London 2012 Olympics to be filmed in 3D?

Sky has already filmed Usain Bolt in action in 3D
Sky has already filmed Usain Bolt in action in 3D

London's 2012 Olympics could be the most eye-popping ever, with news that the event could be filmed in 3D.

The biggest sporting occasion on Earth is coming to the UK in 2012 and the BBC's director for London 2012 Roger Mosey has it would be a "shame" if it wasn't shot in 3D.

"We could, and I believe should, capture some of the games in 3D," he explained at the IBC (International Broadcasting Conference) in Amsterdam.

"Nobody would expect the games of 2012 to be comprehensively in 3D because the technology will be nothing like widespread enough.

"But it would be a shame not to have any images of London that were part of an experiment with what will be one of the next big waves of change.

"The Olympic stadium may only exist in its full 80,000-plus capacity for a relatively short period.

"Not to have that at all in 3D would be, at the very least, a major gap in the archive."

Taste of the future

He also hinted that the events could be shot in Quad HD (sometimes called Super HD), which equates to 7680 × 4320 pixels.

"There won't be a [super HD] set in your living room by 2012, but there could be a limited number of cameras and big screens that will give us a taste of the future - and could give a major creative boost to technologists and people thinking of the content of tomorrow," he explained.

"Both 3D and super HD are currently posing questions and opportunities rather than solutions."

This is all very well, but let's sort out getting EastEnders in plain old HD first!

Via BBC

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.