DirecTV, Panasonic launch "n3D," the first full-time 3D channel

While we've found the 3D performance of many new 3D-enabled TVs pretty exciting, so far the amount of content has left us—and other 3D TV owners—less than overwhelmed. That could start to change today with the launch of n3D, the first full-time dedicated 3D channel, which is now available to DirecTV subscribers.

At a press conference this morning, attended by executives from DirecTV and Panasonic, which is the exclusive sponsor of n3D, DirecTV actually announced three new 3D channels. In addition to the linear n3D channel, which is available on channel 103 at no extra cost to DirecTV HD customers, 3D pay-per-view movies will be available on DirecTV Cinema on channel 104, and video-on-demand titles will be available via n3D On Demand on channel 105. At the event, executives from DirecTV told me it would only offer content shot natively in 3D, or movies that were released theatrically as 3D films.

Right now, programming is somewhat limited. Throughout the month of July, for example, n3D will be broadcasting a mix of original 3D programming (such as "Guitar Center Sessions with Peter Gabriel" and "Jane's Addiction,) documentaries (including "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia," "Wild Safari: A South African Adventure," and N Wave Picture's "S.O.S Planet," "African Adventure: Safari in the Okavango," and "Encounter in the Third Dimension"), and movies.

Also on tap this month on n3D will be several special events, such as the NASCAR Coke Zero 400, the local broadcast of the Yankees-Mariners series on July 10-11, and DirecTV's exclusive, national broadcast of FOX Sports 2010 MLB All-Star Game in 3D on July 13.

Titles currently available via DirecTV Cinema in 3D include several IMAX titles ("Deep Sea 3D" and "Under the Sea 3D"), while the n3D On Demand channel is currently showing replays of ESPN's 3D coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches. ESPN was actually the first to launch a 3D channel—ESPN 3D, which debuted on June 11 with the World Cup matches—but the channel goes dark when it isn't broadcasting 3D programming. Executives said 3D programs will cost $1 more than their standard HD pay-per-view or on-demand counterparts.

Last month, DirecTV updated the receivers of its HD customers to output 3D content, which is presented in the side-by-side format, where the two separate images required for 3D are squeezed into a single HD frame. That requires the horizontal resolution of the programming to reduced by half, so it isn't the same "Full HD" 1080p resolution you get from Blu-ray. At the press event, DirecTV told me it that while there are discussions about moving to Full HD settop boxes at some point in the future, it's currently happy with the quality being delivered using new compression schemes with existing satellite receivers.

A press event is a poor venue for evaluating picture quality, so we intend to take a closer look at the new DirecTV 3D channels both in our labs and at home. So stay tuned for an upcoming blog about our experiences.

—James K. Willcox