SportsNet New York (SNY), the TV home of the New York Mets, Jets and BIG EAST Conference, this spring will become the first regional sports network in the United States to deploy the Orad MVP sports enhancement system during live broadcasts.
SNY, will begin using MVP during its live, HD coverage of regular-season New York Mets games. “This system has been built to allow our broadcasters to enhance the story of a game with post-production capabilities in real time,” said SNY senior VP and executive producer Curt Gowdy Jr. SNY also will use the MVP to create new sponsorship opportunities, he said.
SNY will incorporate five new graphics features using the Orad MVP into its 2009 Mets telecasts, including SNY Magnify, Flow Motion, Pitch Differential and speed and distance trackers.
SNY Magnify will use MVP's HyperZoom technology to magnify a tracked video segment that moves with a player or an object. For example, on a close pickoff play at second base, the ball, the glove and the runner's foot or hand all can be magnified and followed.
With the Flow Motion tool, SNY analysts Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez can break down and dissect the operation of a pitcher's arm or batter's swing in detail because arm or swing can be overlaid on repeated plays, highlighting differences and patterns during the course of a game.
The Pitch Differential feature illustrates a pitch sequence by zooming in on where a catcher sets up, where the pitch actually ends up and where the ball makes contact with the bat. Speed and distance trackers can be applied to base runners or baseballs to demonstrate graphically where and how fast they are moving.
Besides its built-in tools, the MVP graphics platform offers the flexibility to allow producers to devise and implement their own graphic touches at any time during the season, or even during a production. MVP relies on image tracking instead of complex camera modifications.
SNY’s decision to integrate MVP into its coverage is significant because it demonstrates regional sports networks can afford this level of enhancement, said Orad VP of sales and marketing Shaun Dail.
“I think what it shows is that both the cost point and capabilities of the MVP enable regionals to do things that networks typically tend to do with their sports coverage, such as pitch tracking, ball tracking, slow motion and other on-field enhancements that you typically don’t see with regional sports,” he said. “You don’t see these enhancements with regionals because those tools have been very, very expensive.”
The business model for the 3RU MVP allows users to lease the device for the entire season, rather than on a per-game basis, allowing sports networks, such as SNY, to realize a midseason return on investment, he added.
See Orad Hi-Tec Systems at the NAB Show in Booth SU10517.
