ESPN 3D to Use 14 3D Camera Rigs For X Games Coverage

ESPN 3D will telecast its second round of homegrown 3D events this week with eight hours of X Games 16 sporting events from the Los Angeles Coliseum. 3D programming will run on Thursday 8-11 p.m. and on Saturday 7 p.m.-midnight. Events to be shown in 3D include men’s and women’s Super X racing, Moto X Freestyle, the Big Air skateboard competition, Rally Car, Super Rally Car and BMX Big Air, the cable programmer said.

Fourteen native 3D camera rigs will be used for the X Games, including the 3D Mega Mo camera, an “ultra slo-mo” camera that ESPN debuted at the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby earlier this month. Coverage will also include the first live use of radio-frequency 3D cameras, including an in-car camera that will be used during Rally Car competition, ESPN said. One pole camera will be positioned near the mega ramp for the skate/BMX events.

"Since we've been working on 3D for a little over three years, every time somebody’s doing it it’s getting easier and easier,” Emerging Technology Vice President Anthony Bailey told Consumer Electronics Daily. He said ESPN is pleased with the efforts of partner companies at the World Cup soccer matches in June, and the company used the MLB Home Run Derby to try out new software and hardware including the slow-motion camera. “Even those of us who have been doing this for many years now sat in the truck and said, ‘Wow,’ when we saw the slo-mo in 3D,” he said. “They played back a home run and you could see every muscle ripple in the batter’s arms and every crease of his uniform."

ESPN executives were pleased with the results of the Derby, though they had access to camera positions that they won’t have during official baseball games, Bailey said. The slow-motion camera was located near home plate to catch the batter’s swing and another 3D camera was fixed on a pole next to the pitcher’s mound to capture a different view of the batter. Bryan Burns, ESPN vice president of strategic business planning and development, who also viewed the action from the production truck, said that when several batters smashed line drives that almost hit the camera, “we turned to each other and said, ‘whoa, that’s what it really looks like down there.'"

ESPN has yet to receive feedback from operators about how many viewers watched the Derby in 3D. There’s typically a 60-90-day lag time before those results come in, Burns said. No additional operators have been signed, and the programmer continues its deals with Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T.

Bailey said ESPN is using 2D cameras on far-away shots to provide context for sporting events. At the Derby, “We had to go with higher shots for the home runs themselves to get the overall perspective,” he said, saying 2D provides the context for the game and 3D adds the punch. “You set up with higher shots to get a sense of what’s going on and what the movement of the game is, and then you pay it off with lower shots of players in your face so you can experience 3D.” The goal of shooting live sports in 3D is “to put you in that seat where the camera is,” Bailey said. Producers so far have determined that what works best for 3D is “staying on a shot, allowing people to hold it in, and having fewer graphics,” he said. It’s important not “to hit you over the head constantly with 3D with somebody coming out of the screen at you,” he said. At the same time, the 2D and 3D experiences have to be differentiated, Bailey said.

Challenges ESPN faces moving forward with 3D include finding experienced production people to shoot live action events. “It’s hard to break the habits of someone who shoots 2D every day and then put them in a chair and say, ’shoot 3D,'” Bailey said. Within the next couple of weeks, ESPN plans to start training camera and production people at its Wide World of Sports amateur sports complex in Orlando, Fla. The goal is to set up a truck for testing production techniques with a variety of sports including lacrosse, softball, basketball and baseball. “It doesn’t matter what we shoot,” Bailey said. “It just gets butts in the seats and gives people a chance to work a 3D event and to learn from [ESPN 3D expert] Vince Pace so they understand what they'll see when shoot a live event."

The network has also opened the facility to its vendors who want to test different cameras, rigs, and switchers and “get traction on 3D,” Bailey said. “The more we get into the mainstream, the more we get costs down and work together on building a standard, the better it’s going to be for the long-term success and health of 3D in the marketplace,” he said. “We've been sharing anything we find with others out there who want to know about it."

ESPN hasn’t set deadlines or benchmarks on viewership or signed affiliates for determining its long-term commitment to 3D, Burns said. “We've shown one event domestically so it’s a little too early for us to be giving any thought to that at the current time.”