March 14th, 2009 by RocketMBA

3DTV is the futuristic new kid on the block when it comes to cutting edge television technologies, and new 3D setups are appearing at tech shows around the world. Far from the red and blue glasses we wore back in the early ’80s, 3DTV promises realistic images and high definition resolution.

3DTV won’t be common in the home for at least a decade, and there is currently no set standard for what might be used to broadcast in 3D, but television nerds are already running tests with various technologies, one of which is currently live via satellite. 3DSwitch.tv are showing off their Sensio3D format broadcast on 9 east, 11747 H 27500. It’s a 4mb/s(!) MPEG4 stream at 1920×1088 and it’s available on both DVB-S and DVB-S2 receivers.

It’s one of the weirdest things you’ll ever see in your life, 3D or not.

(This is the raw sample - it won’t look 3D to you, but you can see how the 3D image is made up! Also available in 720p HD)

Using the Sensio3D format, both left eye and right eye images are transmitted in the same video frame, and the fancy Sensio3D chipset thingit turns them into an image that the 3D shutter glasses can understand, giving you a nice crisp image with a realistic depth. Phew.

But all of this is no good to you, unless you happen to have a 3DTV testing labratory around. Still, us here at SatScene love you, and have converted the Sensio3D format into the good ol’ red and blue glasses format, so that you can get an idea of what 3DTV in high resolutions has to offer with the below video. Don’t say we don’t love you!

(Unfortunately, an amount of depth is lost during the conversion, but you still get a good idea of what’s in store. Watch it in 720 HD, too!)