‘The Set-Top-Box: A New Rendering Platform?

Looking at the last 10 years of content production, it is clear that 3D Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has drastically raised the bar for the quality of images we see on both TV screens and movie theatres. While originally 3D CGI became popular for animation movies, it is used today in many different kinds of movies to perform special effects. At the same time 3D CGI was used more and more frequently in live broadcast where it was mixed with real content so as to offer new experiences to the viewer: virtual studios, 3D panels with information or statistics during sport events, virtual avatars in TV shows are just examples of 3D CGI applications that are even considered as common today. — Thanks to OpenGL ES (OpenGL for Embedded Systems) which is a royalty-free cross-platform API for 2D and 3D graphics on embedded systems, new opportunities for 3D CGI applications will become possible directly on the Set-Top-Box itself. OpenGL ES 2.0 enables full programmable 3D graphics and is now available on several systems-on-chip around which Set-Top-Boxes will be built. The move has begun. — This paper aims at investigating various 3D CGI applications that will soon become a reality on Set-Top-Boxes or Home Gateways. Whether it is for 3D stereoscopic or traditional content, we will soon see new ways of enhancing, presenting or even interacting with such content thanks to the use of Graphical Processing Units (GPU) directly in the home device.

Published

2011-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

Graphical Processing Units (GPU), Computer Graphics Imaging (CGI), Set-Top-Box (STB), 3D, User Interface, embedded platform

DOI

10.5594/M001080

ISBN

978-1-61482-940-9