3D HD Sports Comes to Gordon Biersch

The bar at Gordon Biersch, Pacific Place

Even my schwarzbier looked three-dimensional. I was down at Gordon Biersch, on the fourth floor of the Pacific Place shopping center, following up on a story about the World Cup in 3D. How good could it be? Would it be annoying or jaw-dropping? Neither, it turns out. It's just better, more immersive. You look into the game, not at it.

Two HD 1080p 46-in. JVC flat panels (not sold on the consumer market yet) flanked each side of the bar, carrying a Direct TV transmission of ESPN's 3D World Cup coverage. RealD 3D glasses (the polarized "sunglasses" style you get at the movie theater) were handed out. If anything, the results were almost too crisp and defined, giving me the impression I was watching someone else play an EA FIFA 10 game.

ESPN's 3D cameras gave an enormous depth to the pitch, and the sheer size of the crowd was visceral. Early on, the 2D ESPN transmission was showing replays the 3D transmission was missing, but eventually the 3D crew seemed to catch up. There were the same multiple angles, and the back-of-the-net cam paid real dividends in 3D.

In general, the 3D is not obtrusive--it emphasizes depth-of-field rather than coming-right-at-you! I noticed it more the times it helped make sense of a previously flat view. For instance, corner kicks, with a multitude of players clustered in front of the goal, made much more visual sense. Even in a tight space, I could "place" the players in relation to the goal. It was also easier to tell when shots on goal were curving wide.

The weirdest moments came when a fan's flag intruded suddenly into the foreground--it's a little alarming when things poke suddenly into view "near" your eye. And when it began to rain in South Africa--yes, "I bless the rains down in Africa"--the drops resolving near the lens had the feel of special effects magic.

Besides the World Cup Final at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Gordon Biersch is also showing the Mariners v. New York Yankees tonight at 7 p.m. and again on Sunday, at 1 p.m. You can catch the All-Star Game in 3D on Tuesday, July 13th, at 5 p.m. To stay tuned to the 3D games schedule, fan Gordon Biersch on Facebook. (Right now the 3D telecast pickings are just taking off, but ESPN, for instance, still has plans for 100 different 3D broadcasts for this year.)

I spoke with the INVI team who'd installed this, the first passive 3D displays televising sports in a bar in Seattle. (It's not exactly a craze that's sweeping the country yet, so let's all enjoy the feeling of being bleeding edge.)

CEO Galen Rodgers thinks 3D sports in bars is just a matter of time, though, especially with the ease of passive 3D. All it requires from customers is wearing the polarized glasses, which are tremendously inexpensive compared to active 3D technology. (As it happens, I already had a pair from seeing Despicable Me in 3D yesterday.)

That said, it's not for the bar around the corner, yet. For an installation like Gordon Biersch's (the two specialty flat panels, connecting to Direct TV, and general "making it go"), Rodgers estimated the cost at between $15,000 and $20,000. On the other hand, I have never before gone to Gordon Biersch to watch sports, and I'll be heading back tomorrow for a SunBreak "editorial meeting." So being a first-mover has its advantages.

After the game finished, someone produced a remote, and the 3D panels went back to displaying the regular flatworld view. Conversation picked up, as people had been too wrapped up in watching to talk much. The staff went around to collect the 3D glasses, and people refused to give them up. They wanted to know when the next 3D game started.