Two interesting articles came across the desk today, the first announced that Panasonic has cut a deal with the Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver (OBSV), to use its P2 HD series video cameras to capture the winter sports spectacular (this time in the Western Hemisphere). According to the announcement, "broadcasts around the world, will be produced and distributed in 1080i High-Definition (HD) format. Following the HD standard of excellence set by Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 will be the first Winter Olympic Games captured with HD (1080i) equipment."

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

While that’s good news for Panasonic (and all us living in proximate time zones), show producers will have a hard time matching the China tour de force presented this past summer in all its wide screen, HD glory. That is, of course, unless you read the next announcement from Panasonic, at the ongoing NAB show in Las Vegas (that’s National Assoc. of Broadcasters), where the company said they are showing “concept models” of both 3D plasma displays and a new twin-lens P2 professional camera recorder. Incidentally, you’ll find the technology at booth 3712 in the Central Hall if you happen to read this before the show ends.

Panasonic said it will start developing a professional 3D Full HD production system, which will be the first of its kind in the industry. The P2 twin-lens 3D Drive System enables the acquisition of Full HD moving pictures for the left and the right eyes, and thanks to the non-mechanical solid-state construction of the P2 system, the camera recorder will be compact enough to allow more flexible 3D shooting. (Like an Olympic venue perhaps.)

The company is also working on a 3D plasma TV system to bring the images right into the living room. The Winter Olympics 3D broadcast could also be an attractive side-business for digital cinemas, especially the ones with 3D screens.

So, could it be for all the hype, effort, planning and money that went in to converting the civilized world to HD via the analog to digital broadcast transition, that the technology becomes the interim step to something much more profound, literally ushering in a new dimension in TV viewing, namely 3D?

If so, there is a precedent in recent history. Radio, which took the nation by storm primarily in the 1920’s through the 1950’s had its life usurped and marginalized by the advent of a newer technology that added the sensation of vision (video) to the audio channel. In fact the FM approach to signal delivery itself, invented by Edwin Armstrong to improve radio signal propagation (and "get rid of that d— static") was actually co-opted by "General" David Sarnoff of RCA to deliver not radio, but the television signal-sparking perhaps one of the greatest feuds in the history of technology.

If you don’t think the long-term goal of HD is 3D, here’s how the Panasonic folks said it in their recent press release. "Panasonic is continuing its efforts to enable consumers to enjoy 3D movies in the comfort of their own living rooms with its 3D Full HD Plasma Home Theater System, which incorporates a Plasma HDTV and a Blu-ray Disc player," said Dr. Paul Liao, Chief Technology Officer of Panasonic. "The professional 3D Full HD image production system we are going to develop will improve the 3D production environment and accelerate creation of 3D titles."

The question is, will the Vancouver Winter Olympics be included in that list of new 3D titles? Given the success of Beijing and the spectacular imagery of winter sports in general, (plus perhaps a wink and a nod from General Sarnoff) we think its a good bet. - Steve Sechrist.

Reply to the author