The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMTPE) is coordinating an online educational webcast on Single-Source Stereo and Microstereoscopic 3D on Thursday, 24 June from 1pm to 2pm (ET). Guest speaker is Mark Schubin.
3DTV presents challenges: two lenses and cameras per shooting position, convergence operators and stereographers, graphics issues, ghost images, and false size perception or discomfort for viewers. Until 3DTV becomes the norm, events might be shot in both 2D and 3D versions.
Addressing the discomfort issue, researchers have come up with something called "microstereopsis," which, coincidentally, reduces or eliminates the other challenges noted above. Unfortunately, it also reduces the 3D depth sensation.
A similar situation once existed regarding stereo sound. Early TV-radio stereo simulcasts often used two different mixes for stereo and mono, and so-called "ping-pong" stereo once offered listeners a strong indication of the difference between stereo and mono.
Today, however, stereo sound is usually captured with "single-source" techniques that are mono-stereo compatible. Beginning in 1881, stereo sound was compared to stereoscopic imagery. This raises the question of whether the single-source-stereo-like techniques of microstereopsis might be applicable to 3DTV.
The location for the online event is: SMPTE PDA Now – Web Event
Multiple-Emmy-award-winning SMPTE Fellow Mark Schubin has been working in television since 1967 and writing about it since 1976. He has shot for the Rolling Stones, lit Luciano Pavarotti, mixed Stevie Wonder, hooked up the TV in Eric Clapton’s bedroom, and performed forensic analysis for the Woody Allen/Mia Farrow child-custody battle. He worked on Japan’s first regularly scheduled HDTV broadcast, Kazakhstan’s first news network, and Hong Kong’s first cable-TV system. He has also worked on standards ranging from the VU meter to digitally compressed video transmission to the national TV system of Barbados. Schubin’s clients range from the Metropolitan Opera to Sesame Street, Court TV, The News Hour, MTV, the AFL-CIO, and the World Book Encyclopedia. His writing has been translated into French, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.
