TRACKING TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Broadcasting football to IPTV and web

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:50

Digital media content tools provider Vizrt Ltd Vizrt and partner SterGen High-Tech Ltd will broadcast live football to Norway's TV 2 IPTV and web viewers. On 15 October, using SterGen's high-quality 3D conversion technology, TV 2 will broadcast the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool, pioneering 3D to Norwegian sport viewers over IPTV infrastructure and over the web.

TV 2 will also be the first to produce and broadcast a native stereoscopic 3DTV production in Norway, when the country’s national football team will play against Cyprus in the UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifier on 11 October.

“The sale of 3DTVs is rising rapidly, and TV 2 already has a huge amount of viewers watching football on our online platform; TV 2 Sumo. By running a game as big as Manchester United – Liverpool in 3D online, a large number of our customers get to enjoy a revolutionary three-dimensional sports experience,” says Eva Iselin Husby, Editorial manager at TV 2 Sumo.

SterGen provides genuine 3D experiences for a range of sport events. A unique and patented technology enables real-time creation of computed stereoscopic 3D from individual 2D cameras or program feeds in realtime.

“With SterGen’s engine, every game that was shot in 2D can be viewed as 3D – giving the viewer a quality, genuine 3D experience. Using smart and smooth transition of the 3D effect between different scenes, the viewing experience is kept as comfortable as possible,” said Ofer Wolf, Chief Executive Officer at SterGen. “Our technology allows the broadcaster to create the right 3D effect to fit the different devices – as the optimal effect to a tablet or a PC screen will differ from the one suitable for large TV screens.”

Using SterGen’s revolutionary approach, broadcasters and viewers can benefit from almost endless amounts of 3D sport content, utilising 2D games either in real time or as archive material without sacrificing the quality of the 3D experience – providing an attractive new business model for 3D TV Broadcasting. TV 2 will route its 2D signal via SterGen’s live 2D to 3D decoder, applying the right 3D effect to the PC and IPTV platfroms.

Another Vizrt partner, Vimond Media Solutions, recently announced support for 3D streaming, giving broadcasters the ability to augment their 2D services with 3D content viewable on connected Blu-ray™ consoles, connected TVs, desktop computers, tablets, and other mobile devices. Viewers will be able to watch the game either via a 3D IPTV connected to the web or using a 3D PC screen using the screen manufacturer’s glasses.

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