Reed Saxon / AP

Glenn Lorenz of Los Angeles wears special 3-D viewing glasses to watch Thursday's game between the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders.

The good
Three-dimensional video does, indeed, convey with unbelievable clarity the size and strength of the players as well as the speed and ferocity of the game at field level. If you've never watched a game on the sideline — at whatever level, high school to the NFL — 3-D makes that immediacy plain, especially on plays that happen to be run directly at a particular camera.

Replays are incredible. The replay of Russell's first interception — Chargers linebacker Stephen Cooper accounted for both of the quarterback's picks — was a thing of beauty to watch in 3-D.

The Charger Girls — and there were an abundance of shots Thursday night of the Charger dance team — were shown in vivid detail. Vivid.

(Speaking of which, in a roundabout way: we will all know that 3-D has taken off when it becomes a staple of the porn industry. You watch. Porn for the early adopters — that's the technical term — and then football.)

The bad
Camera angles need considerable refining. Too often viewers had no idea what formation either of the teams had lined up in. The camera missed — repeatedly — penalties at the line. Also missed was a Russell fumble. Moreover, pylons and yard markers kept showing up in the foreground, and that's just unacceptable.

Moreover, the end zone camera made the players — when lined up more than, say, 30 yards away — look less like humans and more like characters in a video game.

Graphics need help. The on-screen displays were too prominent when flashed on-screen or missing altogether — no down and distance and clock displays, as is the norm.

During the first half, I sat 12 rows up from the big screen, dead center. Even that seemed, somehow, too close. There were occasions when I literally had to push back in my chair, the video imagery almost overpowering.

For the second half, I moved to the VIP lounge, where the game was shown on two 40-inch monitors. This was perfect. The picture was far crisper and clearer on the smaller screen.

Some of these technical issues ought to be chalked up to what Michael V. Lewis — the chairman and chief executive of Beverly Hills-based RealD, which supplied the projection equipment for Thursday night's production by Burbank-based 3ality Digital — called "a new cinematic language."

Producers and directors, he said, are learning how to use 3-D to their — and the viewers' — advantage with cuts, pans and the other basics of camera work.

"This is 1920s Hollywood all over again," he said.

"It's awesome to be here," Miller said. "And know it's the future."