Comcast Shows Off 3-D TV
By Matt Roush
Media and other guests got a look at the future of TV Friday at the Big Rock Chophouse in Birmingham, as Comcast Corp. and ESPN showed off a three-dimensional high-definition picture.
The TVs use 3-D glasses, but not with lenses that are polarized or of different colors. Instead, these battery-powered glasses actually have electronic shutters that open and close, swapping between the left and right lens, in sync with a special 3-D picture on the screen. The remarkable effect: players clearly standing out from the background during a soccer match.
The 3-D HDTVs on display Friday were Samsung models. The 52-inch screens cost about $2,500, Comcast officials said.
Mary Beth Halprin, vice president for public relations and community affairs at Comcast, said ESPN is the first network to offer a 3-D signal, but it will soon be joined by NASCAR races on TNT starting July 3, and other programming. She said consumers purchasing a 3-D HDTV simply call Comcast, and Comcast activates the special 3-D channels on a digital cable box at no extra charge.
Halprin said 25 of the remaining World Cup soccer matches will be broadcast in 3-D. Overall, ESPN plans to air more than 100 events in 3-D before the end of 2010, including X Games and NCAA basketball.
Michigan's Mr. Soccer, Roger Faulkner (pictured above), also spoke about this year's World Cup tournament, a day before the United States' heartbreaking loss to Ghana in the Round of 16 Saturday.
Faulkner, who has been promoting soccer in the Detroit area since 1970, noted that it was a great achievement for the U.S. even to make the final 32, given that 205 teams started qualifying. He noted that the U.S.-England game two weeks ago drew twice the TV audience of Game Four of the NHL's Stanley Cup finals and the fourth game of the NBA Finals. And the U.S.-Algeria game that sent the U.S. into the finaly 16 set ESPN records for any soccer game, any morning event, and led all TV programs among those ages 18 to 34.
Faulkner also touted a soccer match Aug. 6 at the Pontiac Silverdome, pitting Italy's AC Milan against the Greek professional club Panathinaikos.
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