Viewing the First-Ever 3D Coverage of Olympic Games

NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group and Panasonic Corporation of North America announced that the first-ever 3D coverage of the Olympic Games, beginning in London later this month, will be available to subscribers of MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors) representing nearly 80% of U.S. TV households.

The daily 3D programming, which will be shown on next-day delay, will be carried by many cable, satellite and telco pay-TV providers.

These carriers will distribute roughly 242 hours of the 3D broadcasts via the Media Center.

via PRNewswire

Global 3D TV Shipments Increased by 74 Percent

Shipments of LCD TVs are now expected to grow at a slower pace in 2012 than 2011, according to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch. Moreover, the overall TV set market is expected to decline this year — even as segments such as emerging markets, large screen sizes, LED backlights, and 3D continue to grow.

Total TV shipments are forecast to fall 1.4 percent in 2012 to 245 million units, while LCD TV is expected to increase by 5 percent — compared to 7 percent growth in 2011 — reaching 216 million units.

While the outlook for 3D TV shipments has cooled somewhat, 74 percent Y/Y growth is still very impressive for a technology entering the third year of availability, and adoption in many regions remains robust.

via Digital Lifescapes

Case Study: Results from Three Weeks with 3-D TV

By Erik Sofge, WSJ: When my three weeks are up, I realize that, other than gaming, I’ve given up on 3-D. Why bother, when this TV displays 2-D programming so well?

In some ways, 3-D’s apologists are right, that it’s reminiscent of HD — back when hi-def content consisted solely of a tiny selection of movies on disc and a handful of channels running whale documentaries. But HD was and is a universal upgrade — it makes everything look sharper and more detailed without stipulating where you sit or what you wear.

3-D, on the other hand, begs everyone, the creators of content as well as its consumers, to adapt to a technology that’s not necessarily superior. It’s just more eccentric.

via WSJ.com

The Future of Design and Emerging 3-D Printing Services

Fresh off $6.2 million in new funding for Shapeways, Peter Weijmarshausen spoke with GigaOM about where 3-D printing is going, how it parallels the software industry and how far the technology can take us into the future.

The New York start-up, a transplant from the Netherlands, operates both a 3-D printing service and an Etsy-like marketplace for creators.

It has now produced more than 1 million products to date and is the leading 3-D printing service available.

via GigaOm

Disney’s Brave Movie Premier to Feature Dolby Atmos

Dolby Labs announced the names of select movie theatres nationwide that will screen Disney Pixar’s “Brave” movie in Dolby Atmos — the new audio platform that will change the experience of sound in entertainment.

The world premiere of Brave will take place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre — using Dolby Atmos and Dolby 3D to transport the audiences into the adventure — with a lifelike and immersive sensory cinema experience.

Following the premiere, Dolby Atmos will continue to wow Brave audiences at select theatres beginning June 22.

via Dolby Labs

TV Execs Bullish on 4K and 8K, Less So on 3D

A panel of programming executives at the Satellite 2012 conference and exhibition in Washington, D.C. said this week that said ultra-high definition television (UHDTV) held promise, if not in the near term, but that 3D TV was problematic now.

“As for as high resolution, we’re really bullish on that,” said John McCoskey, CTO of the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service PBS. “It was demoed at CES this year, on 8k and 4k models. These are potentially viable technologies. We expect to see a lot of movement on the 4K acquisition side. That will drive the ability to get higher resolution content.”

via Videonet

3D Movies Sales Decline at U.S. Cinemas during 2011

Total 3D revenues equated to 19.0 percent of total domestic box office revenues in 2011 — representing a decline from the share the previous year (20.6 percent), despite a 66 percent surge in dedicated releases.

However, the year was always going to be difficult given the comparison with the runaway success of Avatar, first released in December 2009 but still on release in 2010.

The after-effects of Avatar could also explain a 36 percent drop in average 3D box office by title year-on-year.

via ScreenDigest

Connected TV Sets May Help to Resurrect 3D Channels

Lackluster 3DTV sales may be getting an unexpected lift.

That’s thanks to expected growth of Internet-connected TV shipments, according to U.K.-based Futuresource Consulting.

The company forecasts such TVs will comprise 80% of all worldwide TV shipments in three years. Right now, connected TVs shipments are at 27% of all TVs shipped globally.

via MediaPost

3D Pay-TV Pioneer to Close Down Experimental Channel

French pay-TV giant Canal Plus is to shutter its 3D channel after it failed to attract enough subscribers.

The service, which kicked off in June 2010 in time for the Soccer World Cup, will close January 24. It had fewer than 20,000 subscribers.

A Canal Plus spokesperson said that the service had allowed the company to experiment with the technology, but it had also posed a number of challenges, principally “the lack of enthusiasm among subscribers for stereoscopic programs.”

via Variety

2011 Epic Failure: Disney’s “Mars Needs Moms” Movie

Following the release of Avatar in 2009, Hollywood had a new cash cow in the form of 3-D films. This all changed with the release of director Simon Wells’s “Mars Needs Moms” — a flop of epic proportions.

Disney, of course, was expecting another hit. The film cost $175 million to make. In its opening weekend it brought in just $6.9 million. According to movie data website The Numbers, Mars Needs Moms lost an estimated $130 million in worldwide gross sales, the biggest money loser of all time.

Journalist Brooks Barnes wrote in the New York Times, “In the movie business, sometimes a flop is just a flop. Then there are misses so disastrous that they send signals to broad swaths of Hollywood.”

via Yahoo! Finance