Different Looks

For the better part of a century, man has been devising reasons to stay away from the game. First, radio pulled voices out of the air and into a box in our living room. Then that box sprouted a cathode-ray tube, and, presto, we had TV, which soon gave us slow motion, close-ups and instant replay, allowing for intimate views of mouthed obscenities and crotch tugging. Now the quest to keep us on our couch continues with a pair of new technologies: ABC Panasonic Scanvision, an impressive swivel-and-twist replay system the network has employed during the NHL finals; and the raw-but-promising, 360-degree Be Here camera that NBC planned to introduce this week during the NBA Finals.

If Scanvision sounds familiar, it's because it's a refinement of EyeVision, the system of robotic cameras that CBS unveiled to much hype but less effect during Super Bowl XXXV in January. Like EyeVision, Scanvision employs about 30 cameras placed around the arena that combine to produce one morphed shot. During the Stanley Cup finals the results have been stunning, especially on Avalanche center Dan Hinote's give-and-go goal in Game 3, when the replay smoothly pivoted to show the play from start to finish and from different vantage points. Jed Drake, senior vice president of remote production for ESPN, which produces the games for sister network ABC, attributes the improvement over EyeVision to better resolution and more familiarity with the process. "Editorially we have to be astute and know where to follow," says Drake, "or we just have a bunch of cameras whipping around."

Less polished but more intriguing is the Be Here system, which NBC was planning to roll out slowly during the NBA Finals. Be Here uses doorknob-shaped cameras, which NBC is placing behind each backboard. The camera produces a donut-shaped image of the entire court and its surroundings. The image can be frozen, flattened and otherwise manipulated. For the Finals, NBC hopes to freeze shots and pan in and out while analyst Doug Collins narrates how, for example, a three-point shooter got open in the corner. Though the Be Here technology is in its infancy (and, judging by the demonstration tape we saw, the resolution leaves something to be desired), imagine if it had been available for, say, Michael Jordan's Finals-winning jumper in 1998. In one image NBC could have shown not only the shot but also the reaction of the bench, the fans, the coaches, even the ball boys. Maybe the only thing NBC couldn't have shown was your reaction as you leaped from your couch.