HDTV Almanac - Sony’s HD-in-the-Round

[alfredpoor]

I’ve written here more than once that current efforts at “3DTV” are really stereoscopic displays that trick the brain into seeing depth in an image displayed on a flat surface. It’s a little unnatural, and depending on a lot of factors, it can be easy or painful to view. But it still is only providing [...]

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[hdtvjim]

So far like the holograms the objects or people are photographed against a black background so we can't see the room they are in. Where would you put the many cameras?

Maybe someday we will be able to rotate around the actor and see the director, camera crew, lighting director, cue card people etc. in the shot. Wouldn't that be interesting. It might make some movies more interesting.

[Rodolfo]

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/3DDisplay/

Saw a similar prototype in Display Taiwan 2010 a few weeks ago.

Rodolfo La Maestra

[alfredpoor]

So far like the holograms the objects or people are photographed against a black background so we can't see the room they are in. Where would you put the many cameras?

Maybe someday we will be able to rotate around the actor and see the director, camera crew, lighting director, cue card people etc. in the shot. Wouldn't that be interesting. It might make some movies more interesting.

Actually, you don't need to "green screen" to get rid of the background; just a mathematical subtraction of all static images would do the trick. (Take a shot without the subject present, then one with the subject. Whatever didn't change is set to black.)

As for the cameras, you don't need to see the subject from behind in teleconferencing, so I'd guess that five cameras would be plenty (front, sides, and 45-degrees between). You could set them on a telescoping ring that you could slide out when you want to have a conversation. Or they could be wireless, and you mount them permanently on the sides of your walls or cubicle. I expect that automatic calibration could make is so that the positioning does not have to be precise. And one cool byproduct of this approach is that the image processing could rotate your image so that you appear to be looking at the camera even when you're actually looking at the screen.

Alfred

[alfredpoor]

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/3DDisplay/

Saw a similar prototype in Display Taiwan 2010 a few weeks ago.

Rodolfo La Maestra

That's clever, and relatively simple! Scaling is a little difficult as the mass of a larger mirror will grow rapidly with size. I don't think Sony's approach uses any moving parts, which could be more reliable in the long run.

Alfred