Further feeding the buzz in Las Vegas surrounding 3D home entertainment, non-profit cable research and development consortium CableLabs announced it has designated a section of its Louisville, Colorado facility to informally test 3DTVs for compatibility with cable set-top boxes.
The consortium has been performing 3DTV testing with set-top boxes since last summer and has now decided to expand its program. CableLabs is not charging manufacturers for the testing.
According to David Broberg, CableLabs vice president of consumer video technology, the testing will ideally provide feedback to manufacturers on complying with existing specs. “We want to eliminate the opportunity for surprises in the field,” explained Broberg.
The small facility can handle one manufacturer at a time and TVs are being tested with set-tops from suppliers including Motorola, Cisco, Pace and Advanced Digital Broadcast.
“One of the key elements to this succeeding as an interim step is the set-tops’ ability to pass through the [3DTV] signal without modifying it,” said Broberg.
CEA estimates that nearly 2.2 million 3DTVs will be sold in 2010 and within three years more than 25% of TVs sold will be 3D.