Live 3D Feed of Masters Golf Impressive, But Also Unsettling

3D trial runs continued Thursday in New York with Time Warner Cable’s presentation of the first round of the Masters golf championship. Camping out in temporary tent space in its own Time Warner Center in Manhattan, the cable giant used the invitation-only event to demonstrate the capabilities of the fledgling technology to guests.

Using a server-based hour-long highlights reel from Wednesday’s Masters Par 3 contest as a warm-up, TWC switched to a live feed from Augusta, Ga., at 4 p.m., when In Demand Networks ran the 3D broadcast on channel 699 through Time Warner Cable’s on-demand HD Showcase. The live broadcast originated from Comcast, which distributed the feed to TWC and other cable companies. TWC representatives supplied us a pair of 3D glasses to view the four flat-panel TVs at the event, along with a brochure with 3D FAQs. Although one of the FAQs in the brochure referenced active-shutter glasses as the primary means to view 3D TV at home, the event used polarized RealD 3D glasses.

Four TVs were placed within living-room-style settings under the tent. The TVs were from JVC with logos concealed in deference to Sony, a sponsor of the 3D version of the Masters. The event TVs were branded with labels including TV Virtual 3D, TWC Sports, and TriDef 3D Digital printed on the TV frame. TWC is agnostic on the subject of 3D glasses, spokesman Alexander Dudley told us. “That’s a TV issue,” he said.

According to Chris Cholas, director of subscriber equipment in TWC’s advanced technology group, one of the biggest challenges of 3D is in overlaying the on-screen graphics in a way that’s comfortable for viewers. In the Masters telecast, that applied to scores and graphics of the Masters logo, but the same applies to closed captioning and emergency messages that scroll across the bottom of the screen, he said. “Depending on where you put the graphics, it can make people sick,” he said. Cholas said chipsets for 3D cable boxes are expected mid-year and engineering samples will follow. He gave a best-case scenario of 2011 for 3D cable boxes being built and qualified for consumer use.

The quality of the 3D viewing experience at the TWC event ran the gamut from impressive to unsettling, typical of what we have found in numerous other demonstrations of the nascent technology. Most impressive were camera shots that highlighted the various spatial planes on screen, as long as there was no unexpected interruption. In the server-based content from the Par 3 highlights footage, the dimensionality was highly realistic in one particular angle from behind the tee, with layers of crowds, water, the green and distant fans all lending to a “you-are-there” sensation.

In another scene, when a spectator in a panama hat appeared unexpectedly in the foreground in the lower right of the screen, the effect was dizzying, causing the viewer to have to look away and refocus. Resolution didn’t appear as complete HD on the server feed. A number of scenes, including shots of Arnold Palmer making a cross-green putt, showed pixelization, a definite detraction from the 3D experience. One wow moment occurred when falling blossoms suddenly appeared in one segment, giving the viewer a sense of being in the center of a rain of petals.

Resolution was higher on the live feed, and one got the sense of what it’s like to be at a golf event in a way not experienced on 2D broadcasts. The contour of the fairway on the 11th hole looked in 3D like moguls on a challenging ski slope. The height of the green and the bunker on the 10th hole gave a powerful sense of the difficulty of reaching the green. In-focus shots of grandstands on adjacent holes, and crowds walking the grounds offered a sense of depth and presence that would give golf fans a next-best-thing-to-being-there experience.

We noted that viewers had more detail to absorb in the 3D presentation. Whereas in 2D, the houses on the edge of a course would diminish into an unfocused background, they were clearly visible in 3D, giving a much heightened sense of realism. No longer do viewers just focus on what the camera staff and producers want them to focus on -- the golfers. We found they can take in much more of the surrounding area because of the increased detail.

We observed that viewers have to make other visual adjustments in 3D that the camera makes for them in 2D. When camera shots switched from trees on the course to a close-up shot of golfers and their caddies, we had to re-focus our eyes. That could prove annoying to some, but an acceptable trade-off to others who, for example, appreciate the realistic effect of standing amid the branches of a pine tree and looking out over Augusta National.

The broadcast’s main drawbacks involved graphics overlays and difficulties in adjusting to multiple planes of vision. In some cases -- for example, when spectators walked into the frame on close-ups -- the effect was jarring and required focus readjustments. Graphics in many cases seemed at odds with the background behind, creating an uncomfortable feel.

"We're in the early going,” said Dudley of TWC. “This isn’t the ultimate end-user experience, but it’s where we are now. Why not show it to people and say, ‘You can decide’.”