back to article ISS 'naut shoots first ever 3D footage in space

The European Space Agency (ESA) is chuffed as ninepence to release the first ever 3D video shot in space. The vid, which can be viewed in all its glory using a 3D TV or conventional red/blue stereo specs, was shot by NASA astronaut Ron Garan aboard the International Space Station using a futuristic shoebox-sized camera developed …

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  1. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Not first ever

    Search for "IMDB Space Station 3D (2002)", made using real film for IMAX cinemas. I seem to recall they had to use the film as quickly as possible and get it down to Earth before the film was too damaged by cosmic radiation or whatnot.

    Can't believe nobody at El Reg remembers it! Are you sure you're geeks?

  2. MarkCheesy
    FAIL

    Not a first

    There was the IMAX 3D film of the Hubble mission: http://www.imax.com/hubble/

  3. quartzie
    Stop

    imax?

    I clearly remember seeing 3D footage from space in an IMAX several years ago. How come that doesn't count?

    The orange flying in my general direction through the ISS and out of the screen was a rather memorable event, definitely 3D.

  4. volsano

    Video, not film

    First 3D video from the ISS maybe.

    But not the first 3D footage - Space Station 3D was an Imax production way back in 2002.

    1. Anonymous Coward 99

      And the link

      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290296/

  5. Frostbite
    IT Angle

    confused.com

    Can somebody tell me how I'm going to view this on my 3D TV? Surely I would need a 3D encoded Blu-Ray disk?

    1. jedibowler
      Thumb Up

      side-by-side

      Switch the video player to side-by-side mode and do the same on your TV. It should sort itself out.

  6. Peter Rose 1
    Stop

    Space Station 3D

    Released in 1994... "As astoundingly beautiful as it is technically dazzling, Space Station 3D is the first-ever IMAX 3D space film."

  7. LuMan
    Happy

    At Last!

    A decent use of 3D!! More please!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    as ever

    3D added nothing but a headache

  9. Jaymax
    FAIL

    El Reg FAIL!

    http://www.imax.com/spacestation/html/ss_010710_3.html

    Only a decade late to the party.

    El Reg, I am dissapoint. Your Special Projects Division should probably get veto on your space stories.

    "When the IMAX 3D cameras return to Earth, they will have spent more than two years filming in Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers, on seven U.S. Shuttle missions, and inside and outside the International Space Station."

    And before anyone mutters about IMAX being FILM not VIDEO, check the headline.

  10. deshepherd
    Meh

    Not the first 3D film in space

    definitely saw an IMAX-3D film about the space station probably 7 or 8 years ago so its not the first 3D film in space

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290296/

  11. Exi
    Facepalm

    First ever 3D video from space?

    Did I imagine Hubble 3D?

  12. Mine's a pint
    Joke

    I want my money back

    I recently went to the cinema to watch a 3D movie. Disappointment ensued as it was only stereoscopic. I wanted my money back.

  13. Miek
    Thumb Down

    ooooo 3D in space

    How Todgertastic, what's next?

  14. Fab De Marco

    Am I Alone?????

    Am I alone in being the only person who is not blown away by 3D. I've seen a few 3D films at the cinema, some OK (Avatar) others terrible (Clash of the Titans - The 3D and the film itself were bad in equal measures).

    I have been to a pub to watch some football in 3D - not overly impressed

    Got a bit nosey in an unamed electronics store and looked at their display showing monsters Vs. Aliens.... the word meh sprang to mind.

    There is the occasional bit where something comes at you and you are like woah! but as The Final Destination showed, it becomes tiresome after a while.

    But back to the tech in question. 3D stream all very well and good but is it any more impressive than streaming an HD feed from space (which I assume has been done already)

    I just can't wait for Star Wars style Hologram TV's to take off. That would be proper 3D. Will just have to do with the glasses-less TV tech that Toshiba are starting to cook up.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      you're not the only one

      .. different people have different impressions, presumably depending on whatever their eyes and/or brain might prefer to do, or their familiarity with the specific tech. What work well for most people doesn't work well for everybody.

    2. StephenD

      Not just you

      In my admittedly limited experience, I find the glasses uncomfortable to wear over my prescription glasses, find the outcome fuzzy even if occasionally impressive, and am generally underwhelmed.

      Last time I went to the cinema I had pre-purchased 2D tickets for a film with a 3D option - the showing of the 2D version was full so it was 3D or nothing for latecomers.

      1. Yag

        the showing of the 2D version was full so it was 3D or nothing for latecomers.

        It says a lot about the 3D fad...

    3. Annihilator
      Happy

      @Fab De Marco

      "I just can't wait for Star Wars style Hologram TV's to take off."

      What, small, grainy, monochromed see-thru images? I'm ok thanks :-)

      Agree with all your other stuff re: 3D though. With luck it will be a passing fad (saw interesting numbers a while ago saying that teens, presumably the target, were rejecting 3D in favour of 2D films - fingers crossed)

    4. Mike Flugennock

      You're not alone

      The last -- and only -- 3D movie I ever saw at the theater was nearly thirty years ago, during the big revival of '50s 3D horror flicks: "House Of Wax". Some nice effex bits -- a guy whapping a paddle ball in your face in one scene, and a climactic fight scene where one guy throws a chair at another guy, he ducks, and the chair appears to fly out towards the front row. Aside from the 3D, as a Grade "B" '50s horror flick, it was OK; I mean, you can't go wrong with Vincent Price.

      About a year ago, while waiting to catch a plane home from Johannesburg, I checked out some of the 3D flatscreens set up around the departure lounges as a promo for Sony (I think it was). What crap it was, especially for the prices they were asking. It had a ridiculously small "sweet spot" where you had to be in order to get any 3D effect, and it was still all blurry and diffracted around the edges. It was like looking at one of those little trick souvenir rings where you tilt it one way and you see Bruce Wayne, and tilt it the other way and he turns into Batman (yes, I'm really that old).

      You're right on about holographic TV, though; that shit'll really be where it's at, especially if it's finally perfected in my lifetime. I might actually start watching (American) football again.

  15. Clive Galway
    Stop

    We don't need no steenking titles

    "shot aboard the International Space Station using a futuristic shoebox-sized camera developed by the ESA"

    Shoebox sized? Futuristic? One would hope it would have some special features else surely a pair of GoPros with a 3D kit would have been cheaper and WAY smaller.

    Something to do with nasty radiation in space?

  16. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    WTF?

    I've been banging on about why 3-d TV is rubbish for years...

    but fortunately I still had a pair of red-cyan anaglyph specs to hand.

    Not absolutely convinced I was up there with him, though...

    As Mr Galway - I'm baffled as to why they had to make something special for the job; there's plenty of 3-d kit out there ready made. I can't see it being a radiation issue - if it's going to kill a camera inside the station I'm not convinced it's that safe for visitors; irrespective of total dosage I can't see the computers doing all that well.

  17. Annihilator
    Boffin

    3D innnnn spaaaaaaaace

    Presumably the 3D impact becomes pointless as soon as you point the camera out the window though.

  18. Parax
    Boffin

    3D in space..

    Oh go on then can I be the first to mention NASA's Stereo Solar Observatory. It's filimg in 3D too!

    Anyway I think this is supposed to be the first LIVE 3d stream.

  19. Jon H
    FAIL

    Lot of effort for a simple bit of camcorder footage

    They seem to have gone to a lot of effort (you know, going to the Space Station) just to get a bit of low quality cheap camcorder style footage of a bloke standing there with a blow-up globe! It's not like they pointed the camera out of the window so we can actually see like the Earth in the distance behind the nearby solar panels or something.

    There's better 3D stuff on YouTube made by amateurs.

  20. CmdrX3
    WTF?

    I can think of only one word..

    .... Why?

    1. rciafardone
      Coat

      and why the hell not?

      nuff said

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