How do they film the Olympics?

[NowhereMan 1966]

I was watching the men's half-pipe snowboarding event yesterday and I noticed the picture wasn't too great, it was kind of dazzling bright, sort of like the gamma was turned up too high or something. I'm watching the women's half-pipe now and the picture seems OK tonite. How do they film the Olympics, do they use digital cameras, then convert it to analogue? Do they use PAL/SECAM cameras and then convert it to NTSC? I do remember the Albertville games in 1992 when I watched the hockey games then and I noticed a lot of the same thing plus there were times it seemed like it skipped a frame then Back in 1992 and now, the TV I'm using is my infamous 1982 Zenith 25" System 3 console

Chuck

DE KA3WRW

[Fast_Eddie]

I'd guess they use 1080i HD cameras and down convert it to NTSC for us slobs.

Take care,

Ed

[ozmoid]

There will be a mish-mash of equipment onsite. No one company has enough gear freed up to cover everything that's going on, so they share feeds and footage, hire local, import extra gear and operators on a contract basis, any and all of the above. And all (or nearly all) of what we see is being fed from the cameras to a central location - the same event might have a dozen different types of cameras aimed at it, all feeding to the same production facility for editing.

There is prolly some digital, more this year than ever. But remember, these guys have Ikegama cameras that cost 10-20 thousand each or more. They have several hundred thousand bucks in editing bays designed to work with the old gear they have. They are not idly tossing them out and replacing them with digital DV Cams and Final Cut Pro. (Even though you will prolly find both those items available in any production suite you visit these days!)

As for the white balance issue, if it was uniform in all the angles, it was a post-production problem. If it was just one camera angle, it was an operator error or malfunctioning equipment. Snow is hard to shoot, and time of day can make a big difference.

And the last thing is, it really doesn't matter how the video is captured, the signal from your antenna, cable provider, or dish system is going to be the weak link in the chain.

[domfjbrown]

Hey Fast Eddie - love the avator! Are there many PROPER Ford Capris in the states??

We used to have a Mk1 1600GT in metallic brown of all colours - it hid the rust! Great cars for the fun factor though