"You have to produce it differently," says Steve Hellmuth, an executive vice president at NBA Entertainment. "You want to have people live inside the shots."

Albeit live at theaters. Like Fox's live 3-D coverage of college football's BCS title game last month, the TNT coverage of the NBA All-Star Saturday Night— including three-point shooting and dunk contests — will be in about 80 movie theaters in suburban and rural areas, with tickets costing $18 to $22.

Like Fox's 3-D football, theatergoers will have different views from what they would see on TNT. The NBA 3-D coverage will come from five 3-D cameras — which, unlike TV cameras, take simultaneous shots for viewers' right and left eyes. There will be two collaborating directors, one looking for the best shots from a TV sports perspective, the other thinking about what looks good in 3-D.

The technology, which is different than what Fox used on the BCS game, comes from Burbank, Calif.-based Pace. It has developed its system in conjunction with director James Cameron — whose upcoming movie Avatar is being filmed in 3-D.

The league has had three previous 3-D experiments — for two games as well as for an All-Star game — with one shown in a single theater, another at a single arena and the other at a venue for invited guests.

Assuming consumers like 3-D sports action, suggests Hellmuth, they might get more in the future at theaters and at home. For now, theaters provide a venue for viewers to sample 3-D. And, if they get hooked, TV sets can be marketed that will be equipped to carry 3-D.

Hellmuth says the NBA and TNT will take it easy Saturday night on theatergoers. (Their glasses will be plastic, not the old paper 3-D models.) "We want to let 3-D shots kind of settle," he says. "We want to have action stay in the frame. Then, your eyes can really move around a picture of that size."

And given 3-D's eye-specific shots, your eyes might take off in different directions.