FSN Southwest and the Dallas Mavericks will provide a look into the future of sports television on March 25 when they team with PACE to produce the first-ever NBA regular-season game live in 3D HD secured through PACE Fusion 3D and the third ever live sporting event presented in the innovative format.

The March 25 game against the Los Angeles Clippers from the American Airlines Center will be beamed across town via satellite into Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Theatre in Dallas’ West Village where an invitation-only audience will watch through special 3D glasses using Sony’s SXRD 3D Projection System on an 18x42-foot screen. In addition to VIP guests, the audience will include over 100 lucky Mavericks fans, who can win tickets to the event by entering an online sweepstakes at mavs.com

FSN Southwest will utilize the proprietary PACE/Cameron Fusion Sports System to capture the action on the court and deliver a unique depth of field perspective to the Magnolia Theatre audience. Each of the four 3D systems that will be used is designed with two high-definition cameras that capture the left eye and right eye imagery separately and create one three-dimension effect. The result is a “wow” visual experience that makes the action seem so close and spectacular most viewers will probably forget they’re sitting miles away in a movie theatre. 

The 3D HD production will be separate from FSN Southwest’s game telecast and will use the Mavericks’ radio call with announcers Chuck Cooperstein and Bob Ortegel describing the action. During timeouts and television commercial breaks, the 3D HD systems will cover the on-court festivities, allowing fans watching in the theatre to experience the in-arena atmosphere.

“We’re excited to be on the ground-floor of 3D HD with the Dallas Mavericks,” said FSN Southwest Senior Vice President/General Manager Jon Heidtke. “Mark Cuban has always been one step ahead of everyone in technology. He was a pioneer of the internet revolution with the creation of broadcast.com, and he led the way in high-definition television with the launch of HD Net. Now he’s ahead of the game again as the first team owner to produce a regular-season game in 3D HD. We’re happy to be partners with him as we take a sneak peek into the future of sports television.”       

This will mark only the third live sporting event ever presented in 3D HD, all of them NBA productions using PACE Fusion 3D. The 2007 NBA All-Star game in Las Vegas was the ground-breaking event with an invitation-only viewing party at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Game 2 of the 2007 San Antonio Spurs-Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Finals from San Antonio was shown in 3D HD to the public at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.

"We had a great response from the audience during the world's first ever live 3D sports broadcast with the NBA games last year and expect a similar response in Dallas," said PACE CEO Vince Pace. "We can see this type of venue growing rapidly as fans continue to become acquainted with the Fusion 3D experience and see for themselves how our systems blur the lines between what is real and what is Fusion 3D."

Sony's CineAlta 4K digital cinema projectors will be used for this event, with two SRX-R110 4K projectors in a double-stacked configuration.

" 4K projection technology is the perfect complement to 3D cinema, where the goal is to provide a feeling of 'being there,’ "   said Andrew Stucker, director of Sony Electronics' digital cinema systems group. "4K resolution, or four times the resolution of HDTV, can enhance the 3D experience several-fold, taking movie-going to a new level and transforming the audience from viewers into participants."

Dallas Mavericks Director of Broadcasting Dave Evans will produce the 3D HD telecast, while FSN Southwest Senior Executive Producer Mike Anastassiou will serve as director.