Apuntolapospo and Ovide BS and i2CAT make the first live 3D broadcast possible

A fragment of the opera Fidelio of Beethoven broadcast from the Lyceum live and, for the first time in the world, in 3D in 2k x 2 cinematographic quality.

Within the framework of the fifth edition of the DiBa Festival, Apuntolapospo in collaboration with Ovide BS and i2CAT have carried out a pioneering experience by broadcasting a rehearsal with 3D images of the opera over Internet 2 Fidelio in a production by the Metropolitan Opera House in New York that premiered last night at the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. This is a pioneering and unique event in the world since it was the first live broadcast, with 3D technology, and in 2k x 2 cinematographic quality.

Apuntolapospo has been in charge, in addition to the stereoscopic control and the compression to JPEG 2000 live, of converting the signals into IP to send them over the network through Internet 2 (broadband provided by the i2CAT Foundation) directly to the Auditorium of the Communication Campus of the Pompeu Fabra University, enabled for stereoscopic projection by Kelonik. Already in the room, Apuntolapospo has once again unpacked the IP data to convert it into dual JPEG 2000 standard, discretizing the 6 audio channels to be able to project the work in 3D with cinematic quality.

The challenge of this experience has been to achieve an HD broadcast, surpassing the strict DCI standards of the cinematographic world. Ovide BS has been in charge of the millimeter configuration of all the equipment since pairs of identical equipment are necessary for 3D broadcasting. Among the equipment used, several pairs of Thomson LDK 8000 studio cameras stand out, a couple of mini HD cameras Iconix and twelve Canon FJ lenses. Monitoring has been carried out with Grade1 monitors, adjusting them in pairs according to the incoming signals, thus avoiding subsequent distortions when generating the 3D signal.

Sergi Maudet, head of the Ovide BS team, has also highlighted the need to adapt a Grass mixer “to make the input of the different signals from the camera pairs viable since there is still no mixer on the market that satisfies this need.”

This pioneering experience throughout the world has been framed within the Techroom organized by DiBa and Apuntolapospo, and has had the participation of Montse Martí (director of DiBa), José María Aragonés (technical director of Apuntolapospo), Lluis M. Güell (director), Sergi Maudet (director of Ovide B.S.), Artur Serra (director of the i2CAT Foundation), as well as Joan Francesc Marco (general director of the Gran Teatre of the Liceu).