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Imagine tuning in to watch the Major League Baseball playoffs and having a 3-D projection of Manny Ramirez hitting a home run out of your living room. Or picture watching the cast of "ER" play out a scene in a 3-D hospital room that's sitting on your coffee table.

It may sound like science fiction, but the concept isn't a stretch to Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of lasers and photonics in the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona.

In fact, he predicts it could become a reality in a decade.

Earlier this year, Peyghambarian and and a team of researchers at the UA developed technology that's a breakthrough in 3-D imaging. It's now being hailed as a potential big step toward 3-D video and movies.

"As a result of our success, our funding has increased, and we have more researchers working on this program," Peyghambarian said.

The researchers currently have technology for a 3-D display that is "updatable." In other words, the technology allows 3-D hologram images to be shown, deleted and then changed to a new image.

The process currently takes minutes, much longer than would be required to project rapidly moving action such as in a ballgame or a sitcom, but Peyghambarian said the technology makes holographic televisions a future possibility.

"Until now, there has been no large holographic device that is erasable," Peyghambarian said. "This is the first step."

But don't go ditching your high-definition televisions quite yet. The technology, which has been in development at the UA since 1990, still faces obstacles before 3-D imaging replaces flat-screen televisions, Peyghambarian said.

In addition to needing a much faster refresh rate, the current technology can be displayed in only one color. Also, people must view the new holographic images straight on without tilting their heads up or down.

"There's a lot to be done, but I'm an optimist," Peyghambarian said. "I think products could start to be marketed in 10 years."

Some in the business are excited about the UA team's achievement and what it could mean for the future.

"This is moving toward where we all hoped holography would be eventually," said Paul Barefoot, who founded a holography company, Holophile Inc., in 1975 and worked with the now-closed Museum of Holography in New York City.

Until now, holography has been a still medium, but having updatable images is the ultimate advance, Barefoot said.

"This is progress on what people were expecting when they saw the hologram of Princess Leia in the first 'Star Wars' movie," Barefoot said.

"If they can improve size, color and the refresh rate to something comparable to video at 30 frames per second, it will be considered very historically significant."

But some experts remain skeptical that the technology could change the way we watch television anytime soon.

"I've been hearing about 'breakthroughs' in holographic television and motion pictures for the past 30 years," said Frank DeFreitas, who has had a laser and holography studio in Pennsylvania for 25 years.

However, DeFreitas added, "if this particular breakthrough happens to be the one, then it is indeed a very exciting time in history."

Although Peyghambarian acknowledges that holographic televisions are still a thing of the future, he hopes the technology will be used in a different capacity soon.

Peyghambarian envisions the application being used for imaging that doesn't require fast updates, such as in hospitals — aiding surgeons by providing them updated 3-D images of a body part every few minutes — or in advertising — using 3-D imaging to market products in store displays.

"It's up to those guys in Arizona to improve on what they have," Barefoot said.

"But this is a pretty nice development. We can't wait to see what happens next."