Sky 3D football broadcast makes television history
Sky Sports today made television history by becoming the first in the world to broadcast a live football match in 3D.
A selection of media, fans and industry execs were treated to Man Utd’s 3-1 win over Arsenal in full 3D at the Emirates Stadium and at nine secret pubs dotted around the UK all of which had been specially fitted with 3D ready TVs.
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The broadcast served as a taster of what’s to come when Sky launches its 3D service in April. The company intends to deliver at least one Premier League match per week via 3D at no extra cost to viewers who already pick up their HD service – provided of course they’re watching on a 3D TV set.
The Arsenal fans among the lucky viewers will clearly have been disappointed at the game’s final outcome as two remarkable goals settled the game in Man Utd’s favour. An exquisite piece of skill from Nani jinking through two Arsenal defenders and a brilliant counter attacking goal finished off with a wonderful first time strike by Rooney put the Champions two up in the first half and all but ended the tie.
But while the Premier League’s top teams ensured there was ample flare on the pitch for such an occasion, the real question on the amassed tech journalists’ minds was whether watching the action in 3D would have enough wow factor to really make the 3D bug spread.
With the big brands all launching 3D ranges over the coming months, the success of content from providers like Sky, will be extremely important in driving the uptake of the new technolgy.
T3 First Look: The early Sky 3D verdict
By Kieran Alger from the Emirates Stadium
"People feel they can now sit in their own homes and view things in a way they could only do if they came to the stadium themselves," said Darren Long, Sky Sports director of Operations.
That’s a bold claim, and one that we went into this match hoping Sky could live up to. There’s been an awful lot of scepticism among the tech media and the general public about the power of 3D. From the anti specs brigade to question over the ability to capture all the angles of a football match, the industry has a big job to do to convince people they need to own a 3D TV to get the ultimate experience.
Avatar has helped demonstrate the value of 3D, banishing green and red paper specs to the past and demonstrating that 3D can wow. It felt like Sky’s historic football experience to do the same. We wanted to literally feel like they could put 3D in your face and make it impossible to ignore. Sadly, on first viewing we don’t think they’ve managed that.
Sat inside at the Emirates for the first half, the overall the 3D experience wasn’t bad it just wasn’t brilliant. And brilliant is what is needed to make this a word of mouth success.
The early close ups of the teams lining up and Sky’s excellent graphics suggested real promise. But once the game was underway you couldn’t help but feel like the majority of the action was a bit flat, almost like the 3D effect had been toned down.
The really jaw-dropping, in-your-face shots that we’ve been treated to in the promotional footage seemed to be missing. Some of the best 3D moments included the view from behind the goal as Van der Sar and Almunia punted the ball up field but let’s face it, goal kicks aren’t really where the action is in football match and it didn’t really add much value to the viewing experience.
We’d been expecting a lot more in terms of clever camera angles on corners, throw ins and substitutions. Cameras fixed on Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger in ways that really take you close to the dug outs, but that wasn’t there.
Of course we’re being super critical here and for a world first it didn’t make for bad watch, far from it – in general the 3D effect added depth to the picture – but if you’re expecting Rooney’s right foot bullets to be rushing out of the screen towards your head then you’re going to be disappointed.
But it is still early days and with around 20 cameras shooting the match in 2D and less than half that number capturing the 3D action, it’s not surprising there are gaps. We’re staying optimistic at this point. If Sky can build on this starting point then there’s definitely something there but on today’s viewing we’ll be looking to gaming and films to give us a real reason to rush out and buy a 3D TV when they hit our shores.
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