NFL to Show Live Game in 3-D

For many, the next big step in visual entertainment is the addition of 3-D to our everyday lives. With High Definition now a common sight in America’s homes, it seems to be part of a natural progression to make TV and movies more "real." Now, thanks to companies like 3ality Digital (three-ality) and Real D 3D, the first step in bringing 3-D closer to your home will be achieved this coming week.

The National Football League has partnered with 3ality and Real D to bring the December 4 game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders into select movie theaters across the country, with all screenings being shown in 3-D. The screenings, which will take place in Los Angeles, New York and Boston, is meant to be a "proof of concept," according to Howard Katz, NFL senior vice president of broadcasting and media operations. If such screenings can take place without a hitch in theaters across the country, then it would be plausible to being 3-D games into American homes.

3ality and Real D with both play a vital role in the 3-D screenings. Burbank, CA-based 3ality will shoot the game with its special cameras, which transmit the feed to a satellite. Real D, which has provided over 1,500 3-D systems to theaters all over the world, will be providing the screens for the event. A third company, Technicolor Digital Cinema, will be providing the satellite and digital downlink services for the event.

While this marks the first large-scale experiment involving 3-D and the NFL, this isn’t the sports organization’s first foray into the third dimension. 3ality, or rather its predecessor company, filmed the 2004 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers in 3-D. The footage was never made widely available, but 3ality CEO Sandy Climan does use it to demonstrate how far 3ality’s technology has come in four short years. "[When] people crouch down to catch the ball, it’s as if the ball is coming into your arms," he says.

A large theater-like screen will be the center of next weeks experiment, but "regular" TVs will also be showing the 3-D game, allowing for consumer electronics companies to see how a game would look when in the home. While there are some 3-D TVs available on the market, the tech industry is still working on a widely-accepted 3-D standard to adhere by. Unfortunately, next weeks event will not be open to the public, only NFL officials and representatives of the consumer electronics industry.

Read more on the Wall Street Journal.