Maxx Zoom is a camera system used by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

for creating close-up replays on ''

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

''. It was introduced in the 41st season (2010) and was developed by Camargus in collaboration with Fletcher Chicago.

Technical description

Maxx Zoom consists of four compact unmanned camera units. Units are placed in pairs along the goal line, where each pair is covering the endzone from opposing angles. The units consist of clusters of four miniature cameras. The images from these cameras are combined using

image stitching Image stitching or photo stitching is the process of combining multiple photographic images with overlapping fields of view to produce a segmented panorama or high-resolution image. Commonly performed through the use of computer software, most ap ...

into a large, high-resolution video feed. Each cluster's pixel count adds up to total resolution of up to 8 times

1080p 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...

resolution or 16 times

720p 720p (720 lines progressive) is a progressive HD signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HD (1.78:1). All major HD broadcasting standards (such as SMPTE 292M) includ ...

resolution (16 Megapixel). This allows for digital zooming into players near the endzone without loss of quality or detail. Its main purpose is to analyze contested plays. For instance, during the New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers game, an NFL official reversed his call on a 2-point conversion based on the Maxx Zoom replay. According to ESPN director Chip Dean, Maxx Zoom is the top development on this year’s broadcasts.

References

{{authority control ESPN

Technical description

See also

References