Hi Randy - They used to call me "Prime Minister" (get it? John Howard? Australia?) but then he was voted out of office ... so now they call me The Governor. :-) Great to see you here - hope all is well! JH

Sorry this is OT......Hey John Howard...saw you did Panthers/Packers...why do they call you The Governor? Hope you're doing well! Randy Merritt Pinehurst, NC

[quote="JohnHowardSC"]Of course, I'm one who wishes that the CBS EyeVision had been pursued and perfected ... I really think they were onto something until they dropped it like share of Lehman Brothers stock ...[/quote] I dunno, I think Skycam's a better look... You'll notice that EyeVision got dropped pretty much exactly when Skycam hit the scene.

Roy, one note on the Liberovision (ESPN's Axis): it takes forever to render those plays. If you notice on MNF, they open the show using the technology on a play from a previous game. You don't see it again until the second half, usually highlighting a play from the first half. As of NAB the render time was down to approximately 20 minutes for an 8 second play. The technology is nice, although still in it's infancy, but that kind of render time is certainly not ideal for "regular" game coverage, regardless of the price tag. Of course, I'm one who wishes that the CBS EyeVision had been pursued and perfected ... I really think they were onto something until they dropped it like share of Lehman Brothers stock ...

Hi Rick, Mike Thanks for the info and the links..... It really is an impressive bit of technology. Cheers Roy

Roy, please explain to the director that the budget on that show is rather high and not something that most people could afford. I think many of us have had suits want to do a network show but not understand the costs or the time needed to create the show. Example, a preseason NFL game a few years back when DDR's were first showing up. The client had animations built but failed to order one a DDR for the truck.

[quote="Roy Walden"]One of our directors came in today with some footage of an NFL game. Can someone who switches these games tell us roughly how the replays and FX are done? On one replay there was ayellow track on the ground showing the players RUN ...Plus the Ball's FLIGHT Also the players were being highlighteed and moved from the position they were.. to the position " THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN " How is this done.... given that this was all done in 60 Seconds or less after the actual play???? Cheers Roy[/quote] Roy, with HD now being the norm for most of pro sports in this country the networks look for other ways to woo viewers to their network. As is with the yellow line which is a visual computer enhancement from SportVision, another system generates what you are speaking of. SportVision's "Player Tracking" feature is used to create new statistical information, such as distance run, dynamic speed, and separation from the defensive player. SportVision's "Quarterback Cone" is an analysis tool used to illustrate how a quarterback finds an open receiver and then generated by the computer making it available as a replay element. Here is SportVisions web site: Another system being used is ESPN's Axis replays. Using video captured by cameras covering the live action event. Images fed from the game cameras are calibrated then seamed together to create virtual freeze-frames from several angles. The angles of view can be tilted upwards creating three-dimensional, birds-eye views of key plays from multiple angles. This system is from the swiss company LiberoVision who first introduced this into Football (Soccer) events and here is a link to their web site: Hope this helps you with you're question. Regards, Rick.