3D Rugby By Satellite

Technology can be both good and bad. I’ll let you make your own mind up on this … The BBC is to test screen the Rugby Six Nations match between Scotland and England live and in 3D HD to a select audience. The event is a joint venture between BBC Sport and the3Dfirm. Stupid eyewear is mandatory.

The project has kept a few people in work all year, so it better be good. The 8 March event is claimed to be the first and probably last ever live test screening of an international sport in 3D HD, although more accurately it is likely to be the first event to be satellite-delivered and screened in 3D (in February 2007, the National Basketball Association teamed up with Vince Pace’s 3D outfit, PACE, to offer the first-ever live sports event in 3D HD with footage delivered to the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas via fibre cabling).

Technical details for the Riverside event have not been finalised but it is understood that three 3D rigs comprising dual Sony HDC950s will capture the action. One will be positioned up high for wide shots with two at pitch level. The dual HD streams will be transmitted multiplexed to down link at Riverside Studios, demultiplexed and combined on reception before projection onto a large screen for an audience wearing stereoscopic glasses.

The 3D feed will be standalone and not cut into BBC Sport’s live host broadcast and will be supplied with surround sound. Audio commentary will probably be provided via a mix of Radio 5Live, TV commentary and clean sound feed (each will be trialled and the audience reaction gauged).

3D is apparently taking off as a big screen event for recorded material. I’m yet to witness this revolution …