CBS Sports has brand new Super Bowl XLVII interactive tech ready for second screen fan engagement

CBS Sports has brand new Super Bowl XLVII interactive tech ready for second screen fan engagement. The CBS Super Bowl broadcast will also have new sports tech advancements for global NFL fans delight. I reached out via twitter and was granted a Q & A with the CBS Interactive (CBSi) team for this Sports Techie blog.

CBS Super Bowl Web Site: www.cbssports.com/nfl/superbowl.

#SB47 Companion

The CBS Super Bowl companion experience will have a higher level of interactivity because of complimentary multi-media enhancements. Key interactive features include alternative cameras, DVR functionality, and my favorite, super slo-motion video.

By game day of SB47, all the new and existing CBS technologies will be in place for over seven hours of live Super Bowl 47 pre-game, in-game and post-game streaming. Only thing missing for CBS Television Network is SB announcer Phil Simms on Twitter. Super Bowl day is February, 3^rd at 6 PM in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz SuperDome.

Not many mobile devices have batteries that run for 7 hours so in order to have the best Super Bowl companion experience, be sure to bring your chargers so you’re able to have the battery power to interact on second screens all day, Sports Techie.

Alternative Cams

I am excited about the four alternative online camera angles fans can interact with at CBSSports.com.

• The All-22 cam features a high, full-field view from the 50-yard line, showing all the players on the field.  The All-22 cam is used for the telestration feature in CBS broadcasts to break down plays. Fans can study formations and understand the action from a coach’s perspective.
• The Fan Choice cam is a fixed position that will change based on game action, viewing data, and social factors like polls. The Producer will consider all this data when deciding what angles to stream.
• The Sideline cam is on the mobile cart you see driving around the stadium with a focus on field level shots on offense for goal line and sideline views. Without ball tracking technology in place, pay close attention to the Sideline cam for first downs measurements and goal line touchdown calls.
• The Cable cam angle is my personal favorite because it’s filmed from an aerial view shown from behind the play and stays with the football.  The Cable cam has the look and feel of a video game screen.

Interactive Tech

CBS has new DVR functionality that allows you to record, pause and rewind the game and ads.  If a player makes a spectacular play, or a funny commercial floats your boat, fans are now able review it immediately using the DVR replay tech.

The CBS live stream player is a pop-up browser video based console which is optimized for mobile devices like laptops, desktops and tablets. Real-time statistics and game highlights contribute to create the richest Super Bowl game experience ever.

CBS Sports is together with Evetz Mosaic System to provide SB 47 online viewers six unique camera views and video play back simultaneously in-sync in a quad-split, three-way split, or two-way split, depending on the parameters of the play.

CBSSports.com

The CBS Road to Super Bowl XLVII mobile web site has a dashboard with four pages:

• Top Trends page in terms of players, teams and topics.
• Talent Lounge page has tweets from NFL experts such as Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino, James Brown, and Jim Rome, in addition to The Talk hostesses, and other CBS talent.
• Greatest Commercials vote for your favorites page is worthy of time spent surfing through awesome videos of historical Super Bowl advert gems.  They also have a
• Celebrity Cook-Off page has recipes and the ability to tweet your vote.

All this wonderful web site tech and Super Bowl content is more of the ‘deep social integration’ for the CBS live game player and at CBSSports.com.

Halftime

A Live halftime stream at CBSSports.com is available for the first time in the history of the Super Bowl. Online viewer can watch exclusive commercials in real-time as they simultaneously broadcast on CBS. Second screen users will enjoy the DVR type video control of the Super Bowl 47 halftime ads that allows for pause, rewind and play.

The Pepsi halftime show featuring 16-time Grammy winner Beyoncé is a major component of the interactive plans for CBSi. Anyone can upload a favorite ‘pose’ photo right now at CBSSports.com/Pepsi and pepsi.com/halftime for a chance to be seen by millions as part of a ground breaking crowd-source marketing initiative for selecting the video introduction. Hundreds of fan submissions will be mashed together in a new video that starts off the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show. Photo submissions for #PepsiHalftime ends January, 21^st.

Social Media

There is not a lot of detailed information yet about the social features for Super Bowl 47 by CBSi other than what was in several CBS press releases from last week. We do know that online fans can vote, participate in polls, and have the ability to engage with social media, i.e. reading or sharing CBS tweets.

Look for a curated twitter screen featuring CBS Sports expert commentary. Follow CBS Sports on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CBSSports, @CBSSportsGang and @NFLonCBS, #CBSSuperBowl.

My Facebook question to CBSi in our Q & A went unanswered but what I can tell you is Facebook is already part of the CBS interactive Super Bowl content. You can ‘See Which Players and Teams Are Dominating The Chatter’ on Facebook here: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/superbowl/insights.

NFL fans have the online opportunity to discuss commercials on social networks and check out custom CBSi visuals of the most talked about Super Bowl content.

Integrating with social media technology is definitely a major part of the deep social integration plans by CBS for SB47.

Heyeper Zoom Camera System

My favorite tech by CBS Sports is the new high-speed “Heyeper Zoom” camera system. It’s a high frame rate camera system on 6 cams, with 4K replay, and zoom.  The “Heyeper Zoom” replay system can capture video at a frame rate between 300-500 frames per second (standard is 60fps).  “Heyeper Zoom” uses For-A-Corp’s, FT-One, 4K cameras, equipped with Fujinon lenses and Evertz Corp’s DreamCatcher record servers.

According to CBS, ”the For-A cameras use 3840 by 2160 pixel imagers, totaling more than 8 million pixels, four times greater than current high-definition video. The Evertz DreamCatcher replay system records the 4K video signal allowing CBS Sports to use the full 4K resolution to zoom in on critical points of a play (i.e., foot inbounds, turnovers, etc.) for high-resolution review.  The unique Evertz user interface allows an operator to quickly determine critical points of play and rapidly turn them around for on-air use. The entire system is being integrated and housed by NEP, Inc.”

During the Houston Texans vs. New England Patriots #NFLPlayoff game last Sunday, CBS broke out their new Heyeper Zoom tech to show a super slo-mo instant replay of an incomplete touchdown catch by Devier Posey according to the official right in front of the play.  The play was automatically reviewed since it was a scoring play and although the Texans WR was juggling the ball at first, Heyeper Zoom technology made it completely obvious to millions of television viewers that he did have possession of the football before going out of bounds, resulting in a call reversal and touchdown. I hope SB47 booth officials have access to Heyeper Zoom just in case it is needed by the refs.

HIGH-SPEED CAMERAS

CBS reports that “five high-speed cameras will be in hard and hand-held configurations located on the field, in the stands and on sideline carts.  Each camera will have the ability to shoot 300-500 frames per second (normal cameras shoot 60 fps) in 1080i high definition format. These Ikegami/NAC’s Hi-Motion II cameras are supplied by Fletcher and are particularly used in determining questionable calls on the field (i.e., fumbles, receptions, out-of-bounds, etc.) from all different angles.”

I have called high-speed images an art form. With this technology, the human eye can see images of what is normally happening too fast for us to process. Whether it is a dog shaking off water after a swim or Baltimore Ravens WR Torrey Smith’s ballerina type touchdown catch last weekend, the visuals high-speed cameras provide are truly stunning. I wonder what will be ‘seen’ through this amazing technology during SB 47…

High-Tech Graphics

The first down line is a visual tech aid that makes watching football better because of what it does for the viewers. It has been available on CBS Sports’ primary cameras throughout the 2012 NFL season. During Super Bowl 2013, six other cameras will be calibrated with the first down line by SportsVision including Skycam and end zone cameras.  EyeVision, created by Redbee’s Piero 3D analysis technology, will be utilized as a multi-dimensional tool for Phil Simms’ analysis.

CBS will go beyond what the NFL has in place for reviewing field goals and extra point kicks by instituting virtual extensions of the goal posts. The flight path of the ball will be determined providing a better indication if a kick made it through the uprights or not.

“Super Bowl XLVII also will serve as the launch of a new comprehensive animation and insert graphics package. That same look will ultimately roll out on CBS Sports Network later in the year,” says CBS.

CBS Sports Team

The following Sports Techie’s are the executives of the CBS Sports Super Bowl team. Sean McManus is the Chairman, CBS Sports and Executive Producer for the Network’s coverage of the NFL and Super Bowl XLVII. Harold Bryant is Executive Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports. Ken Aagaard is Executive VP, Engineering, Operations & Production Services, CBS Sports. Bruce Goldfeder is VP, Engineering, CBS Sports. Marla Schmettau is Director, Graphics, CBS Sports.

CBSSports.com streamed 20,000 events in 2012 including March Madness, the Masters Tournament and SEC college football and basketball. I was a gopher for CBS Sports during the 1989 Final Four in Seattle thanks to a recommendation from Seattle Seahawks PR legend Gary Wright, a longtime family friend. As a result, I have high expectations that 2013 will be THE Interactive Super Bowl thanks to CBSi.

“CBSSports.com will deliver an unprecedented multi-media experience for Super Bowl XLVII,” said Jim Lanzone, President of CBS Interactive. “We have developed a deeply integrated second-screen environment that perfectly complements the television broadcast of the game, from the pre-game show to the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy”

Q&A

After reading a press release that @CBSSports tweeted I noticed it originated from Jason Kint, SVP/GM Sports Group for @CBS Interactive at @CBSi, including @CBSSports , @cbsfantasynews and @MaxPrep.  I sent him a tweet asking if I could speak to someone about the new CBSi interactive tech for a Sports Techie blog.  He responded with the email address for Annie Rohrs, a press contact for CBSi.  Annie was gracious enough to answer a few of my Sports Techie questions below. Her responses are in Bold.

1) How many people worldwide are you guessing will engage with the CBSSports Live halftime streaming to interact with the exclusive Live commercials, discuss the ads, watch unique camera angles, and use the DVR functionality? – “We aren’t releasing expectations for live stream traffic.”

2) What is the official Super Bowl Twitter hashtag and will CBS have any of their own special social media hashtags besides #CBSSuperBowl on @CBSSports, @NFLonCBS, @EyeOnNFL and @CBSSportsGang? “The official hashtag is an official CBS hashtag that will be used across all CBS Twitter accounts to interact with fans around the game.”

3) Will the All-22 cameras at the 50 yard line have telestration ability that the fans can interact with or are these clips already telestrated by Phil Simms?

4) What factors will the Producer look for when deciding what Fan Choice cam angle to use? The Fan Choice camera angle will be determined by polls of the users on what they want to see and will be changed throughout the game. The live stream player and CBSSports.com will both have deep social integration, and we’ll have more details to come on that

5) Do the NFL booth officials have access to your new Heyeper Zoom Camera System, especially the 4K resolution zoom in? I can’t speak to the broadcast technology questions, the booth official questions, or the Pepsi question – only the live stream

6) Will the officials have access to the CBSSports graphics virtual extensions of the goal posts?

7) What will the animation that is part of the CBSSports high tech graphics do?

8) Will most of this incredible CBSSports Super Bowl tech be used during March Madness?

9) Will all 7 hours of pregame and the entire post game Super BowlXLVII show be streamed Live on February 3rd for free? I will also get back to you about the pre-game and post-game streaming (she did and there was no additional information)

10) Will there be any special CBSSports tech inside the Mercedes-Benz SuperDome in New Orleans that is not online?

11) Is Pepsi adding any technology to the halftime show?

12) Will the CBSSports Facebook and Youtube social networks be part of the CBSSports Super Bowl interactivity?

Q&A Analysis

CBS Sports has indeed created terrific sports technology that will certainly compliment your SB VLVII second screen experiences, Sports Techie. Unfortunately, most of my questions did not get answers because they did not exactly relate to live streaming. There are no Super Bowl 47 pre-game online viewing projections being released by CBSi. Look for the polls Annie talked about when you go through the Fan Choice cam selection process. The official Super Bowl XLVII hashtag is: #SB47.

Sports Techie appreciates the opportunity for the Q & A, thank you Annie, Jason and CBSi.

Sports Techie, CBS Sports is planning to have the most interactive Super Bowl XLVII stream ever. They are using alternative cameras, DVR technology and social media interactivity to invent new ways for online NFL fans to engage with Super Bowl 47 content and sponsors while using their second and third screens.

New CBS Heyeper Zoom and existing EyeVision are sports technology that will help to improve this upcoming Super Bowl broadcast for serious and casual fans alike. CBSi and Pepsi have an innovative Halftime Show planned with new social interactive features that are sure to complement any level of NFL fans SB47 online companion experience.

I plan to watch this Super Bowl game at the Sports Techie techcave in Seattle on a HD TV over a Comcast Xfinity cable feed, plus a Lenovo laptop streaming CBSSports.com through a router, and via my iPhone on AT&T while interacting with social media platforms. SB XLVII promises to be unprecedented Sports Techie fun for me. What kind of second or third screen SB set up and experience will you have? Let us know as a comment.

Get excited to have the richest interactive second screen Super Bowl experience ever thanks to CBS Sports technology. Look for more information about CBS Interactive and broadcast Super Bowl tech over the next few weeks. Whatever device you decide to watch the pre-game, in-game, and post-game, SB47 coverage with; make sure it’s synched with the CBSSports.com interactive features.

Here is to a magnificent Super Bowl XLVII game and second screen experience by CBS and CBSi.

I will see ya when I see ya, THE Sports Techie – http://twitter.com/THESportsTechie

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