With everything from a cutting-edge high definition scoreboard to a virtual Stanley Cup that makes reading all those past winners' names possible, the Consol Energy Center will be one very smart arena when it opens in the fall -- a 21st-century smorgasbord for tech-savvy fans.

There will be robotic cameras to follow action on the ice, an interactive players' hall of fame, touch-screen TVs that allow some fans to isolate cameras on favorite Penguins or call up replays on demand, and floating "video pucks" to pump up the faithful entering the arena before games or to promote events.

"We want to broaden the experience of going to a hockey game, and we want to over-deliver, if you like, for fans, that they've had just the most outstanding evening of entertainment. And we want to be cutting-edge," Penguins CEO Ken Sawyer said.

The technology is aimed at fans in the stands at the new Uptown site and those watching from their family rooms. It also fits in with the team's strategy of cultivating its younger, smart phone-hip fan base.

"It's another way to show our sport as being the most fun to be at, to watch," Mr. Sawyer said.

In all, the team expects to spend "easily over $10 million" on video wizardry. There will be 700 to 800 televisions, all HD, deployed throughout the arena and more than 40 camera positions for broadcast and internal purposes.

It will not be your father's arena by any means. There will be a scoreboard so large that it will stretch from blue line to blue line. Four high-definition video screens, one for each side, will be 25 feet wide and 15 feet tall, or as big as the entire scoreboard at Mellon Arena. They will show game action, replays and other highlights.

The screens, manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric, will employ the Warrendale firm's high-contrast 6 mm black package LED technology designed to produce crisp images and vibrant color.

"The clarity will just blow everybody away," Mr. Sawyer said.

Two smaller, 25-by-6-foot video boards will sit above the screens and provide the score and other game information. In addition, two video rings, one above the scoreboard and one below it, will be used for entertainment and advertising.

Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan said the scoreboard would be among the most dramatic changes for fans attending the game. The scoreboard at Mellon Arena was installed in 1996. That's eons ago in technology years.

By contrast, Consol Energy Center will feature "one of the most advanced and sophisticated video display supersystems ever produced for an arena market," Mitsubishi said in an announcement last month.

A robotic camera, capable of rotating 360 degrees, will hang from the scoreboard, offering a unique bird's-eye view of breakaways, shootouts and other game action rarely seen in hockey broadcasts. The Penguins also are investigating the potential for dropping the camera nearly to ice level in some situations.

Robotic cameras will be built into a dasher board at center ice and in one of the corners. The Penguins hope the technology will serve as a video treat not only for those at the game but also for those viewing on TV. "You'll feel like you're sitting behind the glass. At home, you'll get that experience like you're in the front row," Mr. Sawyer said.

The 40 or so camera positions to be employed at the new arena will be significantly more than at Mellon Arena, allowing for more close-ups and isolated shots to enhance viewing.

At Consol Energy Center, fans in higher-priced suites will have access to Yinz Cam, a technology developed in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University.

Using touch-screen TVs, fans will be able to activate a camera trained, for example, on Sidney Crosby's every move or retrieve game action from angles not available in the standard broadcast. Suite holders also will be able to call up replays on demand, watching that Evgeni Malkin goal or vicious hit on Alex Ovechkin over and over again.

That technology expands on services now available to fans attending games at Mellon Arena with Wi-Fi-enabled smart phones. At the moment, they have access to on-demand replays of goals and fights and live video from the Bench Cam, the Penalty Box Cam, Overhead Cam and Tight-Action Cam.

Response to those offerings at Mellon Arena has been "exceptional. It's been a hit," said Chris DeVivo, the team's director of media technology.

Along with Yinz Cam, the arena will host IPTV, a house cable system enabling the Penguins to deliver a dedicated feed to virtually any TV in the Consol Energy Center. That system has the potential to be used for everything from advertising to changing concession stand menus (all of which will be on video screens) to game highlights and public service announcements.

"If the price of hot dogs changes during the game, we can change the price," Mr. Sawyer joked.

While the Boston Bruins have made some limited use of IPTV, Penguins officials say the Consol Energy Center installation will be the largest of any arena in the country. Only the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys, at their new stadiums, have larger systems, they said.

"This is the wave of the future. This is where everyone's going," Mr. DeVivo said.

Eric Smallwood, vice president of Philadelphia-based Front Row Marketing Services, said high-tech video theatrics were becoming more common throughout sports, as teams look for innovative ways to entertain fans and generate revenues.

"Technology has obviously grown and changed over the years and gotten more interactive. It's not just a large Jumbotron that shows dancing hot dogs," he said.

From touch screens to unique camera angles, the technology "is creating an atmosphere at a sporting venue that the fan now has more to do. They're not just sitting in their seat. There's more interactivity," he said. "It's added value to the ticket buyer."

Whatever new technology the Penguins deploy likely will be copied by others, if successful. Mr. Smallwood said the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers baseball teams were the first to use rotating advertising behind home plate in the mid-1990s. Now virtually every team does so.

Other smart features at the Consol Energy Center will include:

• An interactive hall of fame in the main concourse featuring all-time Penguins greats like Mario Lemieux. Fans will be able to use touch screens to call up highlights, statistics and other information on 42-inch screens.

They also will have access to a "virtual" Stanley Cup trophy cobbled together using high-resolution photography. "It's like an iPod. You can go up, twist the cup around, find names on it," one official said.

• A kids' zone featuring a 9-by-12-foot, wall-mounted, 4 mm LED display system developed by Mitsubishi with the "highest resolution that exists," Mr. Sawyer said. On game days, it will show kids-related video. And it could double as a conference center.

• Fans entering from Fifth Avenue will be greeted by three circular video rings -- or "video pucks" -- of varying sizes as they ride the escalators to the main concourse. The displays will show Penguin highlights and other images. They also will double as a marquee for upcoming events, since they will be visible from outside.

• A central full high-definition control center that will allow the team to direct and mix video feeds, as well as store games and other information. The infrastructure also will allow the team to upgrade as technology advances.

All the elaborate tech bells and whistles already have won over Mr. Sawyer, who is overseeing the arena's construction.

"This is better than I thought it was going to be. And I thought it was going to be pretty good," he said.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.