and video games, and very few broadcasts of events primarily related to sport, are currently available. Not enough to justify the thousands of dollars of investment needed for a client today.
Projection technology and glasses
The other major problem is the projection technology currently used by these TVs. The models currently marketed require the use of glasses called "active". These include cells and their role is to alternately block, very quickly, each viewer's eye to create the 3D effect.
The trouble is that these glasses are generally heavy and uncomfortable, but most expensive. At $ 150 or even $ 200 a pair, it is difficult to invite all his band of friends to come and watch a hockey game in 3D ...
According to LaBerge, it should not be surprising to see major manufacturers unveil in a few days the first television consumer 3D glasses with "passive", as used in film. These glasses, inexpensive, uses the polarization. Most of the "magic" takes place at the 3D TV. The latter, however, is more expensive.
"The technology is ready," says LaBerge. It now remains to bring it to market.