Flexible Transport of 3-D Video Over Networks

Three-dimensional (3-D) video is the next natural step in the evolution of digital media technologies. Recent 3-D autostereoscopic displays can display multiview video with up to 200 views. While it is possible to broadcast 3-D stereo video (two views) over digital TV platforms today, streaming over Internet Protocol (IP) provides a more flexible approach for distribution of stereo and free-view 3-D media to home and mobile with different connection bandwidths and different 3-D displays. Here, flexible transport refers to rate-scalable, resolution-scalable, and view-scalable transport over different channels including digital video broadcasting (DVB) and/or IP. In this paper, we first briefly review the state of the art in 3-D video formats, coding methods for different transport options and video formats, IP streaming protocols, and streaming architectures. We then take a look at beyond the state of the art in 3-D video transport research, including asymmetric stereoscopic video streaming, adaptive and peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming of multiview video, view-selective streaming and future directions in broadcast of 3-D media over IP and jointly over DVB and IP.