Forget the sports bar, let’s head to the theater to watch the game in 3D
After successful screenings of both college football’s BCS Championship game and the NBA All-Star game, Cinedigm’s CineLive 3-D HD technology looks ready to expand its reach. A partnership with Sony will do just that, as the two companies plan to roll out the product to up to 10,000 projectors in movie theaters around the country by 2012.
Cinelive technology allows viewers to see live, onscreen action in 3-D. While the first two events showcased sports, there is potential for concerts and even local events to use it as well. And if going to a movie theater to watch a sporting event may sound like a drag, the companies are quick to point out that more theaters around the country are gaining temporary liquor licenses for such events. So eventually, this kind of experience really could be second only to the event itself.
But not everyone is a fan of the resurgence 3-D is making for both events like these and traditional movies as well. VentureBeat’s own Dean Takahashi has made his dislike of 3-D glasses pretty clear. I, on the other hand, really liked what I saw when Dreamworks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg showed off next generation 3-D technology at last year’s IDF conference.
This Sony and Cinedigm plan is actually phase two of its partnership. Phase one involved the deployment of more than 3,700 digital cinema systems in the U.S. and Canada between 2005 and 2007. This new phase will also focus on theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
As home theaters become more advanced and screen sizes continue to grow, paying a lot of money to go to a movie theater will undoubtedly become less enticing to some. 3-D is a technology that could potentially help lure people back to the theater — but companies are working to bring that technology to the home as well. So I’m going to focus on the social drinking aspect of watching a sporting event live in 3-D.
Of course the effects of being intoxicated while wearing 3-D glasses still have to be studied — as does the likelihood of getting a date while wearing 3-D glasses.
[photo: flickr/antonde]
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About the Author, MG Siegler
MG Siegler writes about technology trends and new media for VentureBeat, with a focus on mobile topics, social elements and key news stories. Before that, MG wrote about technology on his blog, ParisLemon. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan where he studied film. He's previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he did web development. He now lives in San Francisco.