Last night, Nomar Stalker and I headed over to the Atlas Cinemas to watch the NBA All-Star festivities in 3-D. As an early adopter, I thought this would be a good opportunity to see if 3-D can get beyond traditional movies, animated movies and concerts. I am still amazed at the 3-D from the U2 movie, but you can cobble that from filming various concerts and put it through a rigorous editing process. Can 3-D translate to live events?

The verdict? Hard to say. I guess the good thing is there were about 75 people in attendance who paid $20 to see something that you could see at home for free. It shows that people are willing to try something new. Unfortunately, the very best 3-D shots were of the company logos who presented the event and trailers for upcoming 3-D movies including "Ice Age 2".

Some of the angles you thought may give you a nice 3-D picture didn't really occur. Those included the skills competition, where the contestants had to pass the ball through a circle. The camera was set up behind the netting and the ball would come through, but never really giving you the feeling it was coming off the screen. The same thing occurred with high angle shots for the 3-point contest and Slam Dunk competition, with side views of the rim in the foreground. These angles and replays don't have the capability to show 3-D at its best.

Low-angle shots from the baseline made the basket support and rim seem condensed as a player would approach for a dunk. Unfortunately, we never had a view from behind the basket where we may see the player eyeing the rim with a full head of steam. I think the directors of these live events are still trying to figure out the best angles for 3-D and that's probably a different thought process from regular filming.

Another detriment to the broadcast is it's a totally different production from the TNT version. For instance, Matt Devlin was the only announcer we had while Harlan, Miller and Fratello did the TV side. They simply cannot sync the voices over a different 3-D production that features different camera angles. And the 3-D production does not include many graphics. Plus, they continually reference the fact we are watching this in 3-D. I know, hence my glasses.

The pluses? The 3-D graphics, when used, are of superior quality. The 3-D glasses are very cool, black-rimmed affairs. If you wear glasses, they fit comfortably over them. Certain camera angles do give you a sense of being really close to the action. Many of these shots were of the variety where there was something in the foreground to give you a sense of depth. You may have a gaggle of cheerleaders running onto the court past the camera ("I think they may have forgotten a digit between that 3 and the D.") or simply a player sitting down, waiting for his turn at the Slam Dunk.

Overall, I think the normal left-to-right pictures you see on a regular telecast won't cut it for 3-D and we had a lot of that last night. And with 3-D for live events still in its infancy, they are going to have to scrape up the cash for more than five cameras. Otherwise, the dream of 3-D TVs for the home is not going to make much sense. One more thing. They need to sell beer at these live events.

And, by the way, Rudy Fernandez got absolutely hosed by the judges on this unbelievable dunk last night (with an appearance from the ubiquitous Spanish Announcers' Table):



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