RE: Altering Live TV Pictures

[Scott Saloway <saloway@bu.edu>]

Actually, I'm fairly certain CBS had the first-down line technology before
Fox did. They used it during a pre-season game 2? years ago. (I remember
it because it was the first game CBS had done since they re-purchased the
NFL contract - and remember noticing how neat it was...)

As to the actual equipment, it comes from a company called Princeton Video
Image. This particular setup was first tested some 3 years ago by ABC
during an MLS game, when they projected ads onto the center of the field.
(I think it was a big MasterCard logo). Now, at least one Baseball team
uses it (Giants?) to project ads onto the backstop behind the batter....

The technology for this is different from that of the glow-puck, though.
The glow-puck was an actual puck that was retrofitted with a transmitter
that then got picked up by sensors positioned around the arena. The
computers would then decode the sensor info and "assemble" a blue dot over
(or near :) the actual puck. That's one of the reasons why the dot
seemed to fly into the seats at times, or be behind the puck. 

The first-down line and what CBS uses are entirely digital. Of course, the
PVI technology is based around the fact that the image must remain, for
the most part, stationary. (The computer actually "maps" the image and
then places the ad or line over it). The puck couldn't have worked this
way, since it was constantly in flux...

--Scott--

Scott Saloway
WBUR Radio
saloway@bu.edu

On Sun, 16 Jan 2000, Garrett Wollman wrote:

> <<On Sat, 15 Jan 2000 18:59:11 -0500, "Mike Fitzpatrick" <fitzradio@map.com> said:
> 
> > how do they do that? Ive been trying to figure out how this is done.
> 
> [We're talking about the illuminated first-down line on some televised
> football games.]
>