Quantel’s Enterprise sQ stereo 3D broadcast production technology, first shown at NAB this year, made its in-service debut at the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games in November.
The system successfully provided daily stereo 3DTV programming to China’s first 3DTV audience. Hailed as ‘an important national pilot’ under the auspices of SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television) and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the experimental broadcasts were the result of a strategic partnership between Quantel and Jetsen, which supplied the technical infrastructure, media asset management and monitoring. SARFT Deputy Director of Science and Technology, Sun Suchuan, reflected the success of the experiment by declaring that as a result of the Asian Games experience, “3D broadcast has taken a solid step forward. By 2015 we will undoubtedly have a number of 3DTV channels on air.” The first 3DTV channel is scheduled to be trialled in China in 2011.
The Enterprise sQ system deployed at the Guangzhou Asian Games ingested the dual-stream HD video in realtime, giving complete flexibility to manipulate the images after the shoot. Shot selection and editing then began immediately (within 250 milliseconds of media beginning to ingest), followed by craft editing as required. The resulting stereo 3D programming and highlights packages were then played out direct to air. The system covered every aspect of stereo 3D production from stereo editing, vergence adjustment, repair and colour correction to realtime playout of finished stereo 3D programming, which was watched by an audience in Guangzhou of more than 300,000 people.
The Quantel-Jetsen solution was chosen after an exhaustive one year research and analysis process undertaken by the Chinese national government, the Guangzhou government and the National AVS TV Lab. Installation, testing and training were completed in just six weeks, leaving plenty of time for rehearsals and final preparations.
Quantel Sales & Marketing Director, Martin Mulligan, said: “We are delighted that this challenging test for our new stereo 3D broadcast workflow technology has been such a success and so well received. With countries such as China enthusiastically embracing the potential of stereo 3D, its adoption as a mainstream broadcasting option moves ever closer. The fact that any Enterprise sQ system can be easily upgraded to handle the format alongside HD can only help speed the adoption of it in television.”
