HDlogix, a privately-owned New Jersey-based firm, is launching a new technology that was developed to generate 3D from 2D cameras, live in real time.
Initially the company has its eye on 3D live broadcasting, potentially a pay-per-view model. The company suggests that this automated system can be used to produce live 3D content in a simpler and less expensive manner than a fully 3D production.
The box essentially uses computing power to enable real-time video and image analysis in areas including optical flow vanishing points, focus and motion blur. “We string that information together to get an accurate picture of what the geometry of the actual scene will look like. From that we can generate a synthetic right eye view for a stereoscopic presentation,” CTO Will Gaddy said.
At the CES exhibit, the company is doing a live 2D-to-3D conversion demo with a local Cox feed.
To demonstrate the potential, HDlogix also recently partnered with the Dallas Cowboys to present a portion of its December 13 NFL match against the San Diego Chargers live in 3D on the Cowboys Stadium’s video screen. The process is designed for 3D display with new 3D TVs although it could also be used for anaglyph when needed, as was the case with the NFL game.
By now many of you are well aware that the live conversion worked, but there was negative response from the crowd at the stadium.
I was in attendance and polled random audience members. For me, the takeaway from the experiment was that it underscored a need for education—a topic that has been discussed this week at CES.
Here are the type of responses I heard from fans at the Dallas event:
– “Why do they want us to watch the game on the monitor when it is being played right in front of us.” [I heard this more than once. Clearly it was not evident that this was a technology demonstration for remote viewing in particular home entertainment.]
– “When I watch the screen without the glasses, the picture is blurry.” [Okay, I admit I was surprised by this one (which I also heard from more than one attendee). It would appear that the requirement of glasses was not clear to everyone.]
– “The color was off.” [Fair point, although many would probably say this about most anaglyph demos.]
Clips from the Dallas game are being shown in the HDlogix booth, affording an opportunity to examine the results and the technology.
When asked where further HDlogix R&D is heading, Wayne Bordone, COO of HDlogix, reported: “We are going to continue to improve the depth (analysis) of the image. There are a variety of techniques, one of them is called object segmentation, and we are going to continue to work with that. In addition, we are continuing work with color enhancement, that is especially veered toward the anaglyph viewing experience.”
HDlogix has its eye on a range of applications, primarily through licensing agreements.