Left Coast Bias: This Just In...The Raiders Still Stink In 3-D
Even this new technology can't make a football game involving that once-proud franchise look any better
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/6/2008 7:00:00 AM
The National Football League held its big 3-D screening last Thursday, and while much of it was really cool, it still wasn’t enough to make me sit through an entire Oakland Raiders game, period.
Not that watching football in 3-D won’t provide many thrills for a football fan—if and when the technology becomes more widespread.
But when I arrived at a Hollywood movie theatre for the screening, I was greeted by some nervous-looking people from the companies putting on the show, one of whom shrugged and crossed his fingers when I asked if they were ready. Lowering the expectation bar was on everyone's mind. Even the opening of the telecast had on-camera chatter saying that glitches were expected.
Sure enough, there were a couple of big interruptions of the broadcast as expected, but not enough to detract from what overall was a pretty impressive presentation.
THE FOOTBALL:
The 3-D presentation of the typical in-play, overarching camera shot from which we are used to watching football really doesn’t get souped up much by 3-D.
However, the shots between plays, and instant replays are often nothing short of awesome. And on plays shot with the action moving in our direction, if the play happens to be run towards that camera (this broadcast only had eight cameras total), it is fantastic.
To show off the 3-D technology, the broadcast’s director had a lot of close-up action shots at a field-level perspective. For running plays, that was generally fine. But on several occasions, if the quarterbacks threw the ball downfield, the play became impossible to follow.
With the game being shot by only eight cameras and with a crew obviously nowhere near expert in shooting for a 3-D airing (by no fault of their own; it’s just too new), you have to figure the show will obviously improve if and when 3-D catches on.
But one great thing that already stuck out: during the time between plays, you felt like you were right on the field. And one point really hammered home was the size differential between the relatively-diminutive Chargers all-world running back LaDainian Tomlinson and the behemoths that routinely smash him to the turf 20 or 30 times a game. Also apparently pretty huge is Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell. Unfortunately, the 3-D didn’t give us any better read on whether he’s any good or not.
Replays were also fantastic. One replay of a long San Diego heave caught a picture-perfect shot of the ball in the air, standing out from the background of the stadium, and it was simply beautiful, and something sports fans ought to see.
So for a Raiders-Chargers game that I didn’t really care about, it was fine. But if I had watched a broadcast for a game I had a rooting (or even, ahem, financial) interest, I don’t think I would have been so impressed. But again, the technology and execution are still in Beta. It can only get better.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:
-- The opening coin toss, as crazy as that sounds. But as B&C tech guru Glen Dickson put it perfectly, you felt like you were standing right next to Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
-- Um, the cheerleaders. Let’s put it this way: 3-D makes it easy to admire the fine work of certain surgeons who tend to work in Beverly Hills.
-- On that note, the best line of the night went to one of the 3ality Digital tech guys before the game: “We shot and then watched a cheerleader practice. That made all the hell setting this thing up well worth it right there.”
--The food in the VIP room: You should have seen this ultimate spread of football food, which included the five basic food groups of chicken tenders, sliders, meatloaf, pizza and French fries. After attacking that buffet, you didn’t need 3-D glasses to see the prominent bulge of my gut.
--The glasses: they were much cooler than the ones you remember, but still not what you’d wear to a bar if you didn’t want to go home alone. Think Elvis Costello meets Drew Carey. I guess my naïve question is if you already wear glasses, do you put them over your other ones? I mean, what if Elvis Costello or Drew Carey actually wanted to watch football in 3-D?
--When the broadcast returned after one of the interruptions, the announcers were apparently laying out (fancy TV term for shutting up) on purpose to showcase the audio, and it was awesome. I know we were there for the pictures and not the sound, but hearing the refs talk to the players in between plays almost added more to the close-up feel than the 3-D.
--At the end of the first quarter, I left the theatre to return to the VIP room—not so much for the food, but because they had some TVs set up there and I wanted to see the difference. Okay, and also kind of for the food. Anyway, the game did seem to look a bit better on the flat screens, though that could also have had something to do with the fact that the cameramen and director just got more comfortable with the technology as the game went on.
I have no idea if or when 3-D technology is going to become more prominent, first (I assume) in theatre settings and then eventually at home. Fox is doing the BCS title game in 3-D and its chairman David Hill has long crowed about what 3-D can do, but wonders who exactly is going to pay for the production and distribution.
Boxing is another sport that apparently is perfect for the technology, and HBO Sports execs told me doing a fight in 3-D is absolutely on their radar screen.
So like most sports fans or TV industry observers, I will be fascinated to see where this technology goes.
But I left the Raiders-Chargers game at halftime, with San Diego hammering Al Davis’ embarrassing outfit. Even 3-D can’t make a football game involving that once-proud franchise look any better.
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3D HDTV without glasses is said to be in the offing. Philips WOWvx technology uses dual camera lenses, a lenticular HDTV screen, and 3D depth info coded into the digital signal to achieve true 3D, no glasses required. Perhaps B&C could do a follow-up on its original 2006 story on the Philips system to see if it's nearing broadcast compatibility.
Vic Livingston, columnist, My.NowPublic.com/scrivener - 12/7/2008 7:02:00 PM EST
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