What It Takes to put Super Bowl XLII in High Definition

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
So what does it take to successfully pull off a Super Bowl in high definition? We emailed Fox Sports requesting some info on the game and what would be involved and also dug up some information form other sources to put together a picture of exactly what goes on during an event of this magnitude and notoriety. As it turns out, this year's event practically sets a Guinness record for technology applied to the Arizona Stadium. Fox Sports and their subcontractors have about 2 weeks to get the system set up, tested and configured.


Discuss "What It Takes to put Super Bowl XLII in High Definition" here. Read the article.
 
GlocksRock

GlocksRock

Audioholic Spartan
wow... after reading that, the guys at Fox Sports are my heros.
 
B

brulaha

Audioholic
I bought one of those Sony HDC-3300 camera's. It was alright, but it didn't work with HD DVD so I returned it. :)
 
birdonthebeach

birdonthebeach

Full Audioholic
Clint - great article!! Love reading about all of this stuff, and can't wait to watch the game.

While on the topic of HD NFL broadcasts, has anyone else out there noticed on NBC, and I think also CBS, that when they go to a graphic on screen (overlaying a live shot), as the graphic goes away the HD image is blurry for a full second or three before the image gets crisp again? This boggles my mind. (or as Chazz Michael Michaels would say, it is "mind-bottling") This is the second full season of this bizarre effect, and it still happens. Anyone out there notice this, or even better, can explain it?
 
Wayde Robson

Wayde Robson

Audioholics Anchorman
Thanks Clint, interesting article and a great idea to get the info direct from Fox.

HD has turned me into a football fan. It's easily the best sport to watch in HD.
 
birdonthebeach

birdonthebeach

Full Audioholic
No kidding, Wayde. I'll go as far as to say it is what HD was built for!!! Nothing comes close, in my opinion!! LOVE the NFL in HD!!!!
 
patnshan

patnshan

Senior Audioholic
I can't wait to see that new camera in action! Cool name too:D

Pat
 
While on the topic of HD NFL broadcasts, has anyone else out there noticed on NBC, and I think also CBS, that when they go to a graphic on screen (overlaying a live shot), as the graphic goes away the HD image is blurry for a full second or three before the image gets crisp again? This boggles my mind. (or as Chazz Michael Michaels would say, it is "mind-bottling") This is the second full season of this bizarre effect, and it still happens. Anyone out there notice this, or even better, can explain it?
I notice it, have complained about it, and don't understand why it happens other than the program they use must SUCK!
 
R

Reorx

Full Audioholic
What everybody at my work, and I saw, is that when the graphic came on the screen, it went from a good HD signal in 16:9, to a standard def signal in 4:3.

During the game, we had storms in Northern Arizona, and constantly had weather alerts.
 
birdonthebeach

birdonthebeach

Full Audioholic
If you are talking about last night in the Super Bowl, I did not notice any problems. I thought the HD looked pretty good, unlike the Patriots....
 
aberkowitz

aberkowitz

Audioholic Field Marshall
If you are talking about last night in the Super Bowl, I did not notice any problems. I thought the HD looked pretty good, unlike the Patriots....
Maybe it was my cable providers, but there were about 4 or 5 "blips" in the game where the picture "blinked" (not really sure how to describe it) and the sound skipped- think a skipping record. It would last for 2 seconds, and they were all in the first half, but REALLY annoying.

Otherwise I thought the picture and the sound was outstanding- of course maybe the giants winning had something to do with that!! :D
 
Biggiesized

Biggiesized

Senior Audioholic
The answer is under your nose

I notice it, have complained about it, and don't understand why it happens other than the program they use must SUCK!
I know exactly what the problem is. You do too, Clint. You wrote an article about it! See if you can figure it out!
 
Biggiesized

Biggiesized

Senior Audioholic
Alright it doesn't look like I'll get a response so I'll just post the answer.

The reason the image gets blurry temporarily is because of the hardware encoder's slew rate. That term should be familiar to you audio guys.
 
I never realized this was a practical issue with video encoding. It's literally a couple of seconds. A couple frames I can understand, but seconds? To me that constitutes almost an inexcusable hardware deficiency.
 

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