BBC announce summer of 3D

The BBC will broadcast Planet Dinosaur 3D and 3D coverage of Last Night of the Proms this summer in addition to Olympics 3D coverage as part of their two year 3D trial.

The BBC will also broadcast selected games of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in 3D (this weekend) all of which will be offered on the dedicated BBC HD channel (Freesat: 109. Freeview: 54. Sky: 169. Virgin Media: 187. )

Planet Dinosaur 3D is an adaption of the BBC’s Planet Dinosaur BBC One series. Highlights were shown on the BBC’s 3D show-reel video early this year and the one hour programme is set to be “One of the most ambitious animated programmes ever attempted for broadcast TV in 3D”. It will be broadcast in August and will take viewers on a journey into a lost world.  From the iconic Spinosaurus, the largest predator ever to walk the Earth, to Microraptor and the advent of flying dinosaurs in China, this programme charts the rise and fall of the ‘ultimate killers’.

Last Night of the Proms will be broadcast live in 3D for the first time on September 8th. Eight stereoscopic cameras will be deployed with key cameras positioned in front of the conductor, and a remote camera within the orchestra that rotates to 180 degrees and can pan and tilt.

Following on from last year’s 3D coverage, the BBC will broadcast coverage of the 2012 Ladies’ and Men’s Singles finals in 3D this weekend. In association with Sony and supported by the Can Communicate team, the same amount of cameras will be deployed as last year (six -space is very tight in centre court) but may deploy a seventh camera for interviews (TBC). The BBC’s role in the 3D production will be to primarily provide shared camera feeds including a hi-speed camera for super-slow motion 3D shots converted to 3D in real time.

In addition to Sky’s 100 plus hours of 3D Olympic 3D coverage from EuroSport, the BBC will broadcast the Opening and Closing ceremonies, the Men’s 100m final, and a highlights package at the end of each day in 3D.

Kim Shillinglaw, Head of BBC 3D, says: “Our recent announcement around Wimbledon and the London 2012 Olympics will provide a test-bed for what works around major sporting events, but we were keen to build our experience across a selection of genres.  Bringing Planet Dinosaur and The Last Night of the Proms to audiences enable us to test the technology across various genres and establish where 3D really enhances the viewers’ experience.”

The free-to-air broadcast of these events in 3D will be available to anyone who has access to a 3D TV set and to the BBC HD Channel, regardless of which digital TV provider they use.

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