3-D sports viewing

[redskins12820]

Anyone have any other info on ESPN's program? So this is going to be a channel you can order??? I'm guessing you'll need to wear special glasses. I can't even imagine what it's like to view a game in 3-D.

sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4796555

[theexorcist]

Wait for Smell-O-Vision. It will ensure that Syracuse never hosts another televised game in history ever again.

[SFHoya99]

From watching Avatar, I'm not sure it is there yet. It's not real 3D yet -- it often has a look of two dimensional images "spaced" out from each other. Does that work for sports, or does it lead to confusion? Are there enough "rows" in the current 3D to do something like football -- 22 different distances -- well?

[SirSaxa]

Jan 5, 2010 12:46:39 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

From watching Avatar, I'm not sure it is there yet. It's not real 3D yet -- it often has a look of two dimensional images "spaced" out from each other. Does that work for sports, or does it lead to confusion? Are there enough "rows" in the current 3D to do something like football -- 22 different distances -- well?

The technology for AVATAR is vastly different from the tech used for Live TV broadcasting. Avatar is mostly CGI and Performance Capture -- also manipulated via computer programs. Live action was integrated and was shot using a special camera.

TV has several technologies. One is simply mounting two small cameras together with the lenses parallel and approximately the same distance apart as a person's eyes. There are AT LEAST several other technologies being tested. None involve "rows" or different distances.

But the techniques for shooting are just being explored. For live concerts, the real impact of 3D is seen in close up action. long shots (back of hall, wide sweeping perspective shots) do not have the same impact. Lighting is another issue, especially because most things are being shot for 2D and 3D simultaneously.

Producers, directors and camera operators are all just now learning how to use this new technology most effectively. It will take some time.

[SFHoya99]

Thanks, SirSaxa. Really interesting stuff.

I thought Avatar had some fantastic scenes and others where it fell flat. I know what you mean by distance shots -- they were basically 2D (which is true in reality, I suppose).

I really don't remember ever getting anything close to perceived true 3D, though -- where there is (effective) constant depth to objects, even up close. To draw a parallel, it was pixelated.