Great success with the 3D live transmission of the tennis open final in Madrid 

The men and women finals of the Madrid "Masters 1000 Mutua Madrileña Open" held on May 16 in the Caja Mágica in Madrid were screened in 3D cinemas. Mr. I. Tiriac, promoter and consultant of this championship stated: "We took a bet on screening tennis in yet another dimension, this 3D dimension which is becoming established in our society thanks, among other things, to the cinema.. ATM Broadcast, a firm specialized in producing sport events, was chosen to handle this technological challenge. This firm chose OVIDE B.S. trusting their 3D Engineering Division and their products to insure this live 3D event.

After the successful results of the tests during the match between Venus Williams and Aravane Rezai, OVIDE's Technical Department aimed to the 3D live of the men final played between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. This event was transmitted via satellite using a DSNG unit from ATM Broadcast to several cinema theaters in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga.

Six different camera pairs (a total of 12 cameras), of which ten Thomson LDK8000, for which over 8,500 meters of triax cables were needed, four P+S TECHNIK rigs and two more from Kronomav, as well as two mini cameras with their corresponding mini RIG, were some of the products OVIDE used for this event. During the transmission, a "spidercam" feed was converted 2D to 3D using the JVD IF-2D3D. The lenses used for this purpose were Canon HJ22x, HJ17x and the new wide angle HJ14x4.3. These lenses were used with a remote with an AF-BOTH X2 electronics previously designed by OVIDE to control the zoom operations and the lenses in a synchronized way. OVIDE also made some tests with a Canon similar prototype. 

ApuntoLapospo took care of the stereoscopy using their Poliphemus system. The mobile unit was provided by Intervideo. Mr. I. Tiriac completed his speech saying: "Madrid has taken another big step in technology and I am sure others will be following. In this case, the technological, intellectual and economical inversions have been big, but it was worth it. Madrid can feel proud this tournement has been the first one worldwide transmitted and produced in 3D. I am sure this final will stand as history in the tennis world."