DVB 3D-TV is a deprecated standard that partially came out at the end of 2010 which included techniques and procedures to send a three-dimensional video signal through actual DVB transmission standards (

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

). There was a commercial requirement text for 3D TV broadcasters and

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

manufacturers, but no technical information was in there. 3D television technology was already in its first steps regarding its standardization, the major 3D market was in

theaters Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

players with stereoscopic systems, but in the near future it could be extended to diffusion, and later

free viewpoint television Free viewpoint television (FTV) is a system for viewing natural video, allowing the user to interactively control the viewpoint and view synthesis, generate new views of a dynamic scene from any 3D position. The equivalent system for Computer simul ...

will come into our homes, which mean the need of new coding and transmission standards.

Implementation

The implementation of first generation of DVB 3D-TV could be staggered: *Phase 1: the first standard will have

forward compatibility Forward compatibility or upward compatibility is a design characteristic that allows a system to accept input intended for a later version of itself. The concept can be applied to entire systems, electrical interfaces, telecommunication signal ...

with actual HD systems with just some

firmware In computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...

actualization at HD systems

es and, of course, the need for 3D panels; however

signaling A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. ...

or distribution formats should not prevent future expansion to support new 3D encoding formats. This system only works with

stereoscopic Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

Frame sequential 3D systems. Requirements for this system, which is called Frame compatible format, are included in the commercial requirements of DVB. Some broadcasters like Sky3D or Canal+3D are already using this technology, which is largely thought for PayTV. *Phase 2: the use of new

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

requirements for specific 3D streams won't be compatible with actual 3D

STB State Security (, ), or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it dealt with any activity that was considered oppositio ...

, but it would be service compatible with 2D

if no specific 3D

is available by using

Scalable Video Coding Scalable Video Coding (SVC) is a video compression standard developed jointly by the ITU-T and the ISO/IEC. The two organizations formed the ''Joint Video Team'' (JVT) to create the H.264/ MPEG-4 AVC standard (ITU-T Rec. H.264 , ISO/IEC 14496- ...

and Multiview Video Coding techniques, i.e. not having to

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

2D and 3D and occupying only one channel by using a unique video stream with a normal 2D base stream and an adjustable 3D depth layer. This system is called service compatible and is designed for

Free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

group of broadcasters.

3DTV signals

Matrix of signal formats for 3DTV:

Frame sequential

Regarding how a signal once it's decoded is sent to the display, current

systems use a frame-sequential 3D signal. Left and right frames are sent alternately to the display and by diverse systems like shuttered glasses or

polarized glasses , or , is a property of transverse waves which specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations. In a transverse wave, the direction of the oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of motion of the wave. One example of a polarize ...

are then shown to each eye. This involves that the real frame frequency halves the video frame frequency.

Technical features

Frame compatible

In Phase 1 system, only frame-sequential 3D is allowed, using frame compatible (CFC) format. This is made by a spatial multiplex that combines the left and right video sequences in one HD stream which is coded with H.264 as a single image. This allows to handle video as normal HD video using typical channels and interfaces like

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary digital interface used to transmit high-quality video and audio signals between devices. It is commonly used to connect devices such as televisions, computer monitors, projectors, gam ...

, which is possible in this 1.4a version. Frame compatible (CFC) model is also compatible with 2D HD mode in the same channel, adding some signalling for switching from 2D to 3D. There are basically two ways to do spatial multiplex: Side by side and Top and bottom, but additional spatial multiplex formats have been proposed in order to improve picture quality by providing a better balance between the V and H resolution.

Side by side

Side by side (SbS) format just put the left and right images one next to the other in an HD image. Because of this, a horizontal decimate is required which causes halving of horizontal definition. DVB 3D-TV supports following SbS formats: :1080i @ 50 Hz Side-by-Side :720p @ 50 Hz Side-by-Side :720p @ 59.94 / 60 Hz Side-by-Side :1080p @ 23.97 / 24 Hz Side-by-Side :1080i @ 59.94 / 60 Hz Side-by-Side

Top and bottom

Top and Bottom (TaB) format put left and right images one above the other in a HD image. In this case, vertical decimate is required which causes halving of vertical definition. DVB 3D-TV supports following TaB formats: :1080p @ 23.97 / 24 Hz Top-and-Bottom :720p @ 59.94 / 60 Hz Top-and-Bottom * Not every spatial multiplex format is frame compatible with actual systems. Following formats are non frame compatible: : 720p @ 50 /60 Hz : 1080p @ 24 Hz

Graphics and text

There are basically two types of text displayed on screen that need additional

information to be displayed on a 3D display: * Subtitling: (or captions) are text and visual elements that can be overlaid on the picture. The reconstruction of the composite image which includes the captions needs to be done in the

. Using standards for sub-titling already available for DVB

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

systems, in addition to depth information provided by the broadcasters, the

should position correctly the captions into the L and R pictures mixed with the original 3D image. The DVB 3D-TV subtitling solution will use existing DVB subtitling implementations and will be

backward compatible In telecommunications and computing, backward compatibility (or backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, software, real-world product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with inpu ...

with 2D streams. * Service guide: the

generates multimedia content such as

EPG Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information fo ...

for his service guide, which combines the use of data preloaded into the receiver with data provided by the broadcaster, in the form of

service information ''Service Information'' was a weekday broadcast on BBC Two, BBC2 of engineering information for the radio and television trade. These announcements were made by the BBC continuity announcers of the time and were read over basic in-vision caption ...

. Depth information will be extracted of the captions, displaying the graphics in the same depth.

Signaling

The main function of signaling for frame compatible 3DTV is to signal the presence of a 3D or 2D video stream. It must be also possible to include in the

signal information about the pixel arrangement used to decimate the master

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

full samples/line pictures to create the

anamorphic Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film to create widescreen pres ...

version, if 3D is available. It's interesting to signal also for 3D receivers the 3D events that are available, for which 3D availability should appear on

. For future service compatible (CSC)

3DTV 3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D television sets use an active shutter 3 ...

, signal that a 3D version of a 2D service or event is being

, and vice versa will be needed.

3DTV broadcast in future

Multiview

Multiview video coding is a compression standard appended from H.264/MPEG-4 AVC which allows send

3D video without resolution loss due to spatial multiplex, and reducing overhead of sending 2 HD images up to 50% and in a single video stream. It is used in

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

players, but at the moment it's not applicable to

because of the processing time for

encoding In communications and Data processing, information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter (alphabet), letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes data compression, shortened or ...

, which uses

motion compensation Motion compensation in computing is an algorithmic technique used to predict a frame in a video given the previous and/or future frames by accounting for motion of the camera and/or objects in the video. It is employed in the encoding of video ...

algorithms. Nevertheless, there were some experiments with MVC 3D broadcast by

Fraunhofer society The Fraunhofer Society () is a German publicly-owned research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany, each focusing on different fields of applied science (as opposed to the Max Planck Society, which works primarily on Basic re ...

over 2nd generation DVB (

DVB-T2 DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial telev ...

DVB-C2 Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable (DVB-C) is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable. This system transmits an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 family digital audio/digital video stream, using a QAM ...

and

DVB-S2 Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation (DVB-S2) is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the Digital Video Broadcasting Proj ...

Free viewpoint

Total

Free viewpoint television Free viewpoint television (FTV) is a system for viewing natural video, allowing the user to interactively control the viewpoint and view synthesis, generate new views of a dynamic scene from any 3D position. The equivalent system for Computer simul ...

can be reached by capturing multiple views and extracting 2D+depth information from them to create a 3D model of the scene. This system was being investigated, but the coding complexity and great bandwidth requirements make current

applications using Multiview Video Coding impractical, so a totally new compression scheme and capture techniques need to be investigated.

References

* DVB Commercial requirements for 3D TV broadcasting: available a

* DVB 3D-TV seminar presentation by David Wood: available a

{{Reflist

External links

Stereo 3D Broadcast with MVC, Heinrich Hertz Insitiute (Fraunhofer society)

DVB 3D-TV workshop page

Information and news about 3DTV

Freeview 3D project for Japan 2022 World Cup

The Biggest 3D Video's Library
Digital Video Broadcasting 3D imaging Digital broadcasting Digital television Television technology