Oklahoma versus Florida was a game that I looked forward to the most aside from UGA’s bowl game. You’re talking about two Heisman contenders (Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford) going head to head for the first time ever – wow. However, the various bowl games were very surprising and found myself more blown away with several other lesser ranked teams. Nonetheless, with the BCS championship falling on January 8th, I was a little sad that I may not have the opportunity to really enjoy the game while attending CES. In late 2008, I wrote a story about Sony delivering this game in gorgeous 3D HD. The game was shot using 3ality Digital’s image-capture technology and transmitted live via Cinedigm’s CineLive(TM) satellite distribution network from Dolphin Stadium in Miami to an event sponsored by Sony in the Paris Hotel and Casino’s RealD-equipped Theatre des Arts in Las Vegas. While there wasn’t the 1,200 expected guests, it was certainly packed full of people.
Sony provided its SXRD(R) 4K projection technology (two projectors) to display the event at the Paris Theatre. The Sony projectors’ 4K resolution is derived from a pixel matrix of more than 4,000 horizontal pixels, delivering more than four times the resolution of high-definition televisions used in home theater systems.
Unfortunately, I was a bit late to the presentation – things had run a little long at CES (we were in the process of a super-long booth tour), and I was fortunate to catch a quick cab to the show. After arriving, I quickly found the theater in the Paris hotel and was greeted with several options: Press, Invited Guests A-M, N-Z, and Sony VIP’s/Executives. I noticed that attendance required registration, presumeably long before the presentation. I was quite worried, but walked up to the Press table and showed them my CES badge. Wielding my million dollar smile/charm and telling them I was with Sony Insider, they let me in with no questions asked and I walked forth to the lounge. I was surprised that I was able to get in so easily. The room was packed full of people and food was everywhere – it was completely overwhelming.
The food choices were appropriate and just like a football game. Hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries and all the accessories were available, and when I say available I mean it was limitless. It was also an open bar, but limited to beer and wine – just like a football game. It became really apparent that Sony really wanted this to be just like the real thing and cost was of little concern. As I mingled, I soon realized that I was the youngest person there by far – most people were in their 30’s and up and most certainly executives in Sony and other large companies. I grabbed a beer and entered the theater – it was much bigger than I thought and could easily seat something close to a thousand people. I already had my 3D glasses from the Sony Keynote earlier in the day, but did take some pictures so you could get an idea what they look like.
Yep, those are what the latest 3D glasses look like – now you too can be Buddy Holly! Anyways, I stepped over one row to sit down, as each side was full of people and didn’t want to pass by them. I go to sit and the chair collapses – talk about embarassing. The people sitting next to the chair didn’t laugh though and we were all surprised it would just break like that. I only weigh about 165 pounds so its not like I’m the freaking juggernaut. I scoot over to the right and sit next to a few Gators fans, and slip on the glasses. Talk about a complete “wow”-factor; the players had a true sense of dimensionality, as if I was sitting in a front row seat looking at them. This could be the future of sports if done right – bring the components of a football game to a theater (especially alcohol) and this could be a new cash cow for movie theaters that are having tough times.
I just can’t get over how real the players seemed at times, especially if they showed some people on the sidelines looking on at players on the field. At those kind of angles it really felt like you were looking over their shoulders. It wasn’t long before the problems started, though. Sound glitches started occuring and super loud distortion sequences seemingly broke the speakers – over and over. I would say that throughout the presentation, there was at least 40+ moments where distortion nearly shattered our eardrums. Furthermore, the sound would sometimes cut out completely, or only play on the left channel. It was very disappointing; I felt bad for the sound engineers, as I’m sure there were many high-level people interested in buying into this technology and not having a good time. They were able to fix the sound issues for the majority of the show, but I noticed that several people left because of it.
There was also numerous picture issues as well – akward angles, and the camera wasn’t on the football several times. I’m also used to football with an overlay, meaning the score, time left in quarter, flags, etc. They would only show that from time to time, and it was few and far between. Very disappointing. They also needed more replays, as there were several calls that just didn’t make sense and I wanted to see them again. The biggest problem however was focusing – some cameras were extremely sharp, while others seemed much less clear. Also, the picture would seemingly seperate and then come back together – the people sitting next to me were groaning every time it happened. Let me try and explain – the left eye and right eye are seeing at 30 frames per second (assumed), but they are showing it at 60 frames per second. The problem is that the motion capture wasn’t synchronized with left and right eye frames. There was also several moments where swirls and other color distortions would occur, which was very distracting.
As for the game, it was probably one of the weirdest Bowl games I have ever seen. I expected a high-wattage game with a ton of touchdowns, but it was so akwardly low scoring that even a first down seemed like a huge accomplishment. I think the true momentum shift happened when Florida stopped that touchdown from happening. The pace started to pick up in the second half, and with Tebow’s miracle rushing drive in the 3rd I knew that Florida was turning up the heat. There was way too many flags against Florida though – what the heck was that? Percy Harvin also demonstrated that he is definitely first round pick material. Great game.
Here are some other pictures from the event:
..and some behind the scenes pictures for the sound geeks out there:
