back to article Strictly Come Dancing in 3D: the facts

Apparently some Brits are keen on the BBC's playground for sparkly attired hoofers, Strictly Come Dancing, which comes to its latest grand final this Saturday. Tech watchers have an interest too: it's one of the first BBC shows to be transmitted in 3D via Freeview HD. Don't want to miss the 'action'? Gone Digital's Nigel …

COMMENTS

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  1. Andy 6
    Paris Hilton

    so many questions.....

    derrrrrrr. . . .what is 3D

    :|

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wake me up

    when they have Michael Winner dancing with Victoria Coren.

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge
      Devil

      Gawd how did you come up with this one

      The horrible sight is still in front of my eyes... Aaaagghh... Need decontamination now...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Forget Winner, just Victoria Coren in a selection of interesting outfits will suit me fine...

  3. kram
    Headmaster

    autostereoscopy

    So, if you don't have a 3D TV, can you watch the BBC HD version and use the "magic eye" cross-eyed technique to merge the two side-by-side images into one? Will this then be in 3D?

    Will hurt the eyes a bit I suppose, and that's not only from having to look at Tess Daly's face.

    1. Chris Redpath

      Unfortunately, the 3D used on the BBC HD test card is in side-by-side rather than crosseye format (L & R images are on the wrong side for crosseye viewing). You can still free view it, but you need to aim your eyes out rather than in which takes more practise :)

      I find that if the TV image is small enough in your field of view, then I can lock focus on these images and see the 3D but I have to try really hard to avoid cross-eye viewing, in which case the 3D field is inverted and it all looks very odd indeed.

      If only the side-by-side TV format had been the opposite way around, you'd have been able to watch it on any old TV easily.

    2. Natalie Gritpants
      Stop

      This will work but only if you can flip the whole picture horizontally. Displayed normally you will have to diverge your eyes or have a screen narrower than the distance between your eyes, easy enough if you are a chameleon or an elephant.

      If you cross your eyes you will see 3d with the depth reversed and it will hurt your brain even more than Brucie's jokes.

      1. Youngdog

        So just bounce it off a mirror

        Yes it will be a mirror image but that should solve the problem

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > What do I need to watch [Strictly Come Dancing] in 3D?

    A diseased mind.

  5. James Thomas

    You missed one out

    What's the f-ing point?

    1. Nigel Whitfield.

      Harry Judd in 3D.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      None this year.

      But we need to start petitioning the BBC now to get Pamela Anderson/Jordan on for next year.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Chelsea does her best

        in that area.

  6. Eddie Edwards
    Unhappy

    Shame you didn't answer my favourite question about BBC One HD, which is why the hell can't they show SD programs on the same channel where HD is unavailable, instead of making me switch back to BBC One (not HD)? Sky One HD manages this amazing technical feat quite well.

    1. MJI Silver badge

      They are regional news programmes

      That I have found

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      It's a bit much being sarcastic about someone's technical ability when you can't manage to press the "1" button on your own remote.

    3. Natalie Gritpants

      Sky is satellite, Freeview is not

      Sky only have one satellite to worry about. BBConeHD on Freeview comes via your local transmitter from one HD encoder in the Beeb, BBConeSD comes from an SD encoder in your local Beeb area. Broadcasting local SD content on the HD channel would require the HD content be fed from Beeb central to each local area and an HD encoder in each local Beeb area to mix in the SD content when required.

      Given that local Beeb content is bollocks it's not worth the cost of duplicating the HD encoders. ITV do area based HD but there are just two areas for the UK (London and the poor) so less hardware required.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        BBC One HD shows all BBC One programmes? On Sky anyway.

        Tries to upscale those in SD.

        Only ones it doesn't show is local news/weather. Takes the London feed to 8/9pm local news bulletins are replaced by the national weather. Local programming is also replaced by whatever they're feeding London.

        My bugbear is that ITVHD is not available in the UTV region. We have UTV in SD and have to manually tune ITVHD. All because UTV make more money off radio and internet than TV broadcasting.

        Not that there's anything worth watching on ITV anyway, it was nice to see Downton Abbey in HD.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Missing questions

    Will the voting still be rigged?

    Why should I care?

    And a related article suggestion for those not completely in tune with the goings-on in celebritard entertainment:

    WTF... is Strictly Come Dancing?

  8. Tom_

    Hope they repeat the 3D show

    I'll be watching this with me wife on the regular BBC1 HD, in 2D, but I would like to see what the 3D version is like. I hope they repeat it later because although my TV will record from Freesat HD, it only has one tuner, so we can't watch one and record the other.

    (It has a Freeview HD tuner as well, but we don't live in an area with coverage.)

    1. Nigel Whitfield.

      It may be worth a quick test to see if you can record BBC HD while watching BBC 1 HD, as both are on the same transponder, in the same band and polarisation. Some kit is clever enough to cope with that.

  9. LarsG

    IT'S BAD ENOUGH....

    When my wife records it to watch again and again, now she wants to know why we can't get it in 3d.

    I told he in no uncertain terms, you can fleckle (fleckerl) off if you think I'm going 3d fro that!

  10. JMB

    Are there any 3D test transmissions beforehand so people can check their receiver is ready?

  11. Chris Evans

    Yes, but how do I...

    ... avoid celebrity hoofers in two or three dimensions?

    1. Nigel Whitfield.

      Switch to ITV? Or, if that's too unspeakably vulgar for you, switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead.

      1. Stacy
        Happy

        @Nigel

        switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead.

        Wow, that sentence brought back some memories of watching summer holiday programes when I was growing up!

        And made me feel old...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      ... avoid hoofers by not watching it :)

    3. Annihilator
      Pint

      Press the red button now

      No, not that red button, the one top-right on your remote control. It's probably got a circle with a vertical line down the middle.

      It's a doddle to avoid it. In my case though, I find leaving the room while my g/f watches it helps a lot.

    4. Jonathon Green
      Paris Hilton

      For one wonderful, shining, transcendant moment I read celebrity hoofers as celebrity hookers. Which has the potential to be far more entertaining in oh so many ways.

      [Totally unneccesary justification for use of Paris icon deleted]

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Obvious but...

    I would like to see that Aliona in 3D.....

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Doesn't work for me

    These 3D things don't seem to work that well for me. When I try them it looks totally false and my eyes struggle to get used to it. The picture also seems dimmer.

    So as a result I find it distracting and struggle to see the appeal. Is it just me?

    1. Zimmer
      FAIL

      ..nor me..

      nor anyone with partial/no sight in one eye...

      3D cinema has been tried several times... and failed.. will this current iteration (and its TV counterpart ) fare any better ?? *

      *(two ?'s , for those reading in 3D ) :)

  14. ScottAS2
    Joke

    Wake up, commentards - I thought this would be posted already

    That'll be them showing reality TV in two more dimensions than normal then.

  15. Mage Silver badge
    Flame

    3D?

    Stereoscopic. Not 3D

    No one has 3D broadcasts. Not even the old monochrome ones long ago & far away.

    Stereoscopic doesn't work for 20% (1/5th) of people and affects many more badly. Why is the BBC wasting money on a Gimmick first pushed by Cinema to "fight back" against TV and second pushed by TV makers that want to sell new sets?

    There is very little merit to it compared to colour. A waste of Licence fee to promote pointless and overpriced TV upgrades.

  16. JMB

    "Shame you didn't answer my favourite question about BBC One HD, which is why the hell can't they show SD programs on the same channel where HD is unavailable, instead of making me switch back to BBC One (not HD)? Sky One HD manages this amazing technical feat quite well."

    They have started putting regional news magazine programmes on BBC 1 HD which is good because it gives them a viewing outside their normal coverage area.

    I quite like the lack of regional HD programmes, it means in Scotland (and probably other regions) we get an alternative choice when Scotland is carrying different programmes to the rest of the network.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Quality of the Engish on this site is dire:

    "How to avoid missing celebrity hoofers in three dimensions"

    Should clearly have read :"How to avoid celebrity hoofers in three dimensions".

    Massive oversight El-Reg.... Massive....

  18. Andy 18
    Unhappy

    Not a good programme to pick

    Strictly already suffers from too many pointless cuts, zooms and general rushing about of cameras. I can't imagine the 3D experience will be too pleasant to watch as it needs a steadier picture for your vision to adjust.

  19. defiler

    Oh Brave New World...

    Heralded by Strictly Come Dancing. What a fucking disgrace.

    I'll probably sit watching Christmas movies. Die Hard, anyone?

  20. Chris Evans
    Unhappy

    Stereoscopic

    I've given up pointing out that they are not 3D but Stereoscopic. It's a lost cause I'm afraid.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But...

    When will they start making Grumble Flicks in 3D?

    1. Nigel Whitfield.

      They do already

      You're just not looking hard enough.

      New technology always penetrates the porn industry pretty swiftly

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