ESPN Brings 'Optimum Visual Experience' to Winter X Games
Phil Lelyveld
Entertainment Technology Center
[TV Technology]
If you watch ESPN’s Winter X Games Aspen 2012 in HD, Jan. 26-29, you will only be getting half the picture. This is because ESPN is showing the entire event in 3D.
In fact, the HD/2D feeds will be one half of this network’s twin-camera 3D feeds. In this way, ESPN will serve both markets of viewers, just as it served HD and SD viewers during its original HD rollout by downconverting HD feeds to SD.”Last year, we ran side-by-side 3D and 2D operations,” said Phil Orlins, ESPN’s X Games coordinating producer. “But no more. With more than 170 3D telecasts under our belt, we feel pretty comfortable with 3D technology. So we’re ready to go all-out 3D this year.”
“Technically, it stretches us a little beyond where we’ve been before,” adds Stephen Raymond, associate director of ESPN Event Operations. “But we have a well-trained crew who are used to implementing whatever designs they have to deal with.”
3D SETUP
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IMMERSED AND IN PERSON Despite the fact that ESPN is committed to an all-3D 2012 Winter X Games, some Sony HDC-1500 2D cameras will be tasked from SS21 to supplement its 3D camera coverage.
“The truth is that 3D cameras have their limits; particularly when it comes to shooting action at great distances using telephoto lenses,” Orlins tells TV Technology. …
ESPN’s extensive experience in 3D has changed how the network produces such events. “In the early days, the idea was to deliver an ‘all-3D experience’ to the viewer,” Orlins said. “But now we’ve refined our approach to producing what we call the ‘Optimum Visual Experience.’” In this new model, the goal is to make viewers feel as if they are actually at the event, without having athletes jump into their faces. …
Read the full story here: http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/espn-brings-optimum-visual-experience-to-winter-x-games/211150
