3DTV

Because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco) and on our new EBIF Intensive event (March 5th in San Francisco), we will be covering most stories in summary/round-up form over the next few weeks. Here is a round-up of interactive TV technology/operator news for the past few days.

Because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco) and on our new, post-TVOT EBIF Intensive event (March 5th in San Francisco), we are covering a number of stories in this issue in summary form:

[itvt] has just published the latest edition of Rick Howe's regular column, "The iTV Doctor Is In!" This week, various interactive TV industry notables--including Mike Bloxham of Ball State University's Center for Media Design, Allison Dollar of the iTV Alliance, Jaspal Bhasin of itaas, Glen Friedman of Ideas & Solutions, and Gary Arlen of Arlen Communications--weigh in on the buzz around 3D TV at the recent Consumer Electronics Show.

Here is a brief round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

As was widely anticipated, 3D TV has emerged as one of the major themes of this year's Consumer Electronics Show--and a number of pieces of 3D TV news came across [itvt]'s desk, Tuesday. Here is a brief round-up:

[itvt] has just published an interview with Professor Tom DeFanti, the principal scientist behind the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology's (Calit2) new 3D immersive visualization system, NexCAVE. Also participating in the interview is Dave Walton of JVC, the company whose 3D HD LCD monitors form a crucial component of NexCAVE.

JVC USA's JVC Professional Products division says that the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (note: generally known as Calit2, the institute is jointly run by the University of California, San Diego and the University of California, Berkeley) is using JVC GD-463D10U 46-inch 3D HD LCD monitors as part of its new immersive visualization system.

US cable-industry research, development and standardization body, CableLabs, announced Monday that it has teamed with the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and a number of consumer electronics manufacturers to organize a showcase of the latest 3D theater and TV displays as part of next week's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver (October 28-30). The showcase--which will take place in a 3,400-square-foot CableLabs 3D TV Pavilion, co-sponsored by the SCTE--is slated to include a D-Cinema 3D demonstration in a main theater provided by Sony and a home theater experience provided by Panasonic, as well as displays of consumer 3D TV sets from Hyundai IT, LG Electronics and Sony.

Kudelski-owned content protection specialist, Nagravision, has teamed with 3D technology specialist, 3ality Digital, to develop a new set-top box system, called the Nagra Media Guide for 3D, that will provide viewers with a 3D graphical user interface (GUI) through which to browse and watch 3D programming from their cable or satellite TV provider, according to a report in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. A prototype of the system will be demo'd at the 3D Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles this week. According to the Journal, Nagravision and 3ality Digital are hoping that products like the new 3D media guide will encourage producers to create more 3D programming.

De Montfort University (DMU), which is located in the UK city of Leicester, announced Monday that it is developing a 3D TV system that will be able to "recognize where somebody is sitting in a room and what they wish to view and interact with on their television." The university says that the system--which is being developed under the auspices of a 4.2 million Euro project, dubbed HELIUM3D (for "high-efficiency, laser-based, multi-user, multi-modal 3D display"), that is funded in large part by the European Commission's Framework 7 program--represents a step towards "truly interactive 3D video games where