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51 Comments
- wild, on 10/12/2007, -1/+36Not really. Its kind of fascinating in an, "I awlays figured that but never really knew" kind of way.
- kbarrett, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34Clue.
It has next to nothing to with World of Warcraft. - Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28Yea...everyone should already know it takes four SGI computers to put that little line on the screen. I mean...seriously.
- halik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I've been wondering about this for years now...
- noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13i think its a pretty cool summary of how the technology works and good tech exposure for the masses.
also, i figured thats how they did it, but i didn't think it required that much hardware or manpower. - unibomber999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14And the fact that it feeds information from camera mounts to the virtual field in the SGI computer, using color palettes to distinguish players from field is SO obvious that I lol'd at you Rtards
/sarcasm - Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Now if they'd just bring back the computer enhanced for TV puck in hockey.
- CapeKid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12What happens if a team makes a grass green colored jersey?
- halik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9it kinda fills it too, I've seen it happen couple of times. It looks like one of those cheap green screen effects where part of the person gets filled in.
- Silencer7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Watch a Green Bay Packers game sometime, where the problem isn't so much their green jerseys as it is their bright yellow pants. When it comes to the 4th and inches plays you can see a lot of legs overlaid by the line, or at least you could last time I watched.
- Jwoey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8they had that?
I cant watch a hockey game because 90% of the time i cant find the puck =(
bring it back! - halik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Yeah same here,
it definitely makes it easier to follow.
At first I figured they just use the guys with the orange down markers and/or overlay the videofeed with some kind of IR light that marks the down line. - spencewah, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10What's a "football"?
- noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@kbarrett
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=18662
? :) - Viremia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Man, I HATED the hockey puck enhancement. While the 1st down marker is unobtrusive, that puck enhancer annoyed me to death, especially when it changed colors. Call me a purist, but it just stood out and detracted from the game. I was very pleased when it didn't catch on.
My opinion on it: good riddance to bad rubbish. - Barbarino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2For hockey it was cool, it would change colors based upon the speed of the shot or pass.
- quioxl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Funny, I always figured it was much more simple - I assumed that there was a laser firing across the field that originated from one of the two down posts on either side of the field, and a camera was picking that up and superimposing the yellow line.
The article mentions a "slight rise in the middle of the field" to allow rain to roll off, which could obscure the laser if it were at ground level, of course...I'm sure there are dozens of other reasons why this idea wouldn't work, either. - negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I agree, but as they see it...why waste their time? In its short lifespan, the XFL got better ratings than the NHL did. The fact is that not that many people watch hockey, so they don't bother spending money on this technology for the NHL. It's too bad though, it's one of the best sports to watch on TV...besides women's beach volleyball of course.
- tylerman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Howstuffworks.com makes it much easier to understand with more detail than sport visions site.
- Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5thank you kbarret and sxtxixtxcxh for wanting to accept everything in the most simple of terms without any explanation as to the process (which, in this case turns out to be incredibly complex)
Unfortunately, some of us like to learn about things, we like to discover things. That is what Digg is about. You two obviously don't think that learning is a good thing for humanity. Please leave if you do not like to learn new things - dobey123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I believe the hockey puck thing was called FoxTrax.
- thunderhammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2football is when I repeatedly kick you in the balls with my foot. Less popular than footass
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3So it's pretty much a greensreen? Except computers always make sure that the line is always in the correct perspective depending on the angle of the camera.
- oxyrubber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Then...the player would be painted yellow......duh.."
More accurately, the line would be drawn over the player where the line and the player intersect. The whole player would not be filled in yellow. - samanathon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did you know that the score box (that, now, every station keeps up all of the time) is commonly referred to as the "FoxBox"!
- anonymous6237, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Probably the main problem for the laser system is that players would block the laser and you wouldn't be able to complete the line all the way across the field.
- drumhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't think they will be using those SGI machines for long. IRIX is dead, and SGI is just about dead.
- osbjmg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Interesting, but not sure how submitting every article from howstuffworks will affect digg.
- Phyltre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I remember seeing it for the first time, and finally being able to figure out when first downs were about to happen. Made football watchable for me.
- rachman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sportvision is not based out of New York. They have offices in Chicago, Mountain View, and Milwaukee.
http://www.sportvision.com/ - blinkfink182, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Viremia:
Agreed. I actually stopped watching hockey when they made it burst into a magical ***** comet when a player shot it over 70mph (or 90% of shots). Made me want to kick puppies. - damndj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We were just having this discussion on Thanksgiving on how that line works. One person thought there was some sort of sensor in the first down marker, others thought it was some other computer wizardry.
Thanks for this link! Sure answered our questions and is an interesting read. - wheel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1mm, printable version all on one page.
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/first-down-line.htm/printable - MrManFitz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I submitted same story/headline over a month ago and got nothing. What did I do wrong?
/genuine curiousity
http://digg.com/general_sciences/How_the_First_Down_Line_Works - sparc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I dugg it.. How come I didn't think to go to "how things work"? Oh I know... every time I have wondered about the yellow line, I have been 2 or 3 beers into the game....
- samanathon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not you, the poster didn't bother paying attention at your already-existing post. Hence the duplicate.
- sam1am, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A little inaccurate in places, but close enough.
The line is often now generated for each camera with encoders pre-switcher, not on the final output of the truck. This allows the line to be included in ISO records and replays.
"Given that the camera can pan while viewing the field, the system has to be able to recalculate the perspective at a rate of 30 frames per second as the camera moves." - actually for HD (720P60), that's 60 frames a second. 1080I or SD video is indeed only 30 frames per second.
"The system also has to be aware of superimposed graphics that the network might overlay on the scene." - the line is now generally added pre-switcher, so this is not really an issue.
Related to the work by PVI, check out: http://pvi.tv/ - Eriksrocks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I wasn't very surprised that it took that much power...
After, all, you have to factor in zoom, perspective, motion tracking, etc. and do it all in real time, that takes a lot of horsepower. - Emilio8605, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Now I want to see how they've kept John Madden alive for the last 15 years.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's not NESSACARY to make first downs to score. Look at the Bears. They would be no where without their defense and special teams.
- K4P741NxKRUNCH, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah I figured that there were two trackers in the orange circle-on-a-cone type markers that gave the coordinates to an encoder in the camera, which turned them into x,y coordinates and the computer just drew a line from the two sets and updated it in real time.
The real way I guess is a lot more complicated :p - champs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I hated the line at first. Until they tightened up the camera shots, those lines looked really redundant when the orange markers were in plain sight.
- champs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0vertinox: not true, almost every country with native English speakers has a sport called "football" that isn't soccer. American football, Canadian football, Aussie Rules football, Gaelic football...
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2*coughs*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_%28soccer%29
;) Yes I'm a horrid person. But we are the only nation calls it something other than what everyone else calls it. - kbarrett, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2"You two obviously don't think that learning is a good thing for humanity. Please leave if you do not like to learn new things"
@Lumiras
Did you bother to read the part where I was joking? Sheesh. - bluehavana, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1ignore this.
- vlekk, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0"Sportvision, a company based in New York City, debuted its "1st and Ten" system on September 27, 1998, and football fans everywhere rejoiced!"
Actually we hated it because if you can't count ten yards you should most definately not be watching this sport. - steelmaverick, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Then...the player would be painted yellow......duh..
- kbarrett, on 10/12/2007, -30/+3I was joking about the 1st down stuff. Not the tech stuff.
Ya big nerds ;) - sxtxixtxcxh, on 10/12/2007, -58/+5even better is.. somehow this is front page material.
edit: oh. they're talking about the automagically generated first down line on live football broadcasts. let me sum it up: they use computers!
