Alchemist Ph.C-HD guarantees SIS Live a perfect conversion in 3D environments

Snell's popular standards converter ensures SIS Live provides full quality and seamless conversion for the distribution of 3D content for giant screen projection of the Six Nations rugby tournament and other high-level sporting events. On the occasion of the World Cup in South Africa, there will also be many broadcasters using Alchemist Ph.C-HD for stereoscopic coverage of some matches.

SIS Live, Europe's largest uplink satellite operator and one of the UK's largest outdoor audiovisual services companies, has relied on Snell Alchemist Ph.C-HD technology for 3D conversion in live broadcasts. SIS Live already began working with the first Alchemist last February on the occasion of the distribution of the 6 National rugby tournament, under the sponsorship of O2, to forty cinemas throughout the United Kingdom. Alchemist Ph.C-HD ensured seamless conversion of both the left and right eye signal from 1080i50 to 720p60, a standard chosen by SIS Live to reduce flicker and ensure high viewing quality on cinema screens.

Julian Boden, engineering director at SIS Live, said: "Snell has built a strong reputation for superior quality conversion with the Alchemist product line. At the last minute, in order to deliver our 3D rugby signal to the UK cinema network, we needed signals in 720p60 format. The experience gained with Snell's products led me to suggest to the engineering team that Alchemist would perfectly solve the problem and deliver the final quality needed. We were able to “So from producing in 1080i50 directly and through Alchemist delivering at 720p60 without further complications, the Snell solution was integrated directly into our workflow, starting to work right out of the box.”

The Alchemist Ph.C-HD is one of many systems across Snell's range of solutions that are ready to work in 3D-ready environments, already being used in productions around the world. Equipped to support image processing, live production, automation, workflow control, and distribution in a stereoscopic environment, Snell 3D systems enable broadcasters to leverage powerful and familiar tools in meeting the growing demand for 3D content.

6 Nations and World Cup

The experience of the 3D broadcast of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament by SIS Live to forty Odeon Cineworld cinemas in the United Kingdom had the collaboration of Arqiva provided in the downlink. Production was carried out with seven 3D cameras (on mirror and side-by-side rigs) along with a series of 2D cameras. The 1080i50 output from the mixer was converted to 720p50 and then the separate left and right signal was compressed by a Sensio encoder to finally obtain a side-by-side 720p50 signal at 1.5 Gbps. The resulting signal was converted to 720p60 by the Alchemist Ph.C-HD and distributed to cinemas. Along with the video signal, Dolby D audio was successfully passed through the Alchemist in the form of data, being delivered alongside the video.

On the occasion of the World Cup in South Africa, many broadcasters will use Alchemist Ph.C-HD for stereoscopic coverage of some matches.