CBS Sports is testing a Motion Video Play graphics platform from Orad Hi-Tec Systems to enhance its NFL football telecasts. The network used the technology during the broadcast of an NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants. The network also deployed MVP for the U.S. Open tennis championships during Labor Day weekend. Orad’s MVP system can be used for both live productions and highlights shows.
CBS Sports was able to tailor the functions and features of the MVP system to create CBS FloMotion, which highlights play elements to help analyze plays. CBS Sports also deployed MVP’s HyperZoom feature to zoom in on key elements of plays and controversial calls. For example, commentators highlighted a receiver’s feet so viewers could determine whether he was in bounds on a touchdown catch and a linebacker’s hand when it tipped the ball on a field goal attempt.
Because the MVP system enables graphics elements to run with the clip, it is an improvement on previous graphics applications that only display illustrations frozen on fixed frames. During the Giants-Bengals game, CBS Sports’ tech crew worked closely with the analyst in the booth to select which plays should be enhanced with MVP and replayed for viewers. Once the decision was made, a CBS Sports operator played out the appropriate clip to the Orad team, which overlaid animation and rolled it back to air within seconds. The MVP platform features an embedded chromakey so graphic elements can be keyed over the playing field or drawn in the foreground.
For more information, visit http://www.orad.tv/.
