The UK’s “Sky Channel” has the honor of being the first television provider to broadcast Avatar in 3D to the home this weekend, February 5th.
Not much more information than that (Is is the Theatrical, or Extended release?).
Earlier this week, you could have thought Britain’s Sky TV was single-handedly funding the 3D Television movement thanks to a new press release from LG touting a massive sale of 15,000 3D television sets they plan to deploy across the UK to promote their new 3D content. You may remember the lackluster reception they got from their last attempt, and it looks like they’ve learned their lesson and will have more venues (many more) to hit a wider audience.
“LG wants to enable more customers to experience 3D TV technology in action,” said Havis Kwon, Executive Vice President and head of the LCD division of LG. “Watching live 3D sports broadcasts in public areas brings fans as close to the game as possible without having to step into the stadium. These partnerships will help consumers become more familiar with 3D TVs and that can only be a positive for the industry and innovation.”
Well, LG has backpedaled a bit on that and released a new statement saying that’s not really what is happening.
Today, however, LG said that figure was “inaccurate”. Sky, it said, isn’t buying a warehouse full of 3D TVs, after all. Instead, it is “helping support its commercial customers purchase TVs direct from a UK third party”.
In other words, it’s working with pubs to encourage them to buy 3D TVs. Not to mention the dozens of pairs of 3D glasses they’ll need to allow boozers to enjoy three-dimensional soccer action over a pint or two.
I gotta admin, that makes more sense. I doubt many pubs will take them up on it, unless Sky offers some huge discounts or reimbursements to make it happen. I think they’ld have more luck if they moved beyond ‘commercial customers’ and into mainstream, offering all of their customers big discounts after agreeing to a 2-year contract (think Cell-phone subsidies).
via 뉴스와이어 – LG Electronics Leads Live Sports 3D Broadcasts With Major Media Partnerships.
James Sherwood of RegHardware was in the UK so he took off to the local Railway Tavern this weekend to check out Sky’s first ever live sporting event broadcast, Manchester United against Arsenal. It was an interesting event, full of pros and cons. First con: Sky only put in a single 42″ LCD Television for the 150 attendees. Thankfully, it didn’t hinder the experience:
Nonetheless, I put on my 3D glasses – the polarized type you get in cinemas – and gazed in wonder at the Sky HD logo hovering before my eyes. I was standing 15 feet away from the screen and, despite its size, the 3D effect was clear – just like going to the cinema.
Players seemed to float before me as they walked and the physical distance between, say, Rooney and Scholes was clear to see.
“It looks like Rooney is walking right at me!” one Manchester United fan called out.
After a while, tho, the initial novelty wore off.
Close-ups of players, managers and assembled fans was what made 3D great. But the effect was totally lost while watching the pitch action in a widescreen at-a-distance shot. Players didn’t stand out from one another and I didn’t feel as though free kicks would hit me in the face.
None of Manchester United’s three goals managed to convince me that 3D football is the future.
So, it sounds like a positive experience but I’m still not convinced it warrants the extra outlay of cash to put it in your home.
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