Verizon has added video-on-demand content from WealthTV in 3D throughout its FiOS service network. The channel, called “the premier luxury lifestyle and entertainment network,” has launched its first 3D content with an episode of “Wealth on Wheels Classic.”
“Seeing the classic cars come to life in 3D will make viewers feel like they’re in the driver’s seat,” said Tricia Lynch, director of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. WealthTV’s 3D VOD program is available to all FiOS TV customers across the country who have a 3D television set, 3D glasses and a high-definition set-top box.
Verizon Communications will telecast Major League Baseball in 3D, the company has announced on its official website this week.
Verizon Communications, one of the largest providers of broadband and wireless communication services in the United States, is planning to telecast the matches for its FiOS TV customers across New York state and north New Jersey.
The game between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, which will be on the 10th and 11th of July, will be made available through the YES Network on FiOS TV for Verizon customers with 3DTV sets, 3D glasses and a high-def set-top box.
US market research house In-Stat cites upcoming growth of 3D in the firm’s US Consumer Electronic Device Tracker report.
In-Stat claims that “3D is the hottest thing happening in Hollywood” and that excitement over 3D has found its way to the US consumer electronics market. By 2013, the firm says, one in five new TVs sold in the US will be 3D.
The company also predicted that year-on-year 3D TV shipments will grow 231% between 2010 and 2011 and that this will result n a doubling of the US installed base of units for 3DTVs from 2010 to 2011.
Nintendo has announced the follow-up to the DS games system, which will offer 3D gaming without the need for 3D glasses. The E3 Expo saw Nintendo reveal what it calls the ‘Nintendo 3DS’ that comes with a 3.53-inch top screen and a 3.02-inch bottom touchscreen. To achieve the 3D effect it has three cameras, one inner and two outer, which deliver the 3D effect and take 3D pictures.
Some of the more popular and famous Nintendo franchises are being previewed on the 3DS at E3, such as Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, Nintendogs, Pilotwings, Animal Crossing, Mario and Starfox.
Director Michael Bay has confirmed that his trainwreck action series, Transformers, will see its third inception in gloriously expensive 3D. MIchael Bay had previously gone on record as a skeptic of 3D, claiming his movies were too sophisticated to allow for 3D rendering. Transformers 2 convinced him, and the rest of us, that the word ’sophisticated’ has no place in the Transformers universe.
Therefore, in news that is as shocking as a house plant, Transformers 3, which is set to be more drama and less comedy, will be 3D-ified for your viewing pleasure.
The World Cup events started this week in Johannesburg, South Africa’s 94,000-capacity Soccer City stadium. The games will be carried on television around the world for the first time in 3D. This global sports event marks the launch of ESPN 3D in the United States, and the first full-time 3D programming channel in the world.
Five of the 10 World Cup venues are equipped for 3D. Eight matches will be broadcast live in 3D to digital cinema theaters in 26 countries. ESPN’s 3DTV channel becomes the first ever programming service dedicated full time to 3D. ESPN will carry 25 of the 64 World Cup games in 3D. They intend to become a pioneer in 3D ads with spots from Sony, Gillette, Disney’s Pixar Studio and in-house promos.
ESPN will launch the first 3D channel on June 11, which coincides with the first day of the World Cup in South Africa. The hope is that its reception will be way different from its HD launch seven years ago when it first debuted on some of the smallest cablers out there.
At this week’s 3DTV2010 event in New York City, sponsored by various NewBay Media publications, ESPN Executive Vice President Sean Bratches said in sharp contrast to the small launch of it HD venues, its first 3D channel will be immediately accessible to the largest TV content provider in America, Comcast; and the largest DBS firm in the country, DirecTV, among others.
“We’re very encouraged with the slate of affiliates we have going into the marketplace with ESPN 3D,” Bratches told Mark Robichaux, editor-in-chief of sister publication Multichannel News. ESPN projects that by 2019, 3D penetration in the U.S. home will be less than HD sets, but higher than DVR penetration.
“Being the first mass 3DTV programmer is important to the ESPN brand and to helping advertisers,” Bratches said at a Q&A session, “particularly TV equipment makers like ESPN 3D partner Sony, [to] drive business opportunities.”
NewBay Media publications serving as the event’s co-sponsors included TV Technology, Broadcasting & Cable, TWICE and MCN, among others.
James Cameron, who directed a little movie you might have heard of called “Avatar,” the highest grossing film in history, has a few thoughts on what the future holds. “Avatar has proved that 3-D technology is not just a fad but a revolution changing how the audience chooses to consume media and entertainment content, said Cameron at the Seoul Digital Forum.
“Quite simply, where they had a choice, the audience was selecting for the best possible way to see the movie,” he said. “And they saw 3-D as the premium viewing experience.” This shift could come, according to the King of the World, as soon as “in a couple of years,” but “definitely less than the 25 years it took color movies,” he told reporters at a press conference after the speech.
Playboy’s June edition will be on the newsstands Friday, and for the first time ever, the centerfold comes equipped with 3-D glasses.
“What would people most like to see in 3-D?” asked Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. “Probably a naked lady. I’m not a huge enthusiast of 3-D,” he said in a telephone interview. “I leave real life to go to the movies and 2-D is fine with me.” Spoken like a true grumpy old man.
To offset the sizable extra cost of including 3D glasses with every magazine, Playboy let HBO help out. HBO wanted a new way to promote their hit show, True Blood, so paid for the 3D glasses, and branded them with the show’s logo.
As if they’d have it any other way. As a fan of the original, I am praying to the Gentle Mystics that they don’t destroy this film by giving it a modern, 3D, made-for-short-attention-spans appeal to the masses. The Henson Company has formally announced that Daybreakers (uh oh) directing team Peter and Michael Spierig will be making Power Of The Dark Crystal this year.
Screenwriter Craig Pearce (who worked with Baz Luhrmann on Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet), has set the sequel hundreds years after the events of the original film, at a time when darkness has once more fallen across the world. A girl made of fire must journey with a Gelfling outcast to use a fragment of the crystal to re-ignite the sun. Hmmm. Sounds cool – we’ll see.
Fantasy artist Brian Froud is back on board creating the conceptual design for the movie, which will blend puppetry and animatronics with CGI.
