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Brian Lenz, from Sky, is quoted in the Telegraph as saying,

“We knew that if we could pull off live sport then we could produce anything.”

That’s a pretty interesting statement because the initial reports of 3D football were not totally convincing. People seemed to think that the close-up shots of corner kicks and penalties were great, but the usual “top down” view of the game didn’t produce much in the way of 3D benefits. I like Sky’s attitude though… if they can tackle the technological hurdles of bringing immersive 3D to live sport, they really will push the adoption of 3D in the home.

As if to agree with my summy, Brian goes on to say…

Once Sky had the equipment, they set about learning what worked. “The added value of depth is the perception of relative position. You want visually interesting things at different places in the depth of the scene,” says Lenz. “Football works very well for certain shots – it works tremendously well for corners and free kicks. The challenge in football is the wider, longer shots. Over longer distances you don’t perceive depth anyway. It doesn’t add something but it doesn’t add the same thing as certain close-ups because of the spread of players.”

It’s a good interview. Check it out here.

In the last post we mentioned that Sky are launching their Sky 3D channel on April 3rd with the Manchester United v Chelsea Premier League potential title-race decider.

To mark the event, LG are running a competition where the winners will get to see the footie in 3D as a VIP guest in London. They say…

The two winners will receive 5 tickets each guaranteeing them and 4 friends entry to a pub in London that will be screening the Premier League clash between Manchester United and Chelsea, in what could well be the title deciding game of the season. The match is to be the first of 7 Premier League matches to be broadcast in 3D by Sky before the end of the season, as part of an initiative with LG to bring 3D to consumers ahead of the upcoming summer of sport.

There’s even “up to $50 per party member for food and drink” thrown in!

For the full rules, check out the LG blog post, but hurry, entries have to be in by Thursday!

(pic credit: LG blog)

Sky’s 3D channel officially launches on April 3rd with the showing of Manchester United v Chelsea in 3D.

Sky has confirmed that over 1,000 pubs and clubs are signed up for Sky3D, and, thanks to a deal with LG, they all have the 3DTV’s installed ready to show the 3D matches. At the end of January, the total number of pubs showing the Arsenal v Manchester United match in 3D was a miniscule 9… now there are over 1,000 pubs and clubs ready to show Manchester United v Chelsea in 3D less than eight weeks later!

In the near future Sky will show another five Premier League matches before the end of the current season as well as the Football League play-offs matches at Wembley. When live events aren’t on, the Sky 3D channel will run…

… a showreel showcasing the best of Sky 3D – which will cover a wide range of different programming – will run on Sky 3D during selected hours of the day. This programming, which will run from launch, will also be available to residential customers who subscribe to Sky’s top channels and HD pack.

Later in the year, Sky 3D will offer a range of movies, sport, documentaries, entertainment and arts content. The channel will initially be introduced at no extra cost for customers who subscribe to Sky’s top channels and HD pack.

Sky’s Brian Lenz was at the DTG Summit in London on Friday and gave a presentation during which he said that Sky were still on course to launch for an April launch of Premier League football in 3D in pubs and clubs on their new Sky 3D channel with one live match being screened in 3D each week until the end of the season.

Brian also said that the Sky 3D Channel would launch to residential customers in the Autumn, and carry arts, sport, movies and entertainment. Although acknowledging that showing 3D in 1080i was less pixels than can be shown using Blu Ray 3D, Sky think that their system works well, and is compatible with both passive viewing (eg, the LG LD920 in pubs and clubs) and the home 3DTV’s which are likely to be active-shutter displays.

As the world gears up for 3D, the fashion elite are joining in. Burberry will launch a new collection at London Fashion Week in 3D. The autumn/winter 2010/2011 collection from the £1.2 billion British fashion brand will be streamed live from the Chelsea College of Art in London directly to custom screening sites in New York, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and Los Angeles. The people watching the 3D event will be wearing 3D glasses to enjoy the 3D effect of the screening.

And guess who’s behind the image transmission? Yes, Sky 3D, the very people who brought you Arsenal v Manchester United in 3D which we live blogged on a week or two ago.

You have to hand it to Sky, they are marketing 3D in such a way as to gather an endless stream of press headlines and column inches!

Image: thephotoholic