Did you catch the NBA's dual SkyCam special HDTV broadcast?
by Richard Lawler 
posted Apr 12th 2006 at 12:56PM
As we told you about previously, the NBA debuted a whole new way of broadcasting their game last night for HDTV owners. I caught it and came away pretty impressed. The angle provided by the two SkyCams was far superior to the usual camera angles used. It brought you in a lot closer to the floor and made it feel like sitting close to courtside instead of simply being in the arena way up in the upper deck.
One of my complaints about NBA broadcasts in high definition in the past has been how far out the cameras zoomed. There was often too much empty court or stands in the view and the players seemed small and far away (although amazingly detailed). Maybe having a bigger TV would have helped, but I don't and so I'm complaining. With these new camera angles I did not have that complaint at all.
(Sorry about the painfully SD screenshot, but hopefully you can get an idea of the angle as Chris Wilcox goes in for a dunk)
Even when the players were on the other side of the court, I could better appreciate the speed and athleticism almost as well as if I was present. I went to a couple Detroit Pistons games last month with seats in a similar area and the new cameras compared quite favorably. Check out these screens as Ray Allen shots a jumper over Rasho Nesterovic, and then later the Sonics get out on a fast break.
My only complaint was that the cameras did sometimes have a noticeable vibration. It wasn't horrible but could be disconcerting. I don't know how much they can do to alleviate that, but it was the only negative I noticed. The new cameras are almost like watching a videogame; they are impossibly close to the action and always well focused. I certainly hope we get more broadcasts like this in the future from NBA TV and others. It brought me back to the old days (mid-90's, I'm not that old) of NBC and Marv Albert, they would constantly use cameras at the sidelines and baselines during the game to give a close up view of the players.
Did anybody else see the game, and what do you think of the new camera system?
Update: As Travis reminded me below, I forgot to mention the unique audio portion of the game, featuring no commentators, only arena sounds.
It was very similar to their previous silent game. All you heard was the stadium announcer and court sounds.That was excellent as well. They kept the score and ticker viewable so you could see various stats during the game. While you could hear the crowd and arena music, it never overpowered the sounds of balls bouncing and sneakers squeaking. It was great. They also fixed one of my criticisms of the silent game, the segue into a commercial break. Instead of just jumping suddenly, they faded in the music indicating they were going to commercial. It was a small touch but it helped.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DanMacMan @ Apr 12th 2006 1:09PM
Is this going to be carried over to ESPN/ABC/TNT?
Richard Lawler @ Apr 12th 2006 1:12PM
Hopefully.
travis @ Apr 12th 2006 1:56PM
Now I had read somewhere (this site possibly) that this new format was supposed to be devoid of annoying commentary to more accurately simulate actually being at the game. Was that true of last nights broadcast, or is this something planned for future broadcasts?
Richard Lawler @ Apr 12th 2006 2:03PM
I did forget to mention that didn't I? It was very similar to their previous silent game. All you heard was the stadium announcer and court sounds.That was excellnt as well. They kept the score and ticker viewable so you could see various stats during the game, and while you could hearthe crowd and arena music, it never overpowered the sounds of balls bouncing and sneakers squeaking.
It was great.
Chris @ Apr 12th 2006 2:35PM
I thought the skycams really gave the game a "you are there" feel. It gave a much better reflection of the speed those guys are moving.
Unfortunately, they need to work a bit on the reliability of those cameras before they're ready to work as the sole cameras for a primetime broadcast. Early in the game one of the cameras froze and they didn't switch back to that camera until (I think) the beginning of the second quarter. It was much better when they could switch between the cameras rather than just watching one camera in the corner of the court pan back and forth.
Brett @ Apr 12th 2006 2:46PM
DAMN I MISSED IT! I'm a huge NBA fan (my site is http://theassociationblog.com) and it looks like a big improvement. I also liked the previous "silent game" on NBA TV.
Here's hoping they roll this out for the playoffs and/or Finals.
JJ @ Apr 12th 2006 4:02PM
Was it just me, or did the picture look pretty bad? I was watching on a 1080i CRT HDTV. But the sound was pretty amazing.
Richard Lawler @ Apr 12th 2006 6:36PM
I didn't think the picture was bad, just different, like maybe they need to adjust differently for the lighting. That was taking into account that the NBA TV HD games usually don't look as good as ESPN's broadcasts.
jojo @ Apr 12th 2006 9:55PM
It seems like you're watching a live game sitting on the 1st level frontcourt seats, especially if you have a big screen panel. I think they need to upgrade that HD skycam, it looks like a low grade 1080i/720p broadcast.
David @ Apr 13th 2006 1:42AM
I seriously thought that first picture was a screnshot from a video game at first glance, can't wait to see the thing in action.
Steve @ Apr 13th 2006 12:42PM
Didn't get to see the video, but the talk about the sound piqued my interest.
For years I've been e-mailing the various networks about having field sounds on SAP channels so viewers don't have to be pestered by the commentators.
Many of us want to hear the screaming on the sidelines, the chatter of the players, the obsceneties, screaming at the refs.
It would definitely be more interesting than hearing the jaded commentators hyping certain players or whatever. Give me the real game sounds!
James @ Apr 13th 2006 2:27PM
i watched it and was really impressed. Infact, my team (the Kings) were on the other channel at the same time, but i opted to watch this game. The picture was not as good as my Kings HD coverage, but the camera angles, and audio made up for it. Having 5.1 was great, you could hear every bounce and step of the players and ball, and the commentator couild have been sitting next to me. Hopefully this will start to catch on.
joe hagen @ Apr 17th 2006 1:59AM
I thought this broadcast as amazing and gave me the sense of being courtside. Will you be broadcasting any future games with this new format?
J. hagen