3ality Digital Powers World's First Terrestrial S3D Broadcast

BURBANK, Calif., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- 3ality Digital LLC (www.3alitydigital.com) has achieved another S3D milestone with the medium's first-ever live terrestrial broadcast. Through an agreement with Australia's Nine Network, 3ality Digital has made the first of three matches of the 2010 National Rugby League State of Origin series available to viewers in S3D.

The first match, played at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, was aired live on May 26. 3ality Digital and Nine Network will also provide live S3D coverage of the series' two additional matches, on June 16 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and July 7, again at ANZ Stadium.

The State of Origin series is among Australia's highest-rated programming each year. The Australian government is making the digital spectrum necessary for the broadcasts available on a trial basis as a means of gauging the public's interest.

While 3ality Digital has enabled a number of groundbreaking S3D broadcasts via satellite and cable, its coverage of the May 26 rugby match marked the first time any terrestrial broadcaster provided such programming to viewers.

"We're proud that our systems continue to earn the confidence of the world's most innovative broadcasters," said Ted Kenney, Head of Production for 3ality Digital. "To follow our successful live S3D broadcasts of Indian Premier League action with this industry first is a true testament to our systems' ability to generate pristine S3D imagery under virtually any circumstances."

Nine Network CEO David Gyngell said 3ality's expertise was absolutely critical to the highly successful broadcast of the first State of Origin match in 3D.

"The fact is we simply could not have achieved that outcome without 3ality. They showed themselves to be accomplished world leaders in the technology, and Nine's production teams were impressed not only by 3ality's professionalism but also by its immediate grasp of the specifics and peculiarities of the game of rugby league itself," he said.

"There's no question 3D is adding to the tremendous excitement of the National Rugby League broadcasts We're delighted to bring this first-of-its-kind television experience to our viewers and we look forward to the 3D broadcast alongside 3ality of the next two matches in our series," Mr. Gyngell said.

About 3ality Digital

3ality Digital develops enabling technologies to power live-action stereoscopic 3D (S3D) entertainment from image capture through presentation, independent of viewing environment.  3ality Digital's camera platforms, stereo image processing systems, and S3D image scaling technologies are quickly earning a reputation as the "gold standard" for the emerging medium, and are rapidly being adopted by broadcasters, production companies, studios and consumer electronics manufacturers.  3ality Digital's systems are optimized to handle the demands of live S3D broadcast, offering such must-haves as fast setup, perfectly aligned zooms, accurate imagery right from the camera, and automation that reduces the number of required production personnel.

3ality Digital technology has powered a number of live-action firsts, including U2 3D, the first movie shot completely in digital live-action S3D; the first live S3D broadcast of an NFL game (Raiders vs. Chargers, Dec. 4th, 2008); the first live S3D sports broadcasts available to consumers, including the 2009 BCS Championship Game, BSkyB's landmark Manchester United vs. Arsenal soccer broadcast and the first network hockey telecast ever produced in S3D (New York Rangers vs. Islanders, March 24, 2010, on MSG); the first S3D commercial broadcast on television (Sobe "Lizard Lake"); and the first episode of a scripted television series shot in digital live-action S3D (Chuck vs. The Third Dimension, aired on NBC on Feb. 2, 2009).  For more information, please visit the company's website at www.3alitydigital.com.

SOURCE 3ality Digital, LLC