Skype Working on 3D Video Calls

By: Zain Nabi  |   August 30th, 2013   |   News

Microsoft on its 10^th anniversary has confirmed that they will soon develop the 3D video calls on Skype – but it will take many years before we can actually use this technology. The company these days is busy in experimenting with 3D video calls on Skype. In an interview with the BBC, Microsoft’s corporate vice-president for Skype, Mark Gillett, said: “We’ve done work in the labs looking at the capability of 3D-screens and 3D-capture. We’ve seen a lot of progress in screens and a lot of people now buy TVs and computer monitors that are capable of delivering a 3D image. But the capture devices are not yet there.”

 

Gillett, one of the employees of Skype, who joined the company in 2010 ahead of its $8.5bn takeover by Microsoft, said currently in order to make 3D video calls possible one needs to add multiple cameras on their computer, they also need to calibrate them precisely and point the camera in the right direction.

 

But he added: “We have it in the lab, we know how making it work and we’re looking at the ecosystem of devices and their capability to support it in order to make a decision when we might think about bringing something like that to market.”

 

In the UK, 3D television is owned by more than 1.5 million owners. But the availability has not been met with huge take-up. The BBC and Disney recently announced that they are not launching their 3D experiments and putting them on hold.

 

According to Gillett, it will take time for the television and film to catch the services of 3D video chats. The day is not far when one can use 3D cell phone screen without 3D-glasses. We will soon have 3D cameras on our cell phones. Soon a television with a camera attached to it will be available in the market. “You’ll see much more penetration of 3D on TVs, on computers and ultimately in smart phones, probably, ahead of seeing it for sending a video call,” he added.