Posted By
Marshal Rosenthal
February 21, 2012 at 7:40am
One of the secrets about 3D that is kept from the public is how the video resolution of the image decreases in a 3D image presented on a display. With perception being so all-important these days, this could keep consumers from being willing to “buy in” to 3D since they might think there’s a need to wait for a newer 3D technology or some other innovation to compensate for this resolution shortcoming.
Enter NOMAD3D, a company designed to provide 3D in a manner that combines both high-resolution output as well as low-power consumption (a big factor when dealing with mobile devices that require batteries). Founded in the fall of 2011 (and located in “Silicon Valley,” California), the company consists of experts in the field of 3D vision, embedded multimedia software and semiconductors. The company purports to extend the capability of 3D Half HD Side-by-Side TVs and set-top boxers to Full HD 1080p.
To get the skinny on this, we turn to Eric Labarre, NOMAD3D’s executive vice president.
3DTV
What’s NOMAD3D’s “mission statement”?
Eric Labarre
NOMAD3D is delivering the only high quality Stereo 3D (S3D) Full HD Software (Software) CODEC solution with a focus on very low power [consumption]. The targeted market are Video and network gaming for SmartTV/IPTV and Mobile (Tablets andSmartphones).
3DTV
What’s the problem?
EL
Today operators are delivering only a 3D HALF HD side by side 3D format, resulting in significantly degraded quality compared to 3D FULL HD. This is due to the fact that either the CPU is not powerful enough or because the power dissipated in the set top box is too high at Full resolution. In addition, US new regulations (ENERGY STAR requirements Version 4.0) require a 30% Video Processing power reduction starting in 2013. This is a considerable challenge for 3D.
NOMAD3D Software CODEC provides the right solution for these issues, limiting the power dissipated in the SmartTV/STB at 3D FULL HD at the 2D level and enabling regulation compliance as well.
3DTVbr> Why is it that mobile devices will benefit from this codec?
EL
For 3D Smartphones and Tablets, power consumption is a show stopper for 3D. With a doubling of the computing power and data traffic, S3D battery life is reduced by more than 50%. With NOMAD3D Software CODEC solution, the battery life is only reduced by less than 15% and by less than 5% with a dedicated hardware implementation.
We believe that our End to End solution will benefit cell Phone, Set Top Box and Application Processor, to Terminal Devices (STBs, OTT, Smartphones and Tablets) as well as for Telecoms Operators Head End.
3DTV
Do you have the technology “up and running,” as it were?
EL
A full software implementation of our Decoder is already running real time on an application processor ARM Cortex A9 from the market.
Adding to the above is that the technology -- 3D+F -- is patent pending at this time and compatible with the H.264 video platform format. This means it “plays nice” with today’s traditional 2D video presentations as well as with 3D. Expect to hear more about NOMAD3D in the future as mobile devices stop straining toward 3D and start zooming out the third-dimensional imaging.