Cowboys Stadium 3D scoreboard experiment doesn't go so well, turned off in less than seven minutes

By Nilay Patel
From: http://www.engadget.com

You know 3D has a long way to go when even Jerry Jones can't manage to sell it for longer than seven minutes: the vaunted real-time 3D scoreboard display experiment at last night's Cowboys game was turned off to loud cheers after just six minutes and fifty seconds of being active. The problem, as usual, was glasses: most of the 80,000 people in attendance didn't bother to put on the headgear required to see the 3D effect, and instead saw a blurry anaglyph image -- which they then booed. What's more, some who wore the glasses complained that the 3D effect caused nausea, although probably not as badly as the Cowboys' 20-17 loss to the Chargers. HDlogix actually has the tech to do glasses-free 3D, but it simply doesn't work when scaled up for the world's largest HD monitor -- a problem they'll have plenty of time to solve when the Cowboys fail to make the playoffs with another couple December losses.

10 Giant HD Screens Around the World

Getting a TV that's the right size for your space is essential. But, when your space is a stadium, the bigger the better. By now, you are probably more than familiar with the huge punt-blocking screen in Cowboys Stadium, but it's not the only game in town. Here's a list of other enormous displays we wouldn't mind doing a little gaming on.

Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium

Its nickname pretty much sums up why it’s on this list: “Godzillatron”. Joining the new Cowboys stadium as the two objects in Texas astronauts are most likely able to see from space, this screen is mammoth. At 134’ x 55’, this $8 million video board gives people from the Lone Star State one more reason to say: “Everything’s bigger in Texas.”

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: NCAA Football 2010

Tokyo Racecourse

Photo Courtesy of Engadget.com

You're probably not surprised to see Japan's name on the list. At 218’ x 37’ this is one of the widest screens on this list (and one of the most expensive at $28 million). If we were able to hook up some internet-connectivity, this could be one of the biggest and best screens to play any online-multi-player game.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: Halo 3

Yankee Stadium

Photo Courtesy of Yes.mlblogs.com

At 110’ x 60’, this screen is powered by 8,601,600 LED lamps, which makes it uniquely bright and crisp. Baseball fans have been raving about it, especially when they see how beautiful it makes the Kiss Cam look.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: MLB 09: The Show

Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium

Photo Courtesy of Daktronics.com

Baseball hasn't been much fun to watch in KC in the past few years, but maybe hooking up Guitar Hero or Rock Band to their 105’ x 85’ display might help put some butts in the seats.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: Beatles Rock Band

Land Shark Stadium

Photo Courtesy of Daktronics.com

Once crowned as the largest LED screen in the world (like many on this list) the home of the Dolphins, Marlins and ‘Canes boasts comes in at 138'6" x 48'6".

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: Madden 10

Great American Ball Park

Photo Courtesy of Daktronics.com

This 138’ x 39’ screen in Cincinnati cost 10 million dollars, but judging by the records put together by the Reds, it may have been the best investment they have made in quite some time.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: Grand Theft Auto IV

Stade de France

Clocking in at 4220 square feet, this screen is touted as the biggest display in all of Europe. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to bust out our copy of FIFA to us. We could try and sneak some Madden on there, too, but that might not go over so well.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: FIFA Soccer 2010

Chase Field

Photo Courtesy of Daktronics.com

Chase field’s biggest attraction is its swimming pool, but the 136’ x 46’ display is noting to splash at.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: Call of Duty 4

Harrah’s Atlantic City

You have to wait until night time to make use of it, but Harrah's huge, LED-powered screen is just massive. It reaches 33-stories high, which doesn't give it an optimal aspect ratio for gaming, but it would still have some serious wow-factor.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010

Dubai’s Podium Tower

Photo Courtesy of ledlightreviews.net

Though it won’t be completed until 2011, this tower with a 33-floor high LED screen is another reason why Dubai is one of the coolest looking places in the world. But just like the Harrah screen, the height could pose a problem to a lot of games out there, so we would stick with a first person shooter or sport game.

Game We’d Most Like To Play Here: Tetris (Great Pick By The Readers!)

New To The List:

Comcast Center

By popular demand we wanted to add the screen in the lobby entrance of the Comcast Center in Philadelphia. The "Comcast Experience" is a 25.4' x 83.3' LED screen that was built in 2008. And from what we can see from some of the video clips the picture looks awesome, but because of the gaps in the screen due to the entry ways, we probably wouldn't want to play any games on it. Still, great find by the readers. Let us know if you have any more you'd like to see added to this list in the comments field.

Cowboys' video board prompts quick revision of NFL rule book

Punts will apparently routinely be striking the bottom of the massive screen that looms 90 feet above the field at Jerry Jones' new stadium. The league's solution: Replay the down.

An image of Tony Romo is projected on the video screen as the Dallas Cowboys practice at the Cowboys' stadium on August 27. (Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press / August 28, 2009)

By Sam Farmer

Get ready for do-overs in Dallas.

The NFL will not ask Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to raise the video board in his new stadium so that it won't obstruct high punts, and instead is changing the rule book to allow for re-dos if the football strikes the board.

After consulting with the competition committee and NFL staff this week, Commissioner Roger Goodell today said the following rule will be in effect for all remaining exhibition, regular-season and postseason games:

"If a ball in play strikes a video board, guide wire, sky cam or any other object, the ball will be dead immediately, and the down will be replayed at the previous spot.

"If there is not an on-field ruling that the ball struck an object, the replay assistant is empowered to initiate a booth review, including if the event occurs prior to the two-minute warning. If, prior to the two-minute warning, no booth review is initiated by the replay assistant, a coach's challenge is permitted under the customary procedures for such a challenge."

The rule also says that, in the event a down is replayed, the game clock will be reset, and all penalties will be disregarded except personal fouls.

The massive board in the just-opened $1.2-billion stadium hangs 90 feet above the field. In the third quarter of last Friday's exhibition game against Tennessee -- the first football game in the venue -- a punt by the Titans' A.J. Trapasso struck the underside of the gigantic video screen, which stretches from one 20-yard line to the other.

The ball bounced straight down and was ruled dead, meaning the down had to be replayed. And the plunking wasn't surprising, seeing as second-stringer Trapasso hit the video board at least three times during warmups, and starter Craig Hentrich nailed it a dozen more.

The concept of a mulligan doesn't make sense to everyone around the league.

"This game wasn't created to kick and throw around obstacles," NFL Network analyst and former coach Mike Martz said in a conference call earlier this week. "It just has to get fixed."

sam.farmer@latimes.com

Who Needs Turf at Cowboys Stadium When You've Got A PlayStation?

By Patrick Michels in Sports

Sunday, Aug. 9 2009 @ 7:41PM

Patrick Michels

Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for.

​Check out our slide show for more shots from the tournament and around the stadium.

It was a moment you knew was coming ever since the Cowboys unveiled the largest-in-the-world 1080p HDTV screen hanging above midfield in their new stadium.

Saturday afternoon at an open house for Cowboys season ticket holders, Sony held a Madden NFL 2010 tournament -- the game's due in stores a little over a week from now -- played on the 10-story Mitsubishi screen, even as workers finished laying down the numbers marking yardage on the field below.

Patrick Michels

While players watched their game from a smaller screen down below, everyone else had to look up.

​"Most of the folks here are both hardcore gaming fans and Cowboys fans," Sony spokeswoman Crystal Braswell said, and, indeed, many of the games on the big screen were Cowboys-Cowboys match-ups.

Gamers could earn a place in the tourney ahead of time by submitting a photo of themselves doing a touchdown dance involving a PlayStation, and a few more competitors were picked in a drawing at the stadium Saturday. Out of a field of 256 players, the winner took home a PS3 and a copy of the new Madden game.

Two-hundred and fifty six players entered the tournament, which ran for about five hours. At 3 p.m., winners of a side tournament had the chance to take on a real-life Cowboy, the now-retired Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, at another PlayStation setup on the side of the Sony trailer parked on the field.

While the season ticket holders milling around the stands paid spotty attention to the tournament, it did produce at least one notable stat: "It's technically the first football game to be played at Cowboys Stadium," Braswell noted.

Patrick Michels

Wide receiver "Rocket" Ismail was the only Cowboy who played on the day of the stadium's first football game.

​