After BCS, is 3-D broadcast technology coming to a theater near you?

Cheerleaders look better in 3-D.

Injuries look worse.

Bell-ringing collisions? They have a little more ring-a-ding-ding.

But if Thursday's screening of the BCS National Championship Game between Florida and Oklahoma was any indication, 3-D sports broadcast technology is not ready for prime time.

At least 81 movie theaters in 35 states broadcast a special version of Florida's 24-14 victory over Oklahoma to audiences wearing traditional 3-D glasses. It was the first public broadcast of a live sporting event using the technology.

In Los Angeles, the BCS game was shown at the world-famous Grauman's Chinese Theater, adjacent to a more traditional movie premier. The telecast was coordinated with Fox, but effectively independent of the feed that was seen in living rooms and sports bars across America. That meant a separate set of cameras, separate announcers, separate graphics, separate stats and no sideline reporters to ask for a dance.

It took a few minutes to adjust to the view, and some of the pregame shots of Bob Stoops and the Sooner sideline looked flat. Then a Gator walked across my lap.

That was the "wow" moment that organizers had obviously been hoping for.

Early in the game, a pair of brutal tackles drew loud reactions from the crowd. The hits were stunning in 3-D. Combined with booming theater sound and a live audience to share the experience with, it was a promising start.

Unfortunately, the cameras would periodically go out of focus, resulting in nauseated groans and forcing some people to rip their glasses off. A handful of fans left early, though most stayed through the entire game. Even when the cameras appeared in focus, it was difficult to read the graphics. There was no magic yellow line, which would have been useful because the 3-D image sometimes made it hard to figure out distance. A game clock was conspicuously absent during important moments.

Broadcasters Kenny Albert and Tim Ryan did their best Huell Howser impersonation and took every opportunity to remind viewers that they were watching the game in 3-D (as if the funky glasses on your face weren't a good enough indicator). Their sycophantic praise for the 3-D images made it seem like they weren't actually watching the intermittently blurry broadcast, or somehow were watching a much cleaner feed. Their analysis was adequate, but they were clearly handcuffed by limited production support.

Speaking of limited support, there didn't appear to be as many camera angles as audiences are used to during big games. If there were, they must have taken a back seat to the positions claimed by the main broadcast. Granted, it's never easy figuring out what Tim Tebow does with the football, but the overall shot selection was disappointing.

The field frequently was shown from a camera on the sideline, as if the audience was looking over the shoulder of players on the bench. It was artistic, but impractical.

When the angles worked out, the view was exceptional. Wide shots of the stadium were dramatic. Closeups of Urban Meyer talking to Tim Tebow were intimate. Impact hits were just ... wow.

Look for this technology to grow in the coming months. Mark Cuban is an investor, and he knows a little about sports and technology. The NBA All-Star weekend (mid-February) will have some events broadcast in 3-D, and even before that you can expect to see live concerts shared in theaters around the country. Live 3-D broadcasts are clearly a difficult undertaking, but they could be a great entertainment experience as organizers learn from these initial glitches.

As for the buzz, I hear that the NFL had a memorable experiment with 3-D broadcast. I hear that basketball looks great in 3-D. I hear there's quite a future in this technology.

We'll see.

—Adam Rose

Photos: The Las Vegas 3-D screening of the BCS National Championship Game.

Credit: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

Comments

[Antonio]

Hi Adam, I was reading your column and I believe bud that your expectations were too high before the game (hey you guys paid more overthere , $18 overhere.)

My coworkers and I agree before the showing that the broadcast was going to be unusual and that it was not going to be this great clockwork piece of tv production since is the second in history to my understanding, in other words we knew this tech is not ready for prime time events before going to the theater...I see that you somehow knew what this event was going to yield to their producers by saying "...Live 3D broadcasts are clearly a difficult undertaking but they could be a great entertainment experience as organizers learn from these initial glitches." Accepted we were used as guinea pigs.

[Mark Burhop]

Adam,

Great post. I did a blog on this too and saw some of the same problems. I don't quite agree with part about it not being ready for prime time. Yes, there were some glitches but it wasn't so much the technology as other things (which are quite fixable). Here''s a link to my own thoughts:

http://virtualvector.com/archives/164

[Allison]

The folks down in Atlanta experienced a pretty big disappointment with this game. We had heard great things about the previous experiments, and as my husband is a big Gator fan we decided to go. We get into the theater, get good seats, and the suits come in and mute the pregame show to tell us how we're a part of a great ground-breaking event in cinema history, how they'd exhaustively tested it, etc. etc. Well, it didn't work. We kept trying to watch the game with and without the glasses, and really there was no 3D effect at all, except where a flash of bright color would jump out occasionally. I've seen 3D films before and this was nothing like it. Our friends were irritated by the experience, left, and texted us to let us know that the suits told them the satellite wasn't working right and they had gotten their money back. We figured since we'd drive an hour to watch the game we'd stay for the big screen experience, although the picture was pretty mediocre. Then the projector died at the end of the 1st quarter and we were ushered into another studio, that was smaller and already full. At that point, since we wouldn't even get good seats, we decided to call it quits and get our money back. At least we got home in time to see the big win, but I was very disappointed and won't be willing to try it again, especially since I felt the organizers weren't being honest with people who had paid good money for an experience they didn't get.