Sports imPULSE

3-D Rising To Must See Level

Last week, In 82 theaters across the country, rabid fans and curious techno-geeks donned 3-D glasses and watched college football jump out at them during the Florida/Oklahoma BCS Championship game.

This was in-your-face, live-action football, a prelude to what many are betting is the next wave in sports entertainment.

Today, live 3-D sports playing to theatergoers is a testing ground. It is a prelude to 3-D screens at sports bars, and eventually, 3-D TV sets in your home. Industry predictions are it could happen in five years.  Three-D is the next great innovation in sports broadcasting, HD (high definition) is merely a steppingstone on the way to 3-D.

Three-dimensional images are more than a century old, but 3-D has made huge advances in recent years through the application of digital technology. Digital techniques allow near-perfect synchronization of left- and right-eye images, which gives viewers the perception of depth. That's a quality missing from even the sharpest high-definition screens.

How does it work?

• The image is produced by two separate cameras (inset) or by a high-tech camera with two lenses spaced about as far apart as a person's eyes.

• The signal is sent to a specially equipped receiver, and then the signal is projected onto a screen.

• Viewers wear polarized glasses that filter light so each eye sees exactly what the camera saw originally.

• In the recent football broadcasts, the signals were converted to 2-D before being sent via satellite to movie theaters, where a special device converted them back to 3-D.

Now I understand real, live action within football games, but what will the cheerleaders look like?

If You Like Football In HD Wait Until You See It in 3D

If you thought that watching football in high definition seemed more realistic, just wait until you can view a game in 3D.  Tonight, the NFL is broadcasting live in 3D a game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders to theaters in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. The event is a demonstration to show how the technology can be used to provide a more realistic experience in a theater or in the home.

Just as live sports entertainment has pushed the adoption of high-definition TVs, it could also help drive standards efforts and adoption of 3D TVs.

3ality Digital will shoot the game with special 3D cameras and transmit the game via satellite service to the three theaters.

Even though other live events like operas and circuses have been broadcast live in 3D to theaters around the country, tonight's game will be the first time that the NFL has broadcast a game live using the technology.

First and Tech: Football Friendly HDTV's

Brett Favre may have left Green Bay, but the original Gang Green, the New York Jets, are the beneficiaries. And to appreciate his rifle passes, not to mention the green on the Jets' jerseys and the ubiquitous color of the gridiron, whichever team you're watching this year, you'll want an HDTV.

Just about every HDTV looks great displaying high-definition football, but there are a couple of key ingredients that differentiate great HDTVs from average, much like a pro-bowler from someone who just made the team.  No, we're not talking about motion resolution, 1080p, or even black levels: we're talking about sheer size coupled with the capability to reproduce an accurate color of green.

The human eye is more sensitive to green than to any other color, but an accurate green eludes many HDTVs. Manufacturers often pump up green, making it too yellowish, bluish, or even neon-looking to catch the eye during football and baseball games, and while that may look attractive on the showroom floor, it doesn't help at home when you stare at it for four hours on a Sunday afternoon or on Thanksgiving, watching the Jets, Packers or Eagles.

Here's a short list of four HDTVs that are both big enough for the big game in high-definition, and accurate enough with green to make you feel like you're sitting on the 50-yard line.

1.  Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U

2.  Samsung HL61A750

3.  Samsung LN52A650

4.  LG50PG60

Sports In 3D Coming To Your TV

Are you ready to experience sports from a totally different point of view?  Get ready because sporting events will soon be televised in 3D. A few major sports media outlets have begun experimenting with 3D film equipment as a way to provide fans with a new perspective of sports in action. 

The NBA and a few of its member organizations began flirting with 3D technology in 2007.

Although there are a number of sports fans who can't wait to see their favorite teams featured in 3D, there is already one type of 3D technology making a significant impact in the sports marketplace; 3D signage.

Users have found that 3D signage enhances the viewer experience as the technology causes logos to appear to be standing upright when seen on television. The effect makes sponsor logos pop on television, giving the signage a ‘wow' factor that is not experienced with traditional signage.

Around the world, 3D signage has quickly become a standard offering for advertising inventory, however it has surprisingly gone unnoticed in the United States. 

I wonder if 3D technology can help my football team win.....

A Fight For White Space

If you think this past weekend's football games were competitive, you should see the fight that has been looming at the FCC.  Over the past two years the Sports Video Group represented by ESPN and microwave manufacturers, Shure and Sennheiser have been lobbying the FCC not to approve wireless devices to be used in stadiums and arenas from leading technology companies, including Microsoft. 

White Space refers to the portion of the spectrum that exists alongside the 700-MHz bands that were auctioned off primarily to cell phone services providers earlier this year in preparation for the wholesale move of analog television out of the 700-MHz space. Several companies including Google, Microsoft, Motorola, and Phillips have been testing white space devices, but the devices haven't been proven in real world situations.

The white space devices in question are hardware devices that can transmit and receive broadband over unused TV channel frequencies.  However, the Sports Video Group is raising a fuss over the threat that they say unlicensed broadband devices could pose to wireless mic use from coaches on the field.

The FCC will met meeting on November 4 to decide.  And you thought pro football was tough.