So, I've seen the future, and it is Michael Phelps -- in 3 dimensions.
I was lucky enough to visit the offices of 3ality Digital a week or so ago. These are the folks who brought you U23D. I caught that movie on an IMAX screen here in LA, and when Bono reached for me, I got a little breathless, but that experience was nothing like seeing it in 3ality's digital screening room. After The Dark Knight's raging success, coupled with IMAX's pending transition to digital projectors, there's no doubt that large-format screens and 3D will soon become commonplace at the multiplex.
But on your television set? Well, turns out that's just around the corner, as well. 3ality showed me their broadcast set-up. The camera details are way too complicated for me to explain -- except for the fact that that the device was much more compact than I expected, able to be moved around fairly quickly and flexibly. The 3ality folks put me and another guest in front of the camera, facing a flatscreen 3-D television from Hyundai. They handed us each a pair of polarized glasses and hey, presto! we appeared in 3D. I jumped a little, actually. (Note: people look better in 3D. You lose that flattening and fattening effect that 2D television gives you.) No fancy pipes, no special broadcast tunnel. Just the regular stuff, paired with the camera and the television.
Lest you think I'm a lone voice in the wilderness, read my geek crush Mark Cuban's Blog Maverick entry, taken from an address he delivered to the FCC a few weeks ago. And given his other passion -- owning sports teams -- Mark should know this: sports is the "killer app" for 3D television, the thing that's going to drive it into mainstream use. Hence, the need for a portable camera -- how else are you going to get up under Kobe when he dunks?
Hyundai is already shipping the televisions in Japan, where they are broadcasting an hour of 3D programming a week. Not much, maybe, but it's a start. But the big breakthrough will happen here when ESPN Zone sets them up in their sports bars. Once the fanboys -- on in this case, the fangirls -- get a gander of Michael Phelps in 3D, there's no going back.
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