Sky is launching Europe’s first ever 3D channel and marking the event with coverage of the eagerly awaited Ryder Cup.
The golfing challenge pits the best of the US against the best in Britain and is no stranger to sporting history. The tournament dates back to 1927 – which makes it as old as television itself – and its 38th staging coincides happily with the launch of Sky 3D. Golf is being described as the perfect sport for coverage in three dimensions, because the pictures provide so much more detail of Celtic Manor’s fairways and greens. “I think, for the viewer, this actually brings them the closest you can possibly bring a viewer unless he’s there,” commentator Ewan Murray told Sky News.“That’s the difference it makes in golf. Golf’s made for 3D.” Flat surface games like football and tennis have already had the 3D treatment, but the depth that it provides comes into its own for the sport of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. The £200,000 cameras act like your eyes, seeing depth because two separate lenses are trained on the subject from fractionally different angles. These images are sent side-by-side to your 3D television. But the excitement will cost its viewers a lot more than plain, old 2D.
“You’re looking at about £1,000 to about £3,500 for a really large set and that doesn’t factor in the other things you need,” said Matt Bath, head of technology for Which? magazine. “You’ll need 3D glasses – they can cost up to £100 a pair and you also need a 3D Blu-Ray player for example, so you can watch 3D movies back. “So, all in all, you’re going to be looking at spending quite a lot of money.”
Special glasses worn by the viewer prevent the image intended for your left eye seeing the image intended for your right eye, and vice versa. Your brain puts the images back together in 3D. And it may only be a few years before the glasses are not required.
“No doubt about it, manufacturers are working at the moment on bringing glass-less systems to the home,” said Sky Sports’ director of operations Darren Long. “They are not quite there but over the next few years you’ll start seeing that.
“I think most people are very used to wearing glasses, so I don’t see it as a problem. I see it, actually, as putting on this whole new world and that’s the exciting thing – Skynews
