Home / Middle East 3D TV will struggle, claims AMG exec

Middle East 3D TV will struggle, claims AMG exec

by John Parnell on May 25, 2009

2 Comments

3D TV may struggle for an audience in the Middle East, claims AMG's Lakdawala.

Prohibitive costs and a lack of conversion technology could stifle 3D TV in the Middle East before it has begun, according to AMG director of broadcasting services Afzal Lakdawala.

The technology has been trialled in both the US and the UK and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has started the process of standardisation. Despite this progress Lakdawala foresees several challenges globally and locally.

“The problem the Middle East will face is the same problem that will be experienced everywhere, content acquisition,” said Lakdawala.

“Creating 3D content involves higher production costs in particular and even once you have some programming in place, making it available to consumers is a difficult task,” he added.

“Not many teleports are capable of handling 3D – it requires a lot of bandwidth. You then need the consumer to have a 3D TV compliant display as well. None of these things are in place in the Middle East at present.”

A succession of movies have performed well as 3D cinema releases with the format boosting proving a reliable way to boost a films financial performance. However, this trend will not automatically translate to the small screen, said Lakdawala.

“The cinema is a one-off experience and I don’t know whether viewers would want to watch their normal TV programmes in 3D, I am not sure that it would be comfortable to watch 3D TV all day,” he suggested.

The SMPTE announced at this year’s NAB that it had finalised the first stage of the standardisation process that will unify the efforts of content producers, broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers.

FEATURED COMMENT

This is a good article, and should no doubt be an eye-opener to the heads that drive and steer these initiatives. The l

2 Comments

Readers' Comments

Clyde (Jan 18, 2010)
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Before we go all Stereoscopic on each other, lets get the basics of Digital HD in place
This is a good article, and should no doubt be an eye-opener to the heads that drive and steer these initiatives. The last time I checked however, facilities to produce DCP complaint Digital HD content was missing, much less delving into Stereoscopic 3D production. Just for the record, 2D to 3D "conversion services" is the worst way to create 3D content, and should be used as nothing more than a VFX tool on some scenes and as a gimmick, to re-release older block busters (Just as music remixing does). It should never be used to create NEW movies. Another myth is about cost of creation for 3D. It is no more now, than what proper planning and storyboarding is, when doing a 2D film. Same goes for broadcast. Side-by-Side will soon be standardized as the format for transmission over existing 2D infrastructure with no changes needed. There will also be 2D+Delta (MVC) encoding for full frame HD 3D. Yes the only thing that is an expense is the need for a 3D capable TV. The gaming sector will drive the upgrade no-doubt. as will 3D blu-ray movies (Playstation is being upgraded for this with firmware updates) Hoping for a more passion driven industry here in the MiddleEast.

Ahmed N (May 25, 2009)
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

This is a great opinion!
Here, here Afzal. If only other broadcast specialists would have the courage to talk about the issues facing this exciting and wondrous technology. We face many challenges in the Middle East, not least of which is uptake of new technology - we are being left behind by Germans, Americans and Japanese. It is time we catch up and level the running field with our competitors.

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