Olympics 'could be shown in 3D'

A number of sports events have been broadcast in 3D

Some of the London Olympic Games could be shown in 3D, the BBC's director of 2012 has said.

Roger Mosey told a conference of broadcasters in Amsterdam it would be a shame if some footage was not in a 3D format.

He also said super high-definition cameras could be used, even though most homes would not have the equipment to view the high-quality images.

A number of sports events have already been broadcast in 3D.

He said: "We could, and I believe should, capture some of the games in 3D.

ROGER MOSEY BLOG Not to have that at all in 3D would be, at the very least, a major gap in the archive Roger Mosey

"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."

The future

He also talked about super high-definition (Super HD) broadcasting for the games.

Super HD is format which has a resolution of 7680 × 4320 pixels. Existing HD televisions have a format of 1920 × 1080 pixels.

Mr Mosey said: "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.

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

Landmark year

"But now's the time to start examining seriously whether there are answers that could make 2012 even more of a landmark year."

In June, Lord Puttnam said the technology was there to to show the London Olympics "every single day in 3D on every cinema screen in the country."

Last year, BBC engineers provided a 3D broadcast of Scotland's defeat of England in the Six Nations championship to a London cinema audience.

Sky, which has said it will launch a 3D channel in 2010, has also broadcast a number of sporting events in 3D.