Report: The world's first 3D online broadcast of ballet from the Mariinsky Theater, April 15, 2010

Appearance of broadcasting venue

The main part of the event took place on that plate on top of the high-rise:

Presentation

The speakers were three people from the following companies: Samsung, Platform HD and General Satellite.

The roles of companies in broadcasting were distributed as follows:

Platform HD is a Russian operator of a pay television system in high definition (HDTV) operating in two market segments - satellite and (DTH) and cable (Cable).
At the moment, it is the market leader in HDTV - the largest package of HD channels in Russia (9 HD channels), the subscriber base is more than 26,000 connected families.

Currently, the following HD channels are present: “Film Screening HD 1”, “Film Screening HD 2”, “National Geographic HD”, “High Life HD”, “Eurosport HD”, “Teletravel HD”, “MTVN HD”, “ HD Life "and" Women's World. It is also planned to introduce a new channel - “HD Sport”.

It goes without saying that the operator provides access to the usual, federal channels, and thematic channels (for more details, see their website, the link to which is given at the end of the article).

On the same channel with 3D programs it is planned to post the following content: feature films and documentaries, sports programs, live broadcasts in 3D format (hello to football and hockey fans) and music programs.

Broadcasting package "Platform HD" is carried out from the satellite Eurobird 9A 9 grad.v.d. on the European territory of Russia, it can be received both by private subscribers (DTH) and cable networks interested in its retransmission.

General Satellite is the largest set-top box manufacturer in Eastern Europe, with experience of participation in digital television projects in Russia, the CIS and in foreign countries, which has been successfully operating in the market for 19 years.

At the moment, the company has created its own facilities for the production of more than 5 million consoles per year with the possibility of expanding production to 10 million per year, as well as received an internal order for 2010 in the amount of more than 2 million consoles.

It is a partner of such well-known brands as “Tricolor TV” and “NTV-plus”, in addition to “Platforma HD”.

Samsung is the third company in this bundle that is entrusted with the mission of providing the market with the necessary number of devices for viewing 3D content.

The detailed characteristics of all the equipment expected for production are hardly appropriate here, so I will only briefly list the range that buyers will expect in stores:

10 TV models with diagonal from 40 ”to 65” (with PDP, LCD and LED based panels)
3 lines of 3D-glasses (from the most simple, on finger-type batteries and with a discreet design, to the most advanced, with a battery and a futuristic view)
3D Blu-ray players
3D home theaters

All 10 TV models are equipped with a processor to convert a normal signal into 3D, and it is possible to adjust its operation - there are 10 steps. It is sharpened primarily for various sports broadcasts and computer games .

Necessary kit to view the proposed 3D channel:

Samsung TV models PS50B450B1W, PS50B451B2W, PS42B450B1W, PS42B451B2W, UE40C7000WW or UE46C7000WW (these are only those that are already on sale. The price depends on the store you choose)
3D glasses Samsung SSG 2000, SSG-2100AB, SSG-2200AR, SSG-2200KR (the price depends on the store you choose, but approximately it will be 3-5 thousand rubles per piece, with a decrease in price when you buy 2 or more products)
A set of “Platform HD” (satellite receiver GS HD 9300, standard installation, 1 year subscription to Platform HD and Platform DV) priced at 14,950 rubles.

Is 3D technology harmful?

At the moment, according to a Samsung representative Vladimir Durbazhev, the harm from watching is almost equivalent to harm from watching a regular TV. At least, such recommendations were published by the western representative offices of the company. In Russian, unfortunately, so far there is no such information.

Separate line about the Mariinsky Theater

The Mariinsky Theater is a pioneer in introducing innovative methods of communication among the world's cultural institutions. It was the Mariinka who carried out in 1999 for the first time in history a direct online broadcast of an opera performance.

The partner of the Mariinsky Theater in organizing the world's first live television broadcast of the ballet in 3D is the Russian Corporation General Satellite. The signal will be transmitted in an open format, which will make it possible for any TV viewer with the necessary 3D equipment to view the world premiere.

As part of the celebration of the year of Russia in France, a gala evening was held at the residence of the Russian ambassador in Paris with a viewing of this gala concert. A special platform for viewing 3D broadcasts was also equipped in Moscow, which I actually visited.

Results

In general, the presentation took place without hurricane of questions and unexpected answers to them - journalists have long been aware of all the major issues, representatives of companies also answered them more than once. The atmosphere was quite friendly:

As far as I understood, everyone actually was not interested in washing the same thing, and wanted to go up to the 33rd floor and finally see what it was all about.

3D online broadcasting. 33 floor of the hotel "Red Hills"

As you may have guessed from the title picture of this part of the story, I was a little distracted from the event itself and decided to shoot Moscow from a bird's eye view:

In general, I can probably be envied - it’s not every day that I get the opportunity to shoot from that height. The only thing that overshadowed the joy was that there was no tripod and the windows on the 33rd floor were definitely not often washed. But all this is in general trifles, and the post is not about that.

As for the ballet show itself, everything was arranged in a similar way:

On the last photo, the spectators were not lucky: due to the fact that the floor is located “around” the building, they got the sunny side.

In general, this whole part of the event was not much different from similar actions: one part of the guests slowly walked around the perimeter of the floor, looking around the capital in all its glory, the other enthusiastically watched what was happening on the screen, enjoying the play of actors and the quality of 3D images, photographers, in among them, I tirelessly twirled the circles around the guests and tried to catch the best shots, videographers traditionally blocked the passage.

In general, it was difficult to find something unusual and the informational utility of the evening was gradually reduced to zero, with the result that I decided that my mission was completed and went home. At the end of the event, a 3D TV was to be played (which itself was done), but I did not entertain myself with hope.

Finally some more photos from there: