CableLabs Opens Lab To Test 3DTVs, Set-Tops
Informal Testing Process Open To Television Manufacturers for No Charge
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/5/2010 5:44:24 PM
CableLabs announced it has set aside a portion of its Colorado facility to informally test 3DTV sets for compatibility with a range of cable set-top boxes, further feeding the buzz building around 3D home entertainment at this week's 2010 CES in Las Vegas.
The cable research and development consortium has been performing ad-hoc testing of 3DTVs with set-tops since last summer and is now expanding the program, said David Broberg, CableLabs vice president of consumer video technology.
CableLabs isn't granting 3D certification per se; rather, the testing is intended to provide feedback to manufacturers on complying with existing specs. "We're looking at what happens when you try different TVs and set-tops," Broberg said. "We want to eliminate the opportunity for surprises in the field."
Also on Tuesday, Discovery Communications -- in partnership with Sony and IMAX -- announced plans to launch a 3D network in 2011, and ESPN said it will debut a 3D service in June 2010 with the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Neither programmer announced carriage deals.
CableLabs has a small, dedicated lab space for 3DTV in its Louisville, Colo., headquarters that is able to handle one manufacturer at a time. The TVs are being tested with set-tops from various suppliers, including Motorola, Cisco Systems, Pace and Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB). The consortium is not charging manufacturers for the testing.
Primarily, CableLabs is looking at scenarios involving delivering 3D content to existing cable set-tops. "One of the key elements to this succeeding as an interim step is the set-tops' ability to pass through the [3DTV] signal without modifying it," Broberg said.
In October, CableLabs organized a 3DTV demonstration at the Society of Cable & Telecommunications Engineers' Cable-Tec Expo, with 3D content from the Comcast Media Center broadcast to TV sets and home-theater systems from Panasonic, Sony and LG Electronics.
According to Broberg, many of the digital set-top boxes deployed by cable operators are capable of processing 3DTV signals in a "frame-compatible" format, which carries separate left and right video signals within the video frame used to convey a conventional, 2D high-definition signal by squeezing them to fit within the space of one picture. The advantage of such a format is that it can be delivered through existing plant and equipment as if it were a 2D HDTV signal.
The newest generation of 3DTVs is expected to support frame-compatible formats using HDMI video connections to a set-top. However, CableLabs has identified some "subtleties" in the way HDMI has been implemented by some vendors that requires changes to their products, Broberg said.
"This whole 3D thing is still in its infancy," he added.
The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that nearly 2.2 million 3DTVs will be sold in 2010 and that by 2013 more than 25% of all televisions sold will be 3DTVs.
While the cable industry is focusing on frame-compatible 3DTV formats in the near term, CableLabs said it will continue to participate in efforts to define a long-term solution that will enable support for 3D content that can be delivered at resolutions and frame rates as high as 1080p60 for both eyes. CableLabs, which began investigating 3DTV in March 2009, said it is actively working with standards bodies such as SCTE, the CEA and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Executives (SMPTE) to standardize technologies for the distribution of 3D content over cable systems.
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