On Wednesday, Fox Sports and DirecTV in cooperation with Major League Baseball did a dress rehearsal of sorts of shooting a baseball game in 3D. It took place in Angels Stadium and they used college players to help in their effort to create a baseball game atmosphere.
The reason for the practice run? Fox Sports plans to use this 3D technology at this year’s All-Star Game.
Let’s get this out of the way. Only DirecTV subscribers will be able to view the Game in 3D. Should every work as planned though, it will be a coup for DirecTV since many might subscribe just to see the 3D experience.
With all the disclaimers, it still is quite a feat,
As part of July’s coverage, Fox will deploy two sets of announcers, one for the conventional 2D broadcast that most viewers will see and one for DirecTV’s 3D coverage. I asked Goren if the announcers doing 3D will require special training in the new technology. "It’s an interesting question," he says. During game action the announcers focus is on the field of play. But during replays, "do the announcers put on 3D glasses to look at the 3D monitors? Right now we don’t have an answer for that."
During the Consumer Electronics Show back in January, the big buzzword was “3D”. Every provider, manufacturer, and supplier that could conceivably get away with it, would incorporate “3D” into their selling points. It’s clear the 3D is the up and coming technology.
Yet, I’m still trying to get a handle on it. Not intellectually so much but is viewing a baseball in 3D something that really appeals to me. Now these words will most likely come back to bite me in the future. In a couple years, everything we view will be in three dimensions (“dude, you still watch that flat thing?”). But right now, the baseball traditionalist wants to watch a game like I always have (especially without Tim McCarver).
But as someone who is in the technology field, I admit I am curious. Will it be gimmicky like Fox Sports’ Diamond Cam or provide a genuinely pleasurable viewing experience? I guess we’ll see.