M+E Daily

Blu-ray Producers Turn Out For ‘3D-Focus’

By Mel Lambert

Interest in creating Blu-ray 3D titles remains on the rise in Hollywood, with BluFocus’s invitation-only “3D-Focus” seminar, held Aug. 3 at the headquarters of audio company DTS in Calabasas, CA, attracting more than 100 content-production professionals.

BluFocus CEO Paulette Pantoja said that turnout for the event was more than double the quality assurance specialist’s initial expectations. “The quality and quantity of the turnout was remarkable,” Pantoja tells M&E Daily. “We were particularly encouraged that so many technical members of the West Coast 3D community came to the event.”

The afternoon seminar sponsored by MESA — a sequel to an online webinar that BluFocus held with MESA in March — addressed a number of critical issues facing the 3D Blu-ray production community.

Event Highlights

Following a welcoming address from Pantoja, Andy Parsons from Pioneer Electronics delivered a keynote address that stressed the need for powerful authoring tools.

“Blu-ray 3D adds emotional impact to the viewing experience,” Parsons stressed, “but it must be done consistently; the devil is in the details.”

Presentations during the course of the afternoon offered the latest technical and practical developments for each step of the Blu-ray 3D production process.

John Ying, engineering architect with Sony Pictures Entertainment, addressed 3D authoring and encoding, spotlighting developments in the firm’s new Dualstream 3D software. Terry Marshall, VP of Global Sales, Professional Products Group at Sonic Solutions, outlined the extra stages required for production of 3D media and the availability of 3DAccess, a toolset for preparing video content for distribution on both 3D Blu-ray and electronically via the internet. John Harrington, CEO and founder of Netblender, discussed other outlets for 3D content, including sales kiosks, museums and motion-picture dailies, using the firm’s DoStudio MVC encoding and authoring tools.

Jesse Torres, DTS director of business development content, covered 7.1-channel Surround Audio for 3D titles. DTS’s HD Master Audio lossless encoding is already utilized on 70% of Blu-ray titles, said Torres, who added his company’s expectation for 175 million 7.1-channel home systems to be installed by the end of 2012. Ronny Katz, the firm’s director of professional audio, outlined use of Neural UpMix, a plug-in for Avid Pro Tools workstations that produces a 7.1-channel soundtrack from stereo or 5.1-surround source material. V2.6 of DTS-HD Master Audio, available soon, will offer 48-times real-time soundtrack encoding, Katz said.

The availability of 3D playback tools was addressed by Alex Soohoo, a video architect with Nvidia’s technical marketing group, who provided an overview of the 120 Hz video displays, projectors, laptops and HDTV receivers capable of accepting 3D-format images using the firm’s 3DTV Play Software. Kam Shek, director of technical marketing with Arcsoft’s Video Home Entertainment Group, pointed out that YouTube is streaming 3D content and provided an overview of the firm’s TotalMedia Theater 3 playback software for all 3D formats. Underscoring the growing importance of 3D content, Shek reported that Apple has filed more than 20 3D patents during the past several months.

Following a breakout session of hands-on demonstrations of current authoring and encoding tools, Guy Finley, MESA’s Director of Membership Services introduced the final sessions beginning with Matt Kennedy, CEO/founder of 1K Studios, who gave a presentation on design and enhanced content in 3D. Kennedy discussed a number of user interface opportunities for menus and interactive content, raising various subjective issues that can degrade the 3D experience.

3D testing, verification and certification was addressed by Juan Reyes, chief technical officer at BluFocus, who provided a detailed list of the types of test and verification systems required to handle 3D material. Whereas 2D content might involve three discrete tests, Reyes remarked, new 3D media requires as many as 10 or more different processes. Geoff Tully, director of technology development at THX, outlined the in-process THX-certification for 3D players and HD displays, in addition to a new THX Media Director program that is intended to dramatically simplify 3D system setup for consumers.

Sam Archer, manager of Deluxe Digital Studios’ 13,000 square foot replication “microplant” in Los Angeles, provided a succinct overview of the manufacturing process for Blu-ray 3D discs — including the possibility of a 24-hour turnaround with AACS content labeling.

During the final session of the day, “Human Factor and Physiological Review,” Philip Corriveau, a principal engineer and director of Intel’s User Experience Research Group, described ongoing research into the 3D user experience, and how best to create convincing playback of immersive content. Corriveau also chairs a “human factors” steering team for the 3D@Home industry consortium.

As Corriveau stated: “3D happens in the mind. Great 3D is about great experiences.” He also predicted that stereoscopic media will be available on handheld devices within a year.

BluFocus says that plans are already underway to hold similar gatherings in the near future.

Mel Lambert has been intimately involved with the international AV production industry for more years than he cares to remember. He is principal of Content-Creators.com, a Los Angeles-based consulting service, and can be reached at [email protected].