One of the main reasons for the slow adaptation of 3D was the lack of standardization. Well, that and also the fact that 3D TVs are expensive, not to mention the lack of widespread 3D content. That's all about to change now because the folks in charge of the DVB digital TV specification have given the go ahead for the proposed standard for broadcasting 3D footage.
The DVB-3DTV standard was almost complete last year and was finalized about a month ago. The standard now has the backing of the DVB organization and joins other standards like DVB-S (Satellite Broadcasting), DVB-T2 (Terrestrially transmitted HD) and DVB-H (Handheld formatted television programs). For formal standardization however, the DVB organization will have to submit the DVB-3DTV standard to ETSI or European Telecommunications Standards Institute.
The DVB-3DTV standard was almost complete last year and was finalized about a month ago. The standard now has the backing of the DVB organization and joins other standards like DVB-S (Satellite Broadcasting), DVB-T2 (Terrestrially transmitted HD) and DVB-H (Handheld formatted television programs). For formal standardization however, the DVB organization will have to submit the DVB-3DTV standard to ETSI or European Telecommunications Standards Institute.
This standard is frame compatible, which means both images for either eye can be embedded in a conventional 2D HD frame, so users can use the existing set-top boxes. There is some Metadata embedded in the transmission to help the receiver identify the 3D broadcast. The DVB-3DTV standard will include 720p and 1080i frame compatible formats at 50Hz, 70Hz plus top-and-bottom, side-by-side 3D and finally also 24Hz 1080p side-by-side frames.
Once the standard is official, we can expect to see more channels dishing out 3D content, which would hopefully drive the prices down for 3D TVs.
