This past Sunday, fans of American football who watched the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Sunday Night Football’s broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys/New York Giants game also saw the National Football League’s (NFL) premiere of Replay Technologies‘ “freeD” sport replay system. The free dimensional video (freed) replays, which are known on NBC Sports as “NBCee it 360,” are powered by cameras and frame grabbers from Teledyne DALSA, a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated. The 85,000 fans watching the game live at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (US) were entertained by the freeD replays shown on the stadium’s massive 159-foot × 71-foot screen (see photo).
Throughout the game, in which the Cowboys beat the Giants 36-31, the freeD system captured several of the most exciting plays. NBC featured both of Jason Witten’s two touchdowns for the Cowboys using freeD, as well as the second of Victor Cruz’s three touchdowns for the Giants.
Photo: Showing freeD replays at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (Image from Replay Technologies)
An advancement in digital broadcast technology, freeD uses high-performance cameras, powerful frame grabbers and sophisticated algorithms to create 3D photo-realistic real-time scenes, comprised of 3D pixels that faithfully represent the fine details of the scene. This information is stored as a freeD database that can render any desired viewing angle from the detailed information.
The freeD system incorporates 24 Teledyne DALSA Falcon2 complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras. There are 12 cameras positioned around each end’s red zone at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. The Falcon2 camera’s 12-megapixel (MP) resolution increases the image quality of the freeD system, allowing it to capture more of the action with the ability to go in closer while retaining high-definition (HD) quality. In addition, Teledyne DALSA Xcelera frame grabbers, which are optimised for the Falcon2 cameras, are installed in the control room at the stadium to capture the camera data and interface with the freeD system.
The freeD system records reality not as regular 2D video, but as a true 3D scene. This enables the production team, and in the near future the actual viewers, to freely roam around a captured scene where no physical camera exists. The video image looks like a cross between a 3D image and a hologram. To see the freeD replay system in action, click here.
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