The boffins at ITU – the international organisation responsible for setting worldwide standards in TV broadcasting among other things – have been busy lately. Fresh from preparing the technical specifications for 4K and 8K UHDTV, the institution’s Radiocommunication division (ITU-R) has also developed the standards for 3D TV programming, again with the help of television industry professionals, broadcasters and regulating bodies who participated in its Study Group 6.
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3D TV gets standardisation boost from ITU |
The new 3DTV standards (which are called “Recommendations” by ITU) aim to provide a recognised platform for the evaluation, production and broadcast of extra-dimensional programmes, in an effort to popularise 3D technology among global consumers. Focusing upon the two high-definition formats commonly used by countries around the world (namely 720p and 1080 HDTV), ITU-R’s newly drafted Recommendations lay down the guidelines for the digital interfaces used by film studios to make tri-dimensional content, as well as the requirements for 3D TV in general.
The procedures of judging the visual quality of 3DTV content have also been agreed upon. ITU-R Study Group 6 have outlined three “quality factors”: the image quality in the third dimension; the perceived 3D depth; and last but not least the level of viewing comfort experienced by the audience.
Commenting on the development, ITU’s secretary-general Hamadoun Toure hoped that the new standards – which have been submitted for fast-track approval – will give a boost to the 3D TV format which has opened up new possibilities for television broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers in recent years. ITU-R Working Party 6C (WP 6C) chairman David Wood added that the body’s Recommendations will prove invaluable to those who are involved in the production and distribution of 3-dimensional programmes, both in the present and in the future.