3D TV - What to Watch

[JBA]

There is very little direct 3D transmission. Sky Italy (which I get through my system) has a good channel and Nova also, but usually the latter only shows a logo. Other than those there is nothing that I know of (I have Sky, Nova, HBO & others).

To watch 3D the only real alternative is to download movies etc. from the internet. Even here there is not a huge selection as 3D hasn't really taken off yet. A further problem is the size of 3D files - they are huge. I recently downloaded Avatar in bluray 3D - it was 40+ gb. Therefore you need a good ISP - a dongle just won't cut it. I have Multimax 4mb (it consistently runs about 5mb in fact) which they double to 8mb (10mb) between midnight and 10am so I get stuff fairly speedily. Once you have items on your computer you can watch from there if you have a direct connection or, as I do, load it onto an external disk and connect that to the tv. A USB flashdrive won't work because they cannot be formatted for NTFS which is all that allows for files over 4mb.

I have quite a lot of 3D material on an external drive which you are very welcome to copy if you wish. If you want to proceed then email me via kibcom and let me have your phone number.

[kbasat]

I confirm all of the above about 3D. on top of the fact that there are only a few 3d channels available on the satellites, they are almost nonexistent on streaming 'over the internet' versions. The reason for this is simple, a standard definition SD streaming requires approx 2Mbit of steady connection, an HD version needs approx 6-7Mbits whereas a 3D version requires approx 16-18Mbits of a steady connection. No company in Cyprus, even MM is not yet equipped to provide such speeds, in fact this rate is above the average internet speed rate of even the most of 'developed' countries currently.

Downloading and playing is really your only option currently. Standard sizes for movies start from 14-15GB to all the way to 40+ as JBA stated above for high quality and longer movies, so a Multimax connection is highly advised. With a multimax connection, not only you dont have to worry about quotas, you also get up to double your advertised speeds during non-busy hours.

Kemal