3D TV trial begins in Sydney
The trial 3D TV service begun at 00:00 this morning, with the cooperation of the Nine Network, SBS and Broadcast Australia.
The trial – which is currently broadcasting demo 3D content – will last for two months, progressively reaching seven cities over the next few weeks, in preparation for the live State of Origin and FIFA World Cup 3D broadcasts on 26 May and starting on June 11, respectively.
“We applaud the ACMA’s decision to grant the temporary license to Nine and SBS jointly, allowing Australia to help demonstrate the future possibilities for new broadcast technology platforms. It is this sort of innovation that highlights the need to reserve new broadcast spectrum for new broadcast services in the Government’s forthcoming spectrum plan,” said Broadcast Australia’s MD Graeme Barclay in a statement.
His company will partner with TX Australia to deliver the signal, which is encoded using the MPEG-4 compression standard and utilises a side-by-side ‘frame compatible’ 3D transmission technique.
The spectrum used for the trial is one of the ‘unassigned’ UHF channels in each city—in Sydney, it is the same channel vacated on 30 April by the niche TV trial service.
