Super Bowl fans hoping to see amazing Matrix-style frozen action fly-throughs will be disappointed this year – CBS isn’t using the effect because it's not available in High-Definition.
In the last couple of years, CBS has shown instant replays from all angles using its "Eye Vision" system.
Eye Vision uses 30 robotic cameras mounted around the stadium to instantly freeze play and then fly around, showing it from any angle. The effect was used in the Matrix and adverts for The Gap.
But the $2 million system isn’t High Definition and wasn't worth deploying CBS told Broadcasting & Cable.
Instead, CBS will use several super-slow-motion cameras that capture play in "pain-staking detail."
All told, CBS will devote 500 staff and scores of High-Definition TV cameras to the game: 9 slow-motion cameras; 21 wired cameras; three handheld cameras; two wireless handhelds; a wireless Steadycam; and three robot cams: two on the goalposts and one on a pole outside for crowd shots.
"In pure tonnage, the equipment CBS devotes to this game is mind-boggling," Broadcasting & Cable says.
— Leander Kahney
Carnegie Mellon Goes to the Super Bowl [Carnegie Mellon]
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