In Depth: How activists are using the net to rally support
Just as the internet is quickly changing society, so it's also changing the nature of protest and the way campaigns of all kinds rally support for their causes.
A few short years ago, successful pressure groups needed massive organisation to catch the fleeting attention of the print or broadcast media.
Now, national support can be mobilised using email or social media websites. We talked to the organisers of two very different campaigns and discovered that the methods they use to communicate their message over the web depend as much on the qualities of the communities of potential supporters that they want to reach as it does on the causes themselves.
"I'm 32 years old, I've been using computers for all of my life. I've worked in an office, I'm a journalist, so I'm as connected to the internet as anyone is and it's second nature to me. But I'm one of those 10 per cent of people I'm not trying to reach," says Michael Parker, Press Officer for pressure group NO2ID. Finding that other 90 per cent is key to the success of the group's efforts.
"NO2ID is the national campaign against identity cards and the database state," says Parker. "We campaign against the growth of government-run mass information gathering and sharing of personal information from individuals, and storing all that information in databases and passing it around the public sector."
However, in a world fast coming to terms with social media technologies, NO2ID's methods are decidedly old-school. It's all to do with the nature of the campaign, says Parker.
"We've not really found a great deal of use [for social media] because the topics that we're discussing are not really the kinds of topics that journalists pick up off the Twitter feed and make a little story from," he told us. "They are, by their very nature, fairly abstract, fairly complicated and deal with non-concrete issues such as privacy and liberty, so they're not usually packageable into snappy stories."
Middle-aged support
The NO2ID campaign finds support in middle England, which is a decidedly less than tech-savvy section of society. "A huge number of our supporters, and indeed latent potential supporters, are middle-aged men and women living in the shires who aren't anything to do with the social media revolution, and quite potentially never will be," says Parker.
"The highly computer-literate, socially connected, media-savvy segment of society already know about us, and are already aware of privacy issues or of surveillance issues. It's the other 70, 80, 90 per cent that we need to reach," he adds.
ID FREE: Already introduced for foreign nationals, NO2ID campaigns for the abolition of ID cards
Despite the campaign's target audience, there's still a central role for the internet in coordinating the fight against the database state. "Everyone keeps in touch via the internet," says Parker. "We certainly use the internet, obviously as a communications tool, but it's very much a grass-roots 'boots on the ground' campaign."
However, through local group coordinators, NO2ID also runs a complex series of emailing lists that they use to inform everyone of events and developments.
Parker says that he's wary of becoming too reliant on the latest digital communications fads lest the campaign alienates supporters who are still coming to terms with being online. "[Social media users] are a very self-selecting chunk of the population," he says. "We are well aware that the majority of the country is not permanently plugged into Facebook, Twitter et al, and we want to reach those people, so our newsletter goes out by paper if you request it, and email as well."
Old-school success
That's not to say that individual supporters aren't free to use whatever communications technologies they want, however.
"Like other campaigns," says Parker, "it's a question of keeping people feeling useful and involved, handing out flyers and wearing the T-shirts just as much as lobbying their councillors – all that sort of grass-roots campaigning." That may mean emailing or even tweeting at councillors and MPs as well as setting up local web presences to get the message across.
Despite attracting less internet-aware supporters, the NO2ID campaign has scored a string of impressive successes. "We have several dozen councils that have passed motions essentially saying that they will, inasmuch as they are able to by law, refuse to cooperate with any national identity card scheme," says Parker.
"Some of them are even affiliated to NO2ID. Cambridge Council is affiliated to us, as are a number of others. And the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the London Assembly have passed that same motion.
"The campaign is trying to reach the 'everyman', and these people haven't got the slightest clue what Twitter is and even less interest [in finding out], I would say. But ours is a political campaign based on grass-roots support lobbying for change. In order to succeed, we need massive widespread support, and [social media] isn't a guaranteed way of getting it, so we need to use more than just the internet. We need to use word-of-mouth and traditional 'dead tree' industries to spread the message as well."
But while NO2ID needs to tailor its core use of the internet to reflect the online skills of its supporters, another campaign has discovered that the latest social media technologies give it access to legions of support that it never knew it had.
During Britain's darkest days, Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire shortened World War II by around two years and saved countless lives by secretly cracking Nazi codes.
Sadly, today Bletchley Park faces its own fight to stay open as a monument to the birthplace of digital computing. Social media now helps in this struggle, and its sheer immediacy came as something of a shock to Director of Museum Operations Kelsey Griffin.
"To be honest, it's been quite a sudden progression," says Griffin. "We were approached in January of this year. Dr Sue Black [from the University of Westminster] came along with three social media technologists. Until then I have to say that I considered Facebook and Twitter a fairly juvenile pastime for people with far too much time on their hands." The visit soon made her think again.
"We were walking around the site and they set me up a Twitter account there and then, and put the word out that Bletchley Park was on Twitter. Within an hour and a half, we had literally hundreds of followers. People were sending me really positive messages."
The astonishment was mutual, it seems. The three technologists had never been to Bletchley Park before. "They were completely bowled over by it," says Griffin.
NEEDING FUNDS: Bletchley Park needs to campaign constantly to find the money to preserver its iconic huts
The technologists used the iPhone AudioBoo application to record interviews with Griffin to put on the internet. "They just got the most incredible response," she says. "I realised there was a whole audience out there who we really weren't communicating with. Since then, I've got approaching 3,000 followers [on Twitter] I think. It's been absolutely astonishing."
Mecca for geeks
Without official government funding, Bletchley Park is run on a shoestring. Other than the odd grant – such as the آ£460,000 donated by the National Lottery last autumn – funding centres around getting visitors through the gates.
"Our visitor numbers this year have risen 20 per cent on last year, which is even more astonishing when you consider that last year they were up 40 per cent on the year before and we'd budgeted for a downturn this year," says Griffin. "I'm not necessarily attributing everything to social media, but I'm certain it's had a huge impact.
"Our financial position has always been a bit precarious. And although we balance our budgets now, we still have an extremely tiny marketing budget. Our visitor numbers have almost doubled in three years. Three years ago, we had almost 50,000 visitors a year. This year we're heading for almost 100,000 visitors.
"We're now engaging with a younger audience who consider Bletchley Park to be the birthplace of the modern computer because Colossus was built and used here and that was the world's first digital programmable computer," says Griffin.
"So they're almost embracing Bletchley Park as the spiritual home of the geek, if you like, which is brilliant. I think that social media and the way that we've been engaging with these people has an awful lot to do with it. People are realising that the information age, which underpins everything they do today, all started at Bletchley Park."
HOME AT LAST: Thanks to Twitter, a new generation sees Bletchley Park as the spiritual home of the geek
Like NO2ID, Griffin also uses more traditional methods of publicising the Bletchley Park campaign. "We have a subscription database on the website for people who are interested in receiving updates," she says. "So we [send out an] e-shot, which is also an incredibly cost-efficient way of communicating with our audience."
Twitter has also helped Bletchley Park to gain publicity in unexpected ways. "I don't know if you've seen," says Griffin, "but Stephen Fry came to visit. Within minutes of him tweeting about us, hundreds of messages of support appeared. So that's how instant it is."
Then there was the public competition run by builder's merchant Wickes earlier this year to find the building that Britain was most proud of.
"I have to say that I did tweet about that and we ended up winning over and above The Cavern in Liverpool, and a number of National Trust properties," admits Griffin. "You'd think that they'd have more pulling power than most, but we won."
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In Depth: How the humble hard drive is made
The fact that silicon chips start life as nothing more exotic than sand is amazing enough, but have you ever thought about that other important PC component, the hard disk?
Its origins couldn't be more different. The heart of a hard disk – the rotating platter where your data is stored – is made out of an exotic mix of elements including ruthenium and platinum, two of the world's rarest and most expensive metals.
Needless to say, this statement doesn't even hint at the complexity involved in transforming rare ores into gigabytes of data storage. The hard disk's high speeds of rotation and the close proximity of the head to the platter means that the processes must be carried out with the ultimate in precision and cleanliness.
Add to this the strange properties of magnetic media and the techniques required to achieve the optimum capacity, and the story of how disks are made becomes one that encompasses the fields of mining, metallurgy, chemistry, physics and involves the pinnacle of engineering and manufacturing technology.
As a whole, a hard disk is an amazing feat of electronic and mechanical engineering, but two parts – the heads and the platter – stand out for their sheer manufacturing complexity. As the part that actually stores the data, the platter is what many people consider the heart of a hard disk drive – and here we reveal the secrets of its manufacture.
Step 1: Mineral extraction and processing
Platinum is only the 70th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, making up just three parts per billion. Ruthenium comes two places lower with an abundance of only one part per billion. By way of comparison, silicon – the raw material from which microprocessors are made – accounts for around 27 per cent of the Earth's crust.
It's no surprise then that platinum is hugely expensive – today's market price is more than $1,300 per Troy ounce. Turning to ruthenium, the total annual production is just 27 tonnes, an amount that would fit in a 1.3m3 cube. Both are mined predominantly in South Africa.
Platinum is one of the noble metals, which means that it's relatively unreactive. Unlike metals such as copper – the main ores of which are compounds – platinum is normally found in its metallic form. This doesn't mean that extracting it from its ore is simple, though, as platinum is normally found mixed with other metals.
Obtaining pure platinum involves separating it from the iron, copper, gold, nickel, iridium, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium and osmium that it's invariably found with. Let's just say it's a complicated multistage chemical process that can take up to six months to complete. Fortuitously, though, the ruthenium that's also needed in disk manufacture is a by-product of the process.
A deep mine in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa might seem far-removed from a finished hard disk, and in this sense it's an ideal place to start our investigation. But we're not going to need the platinum or the ruthenium until well down the line, so for now we'll put them aside as we move to something more down to earth – and considerably more common.
Step 2: Making aluminium blanks
The manufacture of a hard disk platter starts with the fabrication of aluminium blanks, which are disks of aluminium alloy onto which the magnetic recording layer will eventually be deposited.
High-purity alloy that contains four to five per cent magnesium plus small amounts of silicon, copper, iron and zinc to give it the necessary properties is cast into an ingot weighing seven tonnes. The ingot is then heat-treated, hot-rolled and cold-rolled in multiple passes to provide a sheet of the necessary thickness (usually 0.635mm, 0.8mm, 1.0mm, 1.27mm, 1.5mm or 1.8 mm – just enough to provide adequate stability while rotating at high speed) from which the blanks will be punched.
GETTING STARTED: Hot rolling mills process aluminium ingots into thin slivers of metal from which disks will be punched
Punching takes place once the alloy sheet has been coiled into large rolls so that a single stamping process produces lots of blanks. This is then followed by a stacked annealing process to reflatten the blanks. Finally the blanks are ground to a high level of precision to achieve the necessary surface and edge finish. Bear in mind that this and all subsequent steps are carried out on both sides of the platter so that it ends up with two recording surfaces.
Step 3: NiP plating
The aluminium blanks are now precision-ground using 'stones' that are composed of PVA and which contain silicon carbide as the abrasive agent. However, even with all the care taken to produce a good finish, the surfaces of the aluminium blanks produced in Step 2 are not yet nearly perfect enough. Because there's a limit to the degree of smoothness to which aluminium alloy can be ground, the next step is to apply a hard coating that will take a better finish.
PERFECT FINISH: The soft aluminium is plated with a hard NiP layer so that it can be polished to an incredible degree of smoothness
This hard coating is an amorphous alloy of nickel and phosphorous (NiP). It's applied by an electroless process in which complex supersaturated solutions containing compounds of nickel and phosphorous react on the surface of the disk to leave the required NiP layer. This layer can now be further refined in the next step of the process.
Step 4: Precision polishing
After NiP plating, the substrate is polished in several steps using progressively finer abrasives based mostly on silicon carbide, diamond and aluminium oxide. The end result is a disk that has a roughness of less than 1أ… (an Angstrom unit – 0.1nm, 0.0001خ¼m or 0.0000001mm), which is about the size of an atom and 450 times less than the minimum size of the features in today's microprocessors.
Subsequent processes in the following steps increase the roughness to 4أ…, the minimum level of surface flatness that will allow the head to fly reliably over the surface of the media with a controlled spacing of around 2nm.
Step 5: Washing and inspecting
Some manufacturers employ a conditioning step to remove any contamination that may be still present on the substrate. This involves spinning the disk and then very gently pressing a barely abrasive tape onto the surface. Then, before the magnetic data recording layers are applied, the disk is cleaned so that it's free of any particles, scratches or contaminants. This is done using wet chemical exposures to acidic and alkaline solutions, followed by mechanical scrubbing in soapy solutions and then multiple rinses in deionised water.
SHINE UP: Before the active layers are deposited on the platter, it's polished so that any roughness is within atomic dimensions
The disk is dried using a surface tension effect. Before continuing, advanced optical inspection is used to detect particles, contaminants or scratches, and any disks with such defects are rejected. The process is fully automated using optics and electronic detectors combined with smart software to identify imperfections.
Step 6: Applying a soft magnetic underlayer
The next few steps involve depositing layers of various materials with differing magnetic properties using a process called 'Sputtering' that takes place in a multi-chamber vacuum deposition tool.
The first of these layers is the soft magnetic underlayer. Otherwise known as the magnetic keeper layer, it's a good conductor of magnetic fields. This layer is unique to Perpendicular Magnetic Recording technology (see 'From LMR to PMR, overleaf) and has the result of enhancing the perpendicular field needed for writing by providing an 'image field' to the field produced by the head. The soft magnetic underlayer is made from an alloy, typically containing cobalt, nickel and iron.
DATA-STORAGE LAYERS: The application of the soft magnetic underlayer is just one of several steps that are carried out as the platter is automatically passed from one chamber to another in a vacuum deposition tool
In Western Digital's latest platters this layer takes the form of two sub-layers separated by a four-atom thick layer of ruthenium. When two ferromagnetic layers are separated by a thin layer of ruthenium, the resulting interaction between the two layers is such that energy is minimised when the magnetisation between those layers is opposite. This is known as a synthetic antiferromagnet, and the end result is a keeper layer with properties that can be finely tuned. Only a few elements are known to do this, and ruthenium has the largest effect – which is why it's used in modern hard disks.
Step 7: Adding the data storage layers
Now we come to the data-storage layers. These are made from an alloy of cobalt, chromium and platinum (CoCrPt). Cobalt is used because it has a hexagonal crystal structure, which is less symmetrical than the cubic crystal structure of other magnetic metals (such as iron and nickel). This allows the metal's crystals to be oriented in the preferred magnetisation direction, which in the case of PMR is up or down. Chromium is added to give the cobalt resistance to corrosion and reduce the interactions between grains with a consequential improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio.
Lastly, the platinum provides thermal stability, preventing data loss if the disk is subjected to external magnetic fields or heat. As with the two sub-layers that form the soft magnetic underlayer, the recording layer is composed of several sub-layers. Often thin layers of ruthenium separate these. Ruthenium also separates the soft magnetic underlayer from the recording layer, but here it performs a quite different function. Ruthenium has a hexagonal close-packed atomic structure similar to that of the CoCrPt alloy, so it's used as a nucleation layer to help orient the crystals of the magnetic grains in the required direction.
It's also used to lower the degree of magnetic exchange coupling between the hard magnetic layers to produce advanced structures such as the widely used exchange coupled composite (ECC) structures. ECCs are used to help solve the 'trilema' in which attempts to improve any of the main requirements – thermal degradation, ease of magnetic switching and signal-to-noise ration – makes the others worse.
Step 8: Adding a protective overcoat
The final stage of the deposition process is to apply a diamond-like carbon overcoat layer to provide corrosion resistance and improve its mechanical reliability. This protective layer is typically 2nm thick and is applied by ion-beam or plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition techniques. The platter is now removed from the sputter deposition chamber.
Step 9: Lubricating the platter
Next, a lubricant layer is applied to the media in one or more steps depending on design. Typically the lubricant is dissolved in a solvent and applied to the platter by pulling it at a controlled rate. The rate of evaporation of the solvent in the meniscus that forms at the liquid air interface during the pulling process and the concentration of lubricant in the solution determine the resulting thickness on the disk, which is approximately 1nm. The layer comprises advanced perfluoropolyether lubricants combined with phosphazene additives that inhibit degradation of the lubricant.
Typically the lubricant layer is partially bonded to the overcoat film and imparts durability to the head media interface system in a drive. The bonding process can be activated thermally or, more typically, by exposure to ultraviolet light. During the bonding process, cross-link chemical bonds form in the lubricant's molecular chains to limit the mobility of the lubricant. However, the top-most portion of the lubricant is left to be fully mobile.
After lubrication, a tape burnish process and then a head burnish process are used to wear out asperities (microscopic unevenness) and remove any loose particles that may remain on the surface of the platter after the sputter and lubrication processes have been completed.
Step 10: Testing and certification
The final step before the platter can take its place in a disk drive is to certify that it can pass what is referred to as a glide test. During the glide process a specially made head is 'glided' over the surface of the platter to detect any remaining asperity on the media. This process ensures that a head will be able to fl y over the surface of the disk without crashing into any projections.
FINAL TEST: The platter has to pass a glide test to make sure that the head won't crash into surface defects
If the platter passes this last step then it's deemed 'flyable' or 'prime' and after a magnetic conditioning step it's appropriately packed up and shipped to the drive factory.
The magnetic conditioning step involves exposure of the finished media to a large magnetic field in order to leave the magnetisation in the storage layer in a uniform state that will not interfere with the drive manufacturing process.
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Updated: The complete guide to 3D TV
With the Blu-ray 3D specification finalised and Sky's 3D TV channel due to launch this April, the UK faces another telly revolution.
Forget the digital switchover, 1080p 'Full HD' and web-connected TV widgetry. Jump-out-of-the-screen 'stereoscopic 3D' is the technology that has set everybody a-buzzing. Trying to describe it is like trying to paint a symphony.
So what will you need to watch 3D TV? Who's doing it? When? And will your existing HDTV work? Carry on reading to find out the answers to these and many more 3D TV questions...
Who is making 3D TVs?
Every major manufacturer worth their corporate salt has a 3D TV prototype on the test bench.
Philips, for example, has been showing its autostereoscopic 3D technology for years, but very few people really got excited about it.
3D's fortunes started to turn around when the technology became a hit with blockbuster-fatigued cinema audiences.
Following on from CES 2009 (where 3D TV was very much in the 'concept' stage), CES 2010 was a showcase for some of the 3D TVs we will actually be able to buy.
Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, LG and Panasonic all unveiled 3D-capable HDTVs. Samsung is keen to be at the front and has proclaimed that it is "forging the future of home entertainment in a new dimension." They used this year's CES to unveil several 3D TVs, a Blu-ray player and a matching home audio system.
Leading the Samsung line is the flagship UNC9000 Series 3D TVs. These ultra-thin, edge-lit LED sets are reportedly no thicker than 0.3 inches and will be available in screen sizes up to 65 inches.
Samsung's integrated 3D technology will also enable 2D to 3D video conversion in real-time. Finally, each UNC9000 model will ship with a luxurious touchscreen Wi-Fi remote, presumably to divert you from the fact that the TV will cost a small fortune.
According to Samsung, all of the premium models in its LED TV lineup for 2010 (namely the 7000, 8000 and 9000 series TVs) will include the company's built-in 3D processor. Pair one with Samsung's forthcoming BD-C6900 Blu-ray 3D deck, add a copy of Monsters vs. Aliens and you'll be good to go.
GOOD TO GO: The Samsung LED 9000
Sony also set its 3D stall out at CES, whipping the wraps off of its Signature LX900 Series HDTVs. Like Samsung's UNC9000, the LX900 is a showcase for all the advanced TV tech that Sony has to offer. So expect Full HD 3D, 200MHz Motionflow Pro technology, built-in Wi-Fi, DLNA connectivity and a bold design inspired by Arthur C Clarke's alien object from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
A step below the Signature range, Sony's new 'Cinematic'-badged HDTVs incorporate the HX900 and HX700 models. These 46-inch and 52-inch models feature full HD LED screens, Motionflow 200Hz PRO & Image Blur Reduction technology and are also 3D-capable. The only element missing is the integrated Wi-Fi.
SHOWCASE: The Sony LX900
LG confirmed at CES that its LE9500 series HDTVs will be 3D-ready when released, while Panasonic's new VT25 plasmas deliver some of the best picture quality we have clocked on a 3D-capable telly.
Finally, Toshiba's ZX900 Series HDTV utilises the power of the multi-core Cell processor to redefine what a TV is capable. The Cell, a variant of which is used in the PlayStation 3, doesn't just do 3D. Its incredible processing power can wrestle with 4K picture quality and can record eight video streams at once.
We'll be getting hands on with all of these sets to bring you in-depth 3D TV reviews as they become available.
What does '3D Ready' mean?
Just as new high definition TVs were marketed as 'HD ready', expect the first wave of 3D-capable sets to wear a '3D Ready' sticker.
But what does '3D Ready' mean, and what defines a 3D Ready TV? Samsung's 3D-capable 7000, 8000 and 9000 Series HDTVs, for example, will include a proprietary 3D processor and emitter. These are designed to be compatible with multiple 3D standards, including half/full HD resolution formats and the recently finalised Blu-ray 3D specification.
All of which suggests that the term '3D Ready' is just a catch-all phrase for a less exciting (but more accurate) one – 3D-capable.
While there seems to be no restrictions in terms of TV size, a 3D TV needs a minimum refresh rate of 120Hz (a basic 60Hz displayed for each eye). The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the 3D effect. So a 240Hz set will be capable of outputting 120Hz to each eye.
HDMI 1.4 will also be required for full HD per eye viewing.
Until the broadcast industry settles on a standard, any '3D Ready' badge will need a graphic depicting some fingers firmly crossed.
Blu-ray 3D is the closest that we currently have to an accepted 3D standard. The Blu-ray Disc Association has given the thumbs up to Multiview Video Coding, a variant of the existing high-def H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec.
Of course, how you view 3D content has also not been set in stone. Cinemas currently use three different types of 3D glasses – passive polarized glasses, active LCS glasses, and Infitec (Dolby 3-D) glasses.
At CES 2010, manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony and Panasonic all favoured active shutter technology, although these can be expensive and need a power source.
How much will a 3D TV cost?
Once they hit the mass market 3D TVs won't be as expensive as you might think. The industry is understandably tight-lipped over the exact prices, though we've heard a 10-15 per cent premium price mentioned. Considering the ever-tumbling prices of flatscreen TVs, that isn't too bad.
Could my Blu-ray player take 3D discs?
Possibly. Some manufacturers – LG and Philips included – have shown 3D systems that use existing Blu-ray players, though others, such as Panasonic, insist new TV and Blu-ray hardware will have to be used. What is clear is that the 3D standard is now being ratified the Blu-ray Disc Association, so whatever is agreed upon will apply to Blu-ray discs.
ALL CHANGE? Some 3D systems uses existing Blu-ray players, though others propose new hardware altogether
Is there a 3D format war brewing?
There are many prototype systems vying for worldwide adoption. The winner stands a good chance of making millions in licensing deals, hence the delay.
"There are so many 3D systems proposals it could kill 3D itself," says Keisuke Suetsugi, Manager at High Quality AV Development Center, part of Panasonic's AVC Networks Company. Panasonic is proposing its own Full HD 3D system, though its reliance on all-new hardware could be a stumbling block.
Can I watch anything in 3D now?
If you have a fast enough PC, you can already play games in 3D using a special converter. "A game world is made of polygons and plotted on a 3D axis of X, Y and Z, so they already have depth in relation to the front of the screen," says Berraondo. "The worlds created in a game are already 3D, such as Halo – you can rotate the camera around and they're an open world that you're free to move around in. Before Super Mario 64 in 1996 games were pre-scripted and pre-rendered."
Anyone with Vista PC running on an Intel Core2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 CPU and a 3D-capable stereoscopic monitor from Samsung or ViewSonic (the circa آ£300 2233RZ and VX2268wm models, respectively) just needs to add a 3D graphics card and software package, such as Nvidia's GeForce 3D Vision, to convert almost any PC game into 3D. The package sells with active shutter (battery-operated) specs and a transmitter.
GOOD TO GO: Samsung's 2233RZ 3D PC monitor is 3D Vision-ready
Although Xbox or the PS3's hardware is way too old too cope with 3D, Disney does plan to release a 3D game of its G-Force film for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Crucially, this game will have to rely on Anaglyph 3D, AKA the red and blue glasses that put a lot of people off the whole idea of 3D many, many years ago.
G-FORCE: You'll need the old fashioned red and blue specs for this one [Image credit: Disney]
Is 3D TV just a gimmick designed to make us replace our TVs yet again?
Possibly so, though the hunger for new technology in the UK is as keen as ever. Sales of consumer electronics overall may be down a few per cent, but the flat TV market grew by 22.9 per cent in the first half of this year.
Whether 3D TV is a success will come down to what it's used for. If Sky starts to broadcast boxing, cricket or Premiership football in 3D it's almost bound to catch on, but it will struggle if it's used only for animated movies.
COMING SOON: Sky, who recently filmed Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt in 3D, plans to broadcast in 3D over its Sky+HD infrastructure from 2010
The 3D demos we've seen have been dominated by gimmicky and unconvincing shots, such as the main character suddenly pointing at the viewer for no discernable reason, just to show-off 3D effects.
"It depends on the content provider," says Suetsugi. "They can choose to put depth or front 3D effects." In our experience, depth is by far the most impressive use of 3D – and it's what Sky will be creating when it starts broadcasting next year.
How does Sky's 3D system work?
Aping human vision, two Sky cameras on the same rig film side-by-side, capturing slightly different left and right images in 1080i resolution to create two 540 pixel images.
Together they create a 1920x1080 image that – in quality terms – is a quarter as good as the Full HD 1080p pictures found on a Blu-ray disc.
Each feed, which represents a slightly different perspective, is split by polarised glasses and received exclusively by each eye. Your brain then processes them separately and stitches them together, as we normally do every time we open our eyes, thereby creating a field of vision that has depth. This is stereoscopic 3D, and it's set dominate.
The other form of 3D is autostereoscopic (sometimes called 'true 3D'), which doesn't require glasses. Instead, a lens is placed over the TV screen, which does a similar job by sending a different point of view to each eye. Unfortunately, the lens lessens the perceived resolution and the effects aren't anywhere near high definition.
TRUE 3D: Philips' 3D systems have so far concentrated on low-resolution autostereoscopic displays for the commercial sector
If autostereoscopic 3D TVs ever take-off – and they will, purely because of the lack of glasses – it could take a decade. There's even talk that we'll have to wait for so-called 4k2k or Super Hi-Vision technology to appear in the mass market (TVs sporting resolutions of at least 4,000x2,000 pixels) before we can axe the specs.
"In the long term we'll see the industry shift to autostereoscopic (no glasses) displays," says Jim Bottoms from market analysts Futuresource.
IN DEEP: Although this picture of the 3D-ready ViewSonic Fuzion VX2265 monitor shows effects jumping from the screen, it's depth that's really noticeable with 3D
What will Sky be showing in 3D?
At first, not much. The broadcaster has concentrated its experiments so far on football, rugby, live music and boxing – the latter getting such rave reviews that 3D could conceivably give the sport a new lease of life.
Sky's launch of 3D is also timed well in terms of Hollywood's recent penchant for shooting animated films in 3D, so expect to see the likes of Monsters Vs Aliens, Hannah Montana and Bolt on the new channel.
3D TOONS: Animated films like Bolt are rendered on a computer, making it much easier to create in 3D than a live action movie [image credit: آ©Disney Enterprises]
Can old films be converted to 3D, just as they have been for high definition?
They can – and will – be, but 3D is a different medium that doesn't suit everything. 3D is all about the audience appreciating the depth of field in a shot, so it would be time-consuming – and possibly pointless – to add another dimension to fast action close-up style films, such as the work of directors like Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Trilogy).
3D is best suited to slow panoramic landscape shots of something like Planet Earth. Any wide, static shot, like football – and sport in general – is perfect for 3D; a clip of the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics, shown recently at trade shows, looked sublime.
"If you jump from where you focus and suddenly jump to something else it's hard on the viewer," says Brian Lenz, Sky's Head of Product Design and Innovation. "In 3D it's best to linger longer and not do a lot of cuts where you're changing the depth of focus. Otherwise it starts to look surreal."
But with 2009 seeing 3D movies such as Disney/Pixar's Up, 20th Century Fox's Ice Age: Dawn of Dinosaurs and the upcoming Disney G-Force movie, directors are definitely starting to think in 3D.
Bottoms predicts that, from 2011, "we'll see new 3D movie releases on Blu-ray, remasters of classic blockbusters like Star Wars, The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings, a wider range of 3D TV content for sports, wildlife documentaries and concerts, and studios introducing selective production of 3D TV shows and series. By 2012, more than 10 per cent of US and Japanese homes will be '3D enabled', and Western Europe won't be too far behind."
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