The World Cup in 3D - an expert gives his verdict on the preview

This morning at an Auckland cinema, 3D Live hosted an event to boost its 3D coverage of the Rugby World Cup semis, third-place play-off and final.

3D Live's broadcasts will be beamed by satellite to 20 cinemas in New Zealand, and 20 in Australia (with screens around 10m), and at a series of arenas around NZ (with 18m screens. For 3D, bigger is always better). Tickets range from a stiff $45 to $50 for cinemas and $60 to an outlandish $110 for arenas (see venue details here).

3D Live has yet to confirm if Sky TV will carry its 3D footage (MySkyHDi boxes are 3D-compatible), but says negotiations are still underway and that a deal is "likely" (my guess: a deal won't be confirmed until after a few tickets have sold to big-screen events; also, with just a few thousand 3D sets out there, Sky, sitting on a cosy monopoly, probably isn't sweating it either way).

Anyhow, at the preview, the company showed a highlight reel of big-screen 3D footage shot during the Six Nations competition by UK company Inition - which will partner with 3D Live to film the World Cup games here.

At the preview, I sat next to AUT researcher and 3D expert Dr Roy Davies (last encountered in this story).

No so good for me
In my perennial role of Bad Cop, I have to say I didn't like the 3D footage. The most difficult thing for a 3D crew to shoot is action that moves rapidly from one side of the screen to the other. On a contained film set, this can be easily avoided. In a fast moving rugby game, it can't, and a proper 3D effect becomes difficult or impossible to achieve. For me, this makes fast-moving action difficult to follow, and a bit stressful on the eyes.

Thumbs up from The Doc
I have to say however, that most of the audience seemed pretty impressed. 

Dr Davies said the footage was "pretty good" and said that, although not a rugby fan, he was considering buying a ticket to one of the cinemas or arenas that will show 3D Live's footage.

The AUT researcher gave Inition dibs for its direction, which featured lots of ground-shots, giving the feeling you're part of the game, and the turf extend toward you like a stage.

3D Live has a truck with a 3D screen going around New Zealand - starting in Auckland's Aotea Square from today - some you might be able to check that out and make up your own mind (see www.3drugby.co.nz for details).

A few nuggets that emerged from the Q&A afterwards:

• 3D Live (part of the government-sponsored NextSpace IT cluster) and Inition will shoot the games using nine 3D cameras (each with two lenses). Sky TV will have 38 or 40 cameras. 3D Live's Ronel Schodt said her company would like to have the same number of camera as Sky TV but it just wouldn't be cost-effective.
   
• There likely won't be any 3D close ups. 3D cameras struggle with zooms even more than side-to-side action, so 3D Live/Inition's cameras will be set to a wide-field view. To get around the no close ups problem, 3D Live/Inition will take close ups from Sky TV's coverage, then upscale them to 3D (which Ms Schodt admits will lead to some degradation in quality). Ditto for video ref decisions 
   
• The wide-field view shows everything in focus at once - from a player in the foreground to a players and the background and the crowd further back still. The effect gives you more visual information, and is very dramatic but (yes, bad, bad cop) does sometimes give the person at the front of the picture a slightly cardboard cut-out look.
   
• 3D Live will have its own commentators. One will be Keith Quinn; two others are still be named (looking forward to seeing Keith in 3D, which will be a TV history moment to rank up there with his famous snatch of commentary on that Lomu try).

• You'll be able to drink in the cinemas and arenas showing the footage. It's all part of the stadium feel (I forgot to ask if ushers would allow Mexican Waves)

With some large arenas to fill (one venue, Auckland's Vector Arena, can hold 8000), 3D Live seems to be taking quite a risk - especially given those robust ticket prices.

But Ms Schodt said a similar series of events around the UK for the Six Nations saw 40 cinemas sell out in 40 minutes, so it'll be interesting so see how it goes here. Tickets go on sale from May 24.