By Gordon Meyer

P3GizmoGuy@gmail.com

The TV 3.0 Summit was one of the more interesting conferences I’ve attended recently.  Held strictly as a business conference, and a deliberately intimate one at that with probably less than 200 people in attendance, here the focus was on how technology affects content and vice versa. 

“TV Everywhere” was an oft repeated theme as panelists frequently talked about the evolution of traditional broadcast TV and how that content is increasingly available on more and more non-TV devices, especially computers, game consoles and smart phones and how this trend will continue to grow. 

I kept thinking about the recent WGA and SAG contract negotiations and both unions’ concerns about how soon “new media” will be the primary delivery conduit for first run content.  These technical discussions about the growing reality that viewers can more and more often watch their favorite TV shows wherever and whenever they want using mobile devices underscores the need to re-define how residuals are paid.

It was also interesting to note the projection that smartphone sales (Blackberry and iPhone type devices) are likely to exceed conventional cell phone sales within the next two years.  This is important because there’s going to be an equally exponentially growing market for content that you can watch on these video-enabled phones, whether it’s something re-purposed from other content or material made specifically for the wireless video market. 

Knowing that something you produce is going to be seen mostly on 3” handheld screens by people with short attention spans should most definitely influence how this content is produced.

Not surprisingly, 3D was also a big topic of discussion at the Summit and specifically the challenge of recreating the theatrical 3D experience in the home.  The current wave of interest in 3D in theatres and the success of movies like Disney/Pixar’s “UP” and the anticipated success of James Cameron’s “Avatar” have the industry drooling over potential increased profits from exploiting this technology.

Earlier this year when I interviewed director Peter Hyams for P3 Update, he told me he anticipated that Cameron’s film would do for 3D what “Star Wars” did for Dolby surround sound in making that technology the next “must have” part of the audience experience. 

Certainly the technology itself has come a long way over the decades.  But even on the theatrical side, there are still multiple 3D standards in both digital and film-based exhibition, which is confusing and expensive for exhibitors.  And when it comes to really good quality 3D in the home, the standards war is just as fractious.

Come January, several consumer electronics companies will be showcasing 3D ready plasma and LCD displays at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.  But as we still lack industry standards for how to execute 3D images, it’s likely to take years before 3D becomes a common feature in home theatre systems.  Just like the high definition format wars, it will all come down to a combination of which gets the widest studio (and adult video) support even more than who delivers the most natural quality picture.

At the end of the two day conference, after all the talk about things like product integration, immersive technologies, digital delivery systems, new advertising and business models, it still came down to what smart people have known all along – it’s all about creating quality content that consumers become emotionally invested in watching.  Without that, everything else is academic.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Production. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.