During a live HD telecast of the NFL game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, CBS Sports used new still-motion technology from Sportvision, inventors of the now standard 1st and Ten virtual line marker.
Employing sophisticated software algorithms, the FreezeCam system enables users to replay game action, then freeze the action while zooming in, out or around the frame, to show players setting up for a given play. Multiple points of interest are chosen and tight shots of any player in a frame can be viewed during replays by zooming in directly on the objects of interest.
This allows analysts to breakdown a play from every angle and easily return to the original frame of view by un-freezing and continuing where the play left off.
During the telecasts, the frozen images seemed a bit out of focus in HD, but the application helped viewers see how plays developed and/or whether a foot stepped out of bounds.
As part of a new deal with CBS Sports, Sportvision's 1st & Ten system, along with a variety of electronically inserted graphic effects, was also incorporated into the network's premier NFL game of the week, which drew the highest ratings for CBS in 20 years.