Monday, March 27, 2000

By WINDA BENEDETTI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

	Perfect demolition leaves Dome a fallen souffle More stories ... Photo galleries VR tour from the field Live shot of where the Dome used to be

Those who watched the Kingdome implode in person used words such as "extraordinary," "amazing" and "stunning."

Those of us who watched it from our computers used words such as "blurry," "stilted" and "mediocre" to describe what we saw.

Despite all our modern advancements, yesterday's big bang proved one thing: Technology ain't got nothing on the real thing.

Still, for those who didn't want to battle the crowds, brave the monster dust cloud or drive downtown, the Internet offered a viable (if fuzzy) means of watching the show.

And thousands of people turned to the Net yesterday to get an electronic view.

Seattle company MartiniDesign.com broadcast the blast from a camera atop its building, which is across the street from where the Dome was. "We were overwhelmed," said Martin Rincon, co-owner of the business. Nearly 10,000 users stopped by their site for a peek -- twice what he expected. Thousands more tuned into the live broadcasts offered by Microsoft's WindowsMedia.com and the network affiliates' Web pages.

However, it was a company called Isee3D.com (working in conjunction with Microsoft) that offered a unique way to watch the Dome crumble -- using a live, three-dimensional Netcast. Isee3D.com's broadcast started at 8 a.m. In the half-hour before detonation, the company offered 3-D interviews with Seahawk players and fans, as well as a 3-D fly-by over Seattle and a tour of the predemolition Dome.

Although the 3-D effect was cool, the images were often herky-jerky.

Heavy traffic on the Web sites slowed them down. MartiniDesign, for example, gave viewers eight or nine frames of imagery per second rather than the 14 frames it had hoped for.

The Internet's true worth may lie in the archived footage that will be made available during the next few days. Blast footage recorded by numerous cameras and from a variety of angles will be available for on-demand viewing at a plethora of Web sites, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and other media outlets.