Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I haven't been able to see much football on TV this year.

The commercial actor claims that CBS uses Sony cameras on their NFL telecasts. (It might be true some on some games, but I doubt there's a contract that says that all CBS games have to use Sony cameras, but I digress.) The actor tells everyone that when they watch HDTV on a new Sony set (standing by one of those big 50 or 60 inch numbers) that "you are watching HDTV LIKE A CBS CAMERAMAN!!!" I'm sure that the CBS cameraman watching HDTV on a 7-inch black and white CRT would get a laugh out of that. Imagine if he/she had a 50-inch plasma a foot away from his/her nose. Imagine the people who couldn't see around him/her. Imagine dealing with that in a stiff wind in November.

They couldn't say it if it wasn't true, right?

Its a silly claim as almost everyone has seen what a television camera looks like whether handheld or studio config and (certainly anyone interested in HD) would know better than to think TV cameramen see the game like that. Hell the biggest monitor in the control room MIGHT be 20" (and oftentimes that's a SD monitor configured for 16:9.)

They can say practically anything they want, how can you argue with a statement like that? It is marketing after all. Watch Mad Men if you don't believe me.;)

Hell the biggest monitor in the control room MIGHT be 20" (and oftentimes that's a SD monitor configured for 16:9.)

Yeah, it's usually a 19-20" 4x3 monitor showing a letterboxed picture, although it's usually HD. On my ABC college football show we actually watch 4x3 on the program monitor, and 16x9 letterbox on the preview monitor. All of the individual monitors are set to 16x9 so we see 16x9 framing for cameras. We also have a 35ish" plasma on the upper right of the wall that shows 16x9 HD. The following photo is actually from the 2003 NBA finals but the monitor wall is still configured the same way- although there's now a Kalypso switcher replacing the Philips XtenDD.

http://www.miketiffee.com/NBAHD/images/P6061292.jpg

Yeah, it's usually a 19-20" 4x3 monitor showing a letterboxed picture, although it's usually HD. On my ABC college football show we actually watch 4x3 on the program monitor, and 16x9 letterbox on the preview monitor. All of the individual monitors are set to 16x9 so we see 16x9 framing for cameras. We also have a 35ish" plasma on the upper right of the wall that shows 16x9 HD. The following photo is actually from the 2003 NBA finals but the monitor wall is still configured the same way- although there's now a Kalypso switcher replacing the Philips XtenDD.

Looks like an NMT truck. Yea i know Drew Esocoff directed Monday Night Football (he still might direct SNF) in 4:3.

Yeah, it's usually a 19-20" 4x3 monitor showing a letterboxed picture, although it's usually HD. On my ABC college football show we actually watch 4x3 on the program monitor, and 16x9 letterbox on the preview monitor. All of the individual monitors are set to 16x9 so we see 16x9 framing for cameras. We also have a 35ish" plasma on the upper right of the wall that shows 16x9 HD. The following photo is actually from the 2003 NBA finals but the monitor wall is still configured the same way- although there's now a Kalypso switcher replacing the Philips XtenDD.



BTW what the hell did he (i assume this was Drew's game) doing with 18 cameras at a basketball game?

18 Cams? No, 31 cams. For 10 guys on the court. :) Craig Janoff directed the NBA finals in 2003.

Oh, that photo used to be NMT HD4... it's now NEP SS26.

Craig Janoff? Wow that had to be a loud truck. Him and Kenny Wolfe. I'd have to have a strong adult beverage waiting for me at the end of that game.

...or before!

Speaking of large control-room monitors, a few weeks back NBC's Conan O'Brien show provided a brief HD tour of their newest setup. Instead of individual monitors, it has a very large and wide screen that can display one huge image, dozens, or !00-plus different images. They used Conan's mug for a demo. Seemed liked rear or overhead projection. -- John

Conan said that it was a DLP-powered system.

Conan said that it was a DLP-powered system.

Its called a programmable monitor wall, and they're becoming quite common in control rooms. The processors generally handle multiple formats better, they're configurable in terms of display size and number of displays, and overall generally cheaper, quieter, require less power and are cooler than buying 80 -100 crt monitors. You'll find them either as several LCD displays or in the case of Conan, ESPN and the Bonnie & Clyde truck, Christie DLP projection cubes. All of ESPN's Bristol control rooms are built this way (the downstairs rooms are LCD), as is the Times Square Studios in NYC, YES! Network, FOXNews, AMV's Titan truck and the NEP ND3 truck that does SNF. There are plenty of other examples here's a good vendor shot.

http://www.tbcconsoles.com/gallery_bro_pro.htm

NBC uses alot of Miranda (http://miranda.com/) so I would guess they're using Kaleidos (http://miranda.com/overview.php?i=multi&l=1). The Evertz MVPs (http://www.evertz.com/products/MVP) and VIPs (http://www.evertz.com/vip-overview) are popular too. As for the commercials, it's cool to see a 1500L (http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/DisplayModel?id=80711) - everyone should have one for their Sony display.

You can see an example of a programmable monitor wall in the photo above. On the far left and far right of the wall are two vertical plasmas.