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| NAB Show Takes on New Dimensions |
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June 16, 2009
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The “big thing” at the 2009 NAB Show in Las Vegas was 3D.
Panasonic showed a proof-of-concept 3D display sized for conference room and small theater use. It also announced future releases of products to support endto- end production 1080p 3D video for use in both professional and consumer venues. JVC and Sony showed displays for home use that supported different 3D formats. The main problem in the consumer arena is yet another brewing format war between active shutter, polarized and bi-color viewing methods. There has even been recent news of a digital signage company that introduced “glasses-free” 3D displays that have been popping up in European airports as advertising tools.
Looking at the various “glasses required” methods, the active-shutter (Panasonic) and polarized (JVC GD- 463D10) displays produced the most natural looking 3D. Sony and other bi-color displays requiring glasses with one red and one green lens, were harder for me to visually resolve and
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NiCT’s holographic display got a lot of looks at the NAB Show
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looked “gimmicky,” in some cases like cardboard cut-out foregrounds in front of flat 2D backgrounds. Perhaps it was my slight blue-green colorblindness that made bi-color systems look so unnatural. But neither this nor my much more significant right-eye astigmatism seemed to make a difference with the active shutter or polarized systems, whether I used my prescription glasses in combination with the active shutter or polarized glasses. The best outcome would be a polarized system that can be used with everyday polarized sunglasses.
‘FAR-OUT 3D’
The Japanese government-funded National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NiCT), demonstrated 3D technologies of quite a different nature. The first was reminiscent of the holographic displays for still images that were popular museum attractions in the 1970s. The difference was that NiCT had worked out a way to make the display work for video holography.
This technology is a long way from showing up in your living room. The display was about the size of a 35mm film frame, and if your head was not positioned just right, you couldn’t see it. Even then, the image was very ghostly.
The “Multi-sensory Interaction System” or MSenS is much closer to market-ready and has some clearly visible potential in the government sector. The demo of this system consisted of a 3D image of an ancient copper mirror whose obverse contained heavy embossed decoration, a force-feedback stylus, and software to synthesize appropriate real-time audio and tactile feedback. While viewing the object, you could use the stylus to “explore” its surface while hearing appropriate scraping sounds and feeling resistance through the stylus. When the demonstrator changed the surface texture of the object the tactile and audio feedback changed appropriately. And to demonstrate that this was not a “canned” presentation, the demonstrator encouraged me to turn the virtual object over so it’s reflective side was facing up, and there I was, in the mirror staring back at myself!
The MSenS could easily find many practical uses right now. Museums, product design and market testing are the obvious ones. But I could envision very cost-effective surgical training systems that no longer required cadavers to cut up, or bomb-disposal
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NiCT's holographic cam setup
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trainers that didn’t require actual bomb hardware to work with. It would be much more cost-effective in these arenas to work with a virtual 3D object than trying to gin up or locate real-world artifacts on which to practice.
HERE AND NOW
There were also plenty of 3D production tools on display. Avid Technology, who returned to NAB after being absent last year, demonstrated the latest release of Media Composer software, which includes features specifically to handle editing stereoscopic 3D media. Andersson Technlogies’ SynthEyes software handles high-end camera and object tracking in resolutions up to IMAX for both 2D and 3D media at incredibly affordable prices on both the Mac and PC platforms. CineForm introduced Neo3D, a tool to support stereoscopic workflows primarily in Final Cut, although it will be available on both Mac and PC platforms.
Suppliers like 3DTV Corp. had consumer 3D viewing solutions for desktop PCs and various styles of both active and passive 3D glasses, as well as 3D videos and games for sale. Such software requires specific display cards like the Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision series active shutter glasses for viewing. Some suppliers including Nvidia have wireless active shutter glasses available. You also need true 120 Hz displays like the Samsung 2233RZ or ViewSonic FuHzion VX2265wm. For professionals, Nvidia provides stereo viewing capability with the Quadro FX 4600 and higher.
LAST IMPRESSIONS
The “down” economy had its effect. Attendance was down by over 20 percent with official figure at 83,842 and the noise and hype levels seemed much lower as well. While some decried these declines, I actually enjoyed the more relaxed atmosphere. I was able to walk into any booth, talk to whoever I needed to, and see products up close. And only one non-press attendee jumped into one of my vendor press interviews on the floor this year as opposed to almost every other “one-on-one” I have conducted on the floor in the past.
Some exhibitors seemed to be happier as well. I overheard one vendor telling another, “The tire-kickers stayed home and only those who were ready to buy now or within six months came this year.” Sometimes smaller is better.
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