Very cagey way to play it Comcast. While DirecTV, ESPN and Discovery were first to say they would have 3DTV broadcasts back at CES, the cable company will actually be the first to deliver it, starting with the Masters Tournament (but why not the 3D broadcast of the Final Four?) April 7-11. That's right, the first "live next-generation 3D broadcast of a major sporting event on TV, the first live simulcast of a next-gen 3D event online, and the industry's first live multi-camera next-gen 3D production" will be on cable (& internet), not satellite or telco. Again, that's right, if you don't have a 3D television set up yet, it will also be streamed at Masters.com (no word whether this is a Comcast only or if it will be open to all) for those with a 3D setup on their PC. We'll temper our expectations until we see what kind of quality is able to squeeze through Comcast's fiber backbone and down our neighborhood coax wires, but this should certainly blow away the anaglyph stuff currently offered on VOD. Of course, the old school HD streams will still be broadcast on ESPN and CBS, but if Tiger really does make his comeback at Augusta this should give us a better view of the course (and any residual damage from that "car accident") than ever before.

[Thanks, Simon]

Comcast will broadcast the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11, beat DirecTV to the punch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's Monday, and we know that getting the week started can be tough. We're here to help by letting you peek into the recording booth when the Engadget HD podcast goes to tape Monday the 15th at 8:30pm. Think of it as a kind of time machine that will help you power through your day by reviewing what happened in the week HD-wise. Embedded Ustream tools and a list of topics after the break.

Continue reading Join the Engadget HD podcast live on Ustream

Join the Engadget HD podcast live on Ustream originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3D isn't just for TVs, among 2010's Blu-ray players and receivers the tag of "3D ready" has crept in ahead of the coming storm. So, are you looking for those two characters on the bullet point list of features before you even have a 3D home theater setup (if you plan on ever getting one)? Make a choice, then let us know why in the comments.

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Poll: Will you still buy home theater equipment that isn't 3D-ready? originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hopefully the remnants of SD programming in CNN's daytime lineup haven't been too distressing, but now you can go back to merely being freaked out by whatever fear mongering headline is hot today when the network goes HD 24/7 in the next few months. Multichannel News mentions a new studio in Atlanta is located two floors above the current home of CNN Newsroom and other daytime talking head shows, upping the size size from 1,500 sq ft to 5,000 sq ft and, of course, ready for HD. With field production trucks already HDTV-prepped only affiliate footage can potentially interrupt our 1080i bliss, but honestly, we're just waiting for the return of the holograms.

CNN preparing new HD-ready studio for daytime programming originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you hadn't noticed, there was some trouble brewing in the NVIDIA camp. After ages of reigning atop the land of stereoscopic 3D playback on the PC, NVIDIA is finally being confronted with a real, bona fide standard for 3D, with zero GPUs capable of meeting it. The current NVIDIA 3D Vision-compatible cards pump out the necessary pixels over DisplayPort or dual DVI plugs, while the official spec for 3D TVs is an HDMI 1.4 plug that accepts data from both frames at once. We were in doubt there for a moment, but it turns out NVIDIA's cards upgrade to 1.4 just fine, and all 3D Vision customers will be getting this as a free upgrade later this spring. NVIDIA will also be offering this 3DTV Play software in a standalone version for $40 to folks who don't want to bother with NVIDIA's 3D Vision stuff at all (with HDMI 1.4 you can just use the stereoscopic glasses that come with your fancy new 3D TV, no need for NVIDIA's setup). NVIDIA is naturally hitting all the high points of the 1.4 spec, with 1080p24, 720p60 (the official gaming spec), and 720p50. The cards will also support 3D Blu-ray. So, just about time to splurge big on that home theater PC? We don't know... is it just us, or does that guy and his couch look a little lonely?

NVIDIA's 3DTV Play finally solves the HDMI 1.4 gap for 3D Vision originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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