A select group of sports fans will watch the National Basketball Association All-Star game on Sunday in the first-ever live high-definition 3D sports telecast that NBA officials hope will create a buzz about profiting from the new technology.

Hollywood and movie theater owners also are watching the results closely because more 3D movies such as 2005's "Chicken Little" and alternative theater content like sports are expected to help boost attendance in theaters.

In Las Vegas, where the All-Star game will be played, the NBA is hosting a telecast at special screening rooms at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. Seated there will be some 600 executives from sports, theater owners and broadcasting companies.

"Our hopes are to understand the emerging technology and where our world of entertainment is going and to be part of that, and maybe to direct it," said Michael Rokosa, vice president of engineering for NBA Entertainment.

Rokosa said the technology could be used to take the live sports arena experience to local theaters, and any future developments would include TV broadcasters that have rights to the live games.

"Our goal is ... to bring more viewers to the NBA and to widen our fan base," he said.

The games and exhibition events will be shot with an array of five, double-lensed cameras developed by Pace Technologies, a company founded by "Titanic" movie director James Cameron and camera designer Vince Pace. Cameron is now shooting "Avatar," his next film, in 3D using the Pace Fusion camera.

Sony Corp. (6758.T) stacked two of its digital 4K projectors to bring the 3D images to two, 40-foot silver screens provided by Real D, whose 3D projection system is the most widely used in U.S. theaters for screening 3D films.

COURTSIDE SEATS

Attendees will wear modern polarized glasses that enable them to see a 3D image. The cameras will be virtually stationary to avoid overwhelming viewers' senses, and audio will come from courtside instead of the announcers' booth.

"It feels like you are at the event," Pace said. "The NBA talked to us about an in-arena experience, and we said, 'Let's capture the feeling of being in an arena."'

Depending on how the Las Vegas screening goes, the NBA may set up live, 3D screenings for public audiences for the NBA championship finals in June.

Sony adapted off-the-shelf technology for the All-Star event, and company officials said it would not be difficult to replicate it in other venues.

"We are ready to roll into any theater with the two-projector system," said John Kaloukian, director of Sony Electronics' professional display group.

Only about 700 of the roughly 37,000 U.S. movie screens are currently equipped with 3D projection systems, most of them by Real D, which teamed with the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news) to bring the first modern 3D movie, "Chicken Little," to 89 screens.

Michael Lewis, chief executive of Real D, said his company will have deployed about 1,000 screens by the November release of "Beowulf," the next 3D film by director Robert Zemeckis, who produced "Monster House."

"Chicken Little" and subsequent 3D films proved that audiences would turn out and pay premium prices for 3D movies at a time when exhibitors have been struggling to fill seats.

(China Daily via Reuters February 17, 2007)