Stars on the field

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At the Beijing Olympics, we will witness the first fully-HD Games delivered at 1080/50i. The production will employ more than 60 HD OB units and 1,000 HD cameras.

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At the Beijing Olympics, we will witness the first fully-HD Games delivered at 1080/50i. The production will employ more than 60 HD OB units and 1,000 HD cameras.

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At the Beijing Olympics, we will witness the first fully-HD Games delivered at 1080/50i. The production will employ more than 60 HD OB units and 1,000 HD cameras.

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Iconix HD-RH1.

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Adrian Pennington tracks key technology advances in the production of sport for television.

Advances in sports production technology tend to congregate around major international events when broadcasters are prepared to pay a premium for innovations that give them an edge over the opposition.

They don't get bigger than the Olympic Games where the demand to replay action from every possible angle is huge. This summer's host broadcaster Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB - a joint venture between Chinese state broadcaster CCTV and regular Olympic producer International Sports Broadcasting promises the first fully HD Games delivered at 1080/50i.

The production will employ more than 60 HD OB units; more than 1,000 HD cameras; and over 450 VTRs.

The track and field athletics alone will feature over thirty HD cameras plus over 30 remote mini-cams plugged into pole vaults; high jump poles; fitted to hammer throw nets; or into the ground on the javelin pitch as well as a variety of trackside and aerial cameras.

Panasonic has been an official Olympic sponsor since 1988 (through to 2012). This year's agreement includes recording all feeds onto DVCPRO HD using a combination of tape and, another first, P2 solid state memory from the P2HD AJ-HPX2100 and 3000 camcorders.

Camera Corps will be among additional suppliers to BOB, fielding over 250 HD camera systems, 18 motorised tracking systems, plus remote heads and large camera cranes.

Bolstering BOBs main cameras will be a range of specialist miniature, wireless and super slow motion equipment, the technology for which has until recently only been able to record SD signals.

Mini-HD cameras

Featuring a camera head the size of a golf ball, and weighing just two ounces, the Iconix HD-RH1 is the world‘s smallest professional HD camera reflected in its US $16,000 price tag. Polecam, which makes the lightweight, flexible single-operator camera boom, says it has noticed an upturn in sales coinciding with the sales of mini-HD cameras (Toshiba' s 1080i IK-HD1/ Camera Corps' HD MiniZoom are others) particularly for sports.

The Iconix and Polecam combination has been used for live broadcast trials during American Football (NFL) games, the EURO2008 Final Draw and provided the in goal shots at every game of 2006 World Cup.

A unique BBC department, BBC Resources Special Cameras, is responsible for some of the most unique camera angles in world sport. Its most famous application is the stumpcam, now standard issue for cricket coverage. It has also put remotely-operated 360-degree cameras in rugby posts - now in HD; mini-cams onboard A1 GP cars and in the bullseye for archery contests.

Its HD Plunge Cam, developed for the host broadcast of the Asian Games Doha 2006, will feature in Beijing and is built to track divers to 4m below the surface and withstand considerable pressure on the glass and seals.

The department either converts domestic camcorders or adapts widescreen anamorphic, security or medical (endoscopic) lenses and then upconverts the signal to HD.

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