Passive 3D Processing And Image Warping From Calibre To Boost 3D At NAB

Being shown for the first time at NAB 2011 is the latest version of Calibre UK's PVProHD-IW Image Warping video processor/scaler - a product destined to improve the technical and commercial prospects for dual-projector passive 3D in cinema, themed attraction and post-production applications.
Paul Carey of Marketing Specialists, Calibre's US master representative, said: "Dual projector passive 3D allows use of very low-cost viewing glasses and avoids the inherent flicker of active 3D, but it does require precise alignment of the left and right eye images such that the two projectors act as one. Images are mixed optically on screen after passing through the preferred L/R selection mechanism, either chromatic or polarising filters.
"This has traditionally been very hard to achieve, but Calibre's IW processors make it possible to warp the image in real time to provide pixel-perfect alignment. This alignment can be performed visually using the Calibre warp tools, or with the aid of camera-based automatic warp alignment software from Scalable Display. Such a system truly offers the best stereographic viewing experience."
The PVProHD-IW works by extracting left or right eye data automatically from 3D HDMI content and is compatible with Blu-ray and set-top-box 3D formats, converting it to the native resolution of the projector and warping it to suit the screen shape and to align with the second projector. This is all undertaken by one processor per project, a Realta scaling engine with up to 1024-tap video filtering ensuring exceptionally high image quality, even on very large cinema screens.
The latest version of the PVPro-HD-IW can extract left and right project images from all mandatory HDMI 1.4 3D formats, while alignment of pre-separated left and right eye content provided over DVI or HDSDI from media servers is also supported.
Tim Brooksbank, Chairman at Calibre UK, said: "This is the third time we will be exhibiting at NAB and, with so much industry focus still on 3D, it is great to have a product as smart and as capable as the PVProHD-IW on our stand.
"We're looking forward to demonstrating why our image processors are now the product of choice for professionals throughout the broadcast, television and movie industries and exploring new opportunities with new and existing customers alike."
(KMcA/GK)