The Future of Sports Viewing Technology

I love High-Def. When I watch a game that’s not in HD I have this urge to phone a FCC specialist lawyer to right the injustice. But when I watch in HD and see the individual blades of grass on the baseball field, the area codes on the eye-black of football players or the spraying of divots on a golf course, I wonder: How can this get any better!? In 50 years, will HD look like what broadcasts of the 1950’s look like today? At what point will we reach the point of diminishing returns as it relates to sports viewing technology.

According to the industry’s scientists and engineers, we’re not there yet. The NFL is spearheading efforts to yield the next level of innovation—games in 3-D. Next week, select audiences in Los Angles, New York and Boston will be shown the matchup between the Chargers and Raiders in 3-D theaters. According to today’s WSJ, 3ality Digital LLC will shoot the game and will feed their footage to satellites. The satellite technology is being handled by Thomson SA’s Technicolor Digital Cinema and they will downlink 3ality’s footage to the three theatres. Real D 3D will carry the football across the goal-line by powering the theaters’ 3D displays.

The NFL and the three partnered companies are excited to see the improvements made to their technology over the past few years. In 2004, 3ality filmed the Super Bowl and the results of that filming has led to continued research and development—the biggest of which is the ability to perform live broadcasting.

It is important to note that this technology is a ways off in terms of making it into living rooms across the country. This is still just a “proof of concept,” said Howard Katz, the NFL’s Senior VP of broadcasting and media operations. The purpose of next week’s event “let people get excited about [the concept].” Either way, it’s still fun to peer into what the future may have in store.