Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkay
A lot of that is done with highly directional mikes from some distance. The diving ones seem to be from the side, but I'm not sure: they could also be being fed in from somewhere on the board support itself. Also, modern sports venues often have mini-cams and mikes mounted in odd places, like suspended from tracks on the ceiling (or tracks on the bottom of a swimming pool). With computer-controlled servo remote control, they can move them around and zoom in on almost anything. A lot like security systems, but they usually use the smallest high-quality gear to keep it unobtrusive, and of course they are broadcast standard, which is better than the usual security system gear.
Pretty amazing what they can do these days with mini-cams and remote mikes! 
Add to that the computer enhancements (like the green lines that show world-record time location in a swimming pool, or first-down lines in a football game). If you are old enough to remember, just compare the coverage of the modern Olympics or a recent Superbowl to the coverage of 20, 30 years ago. Truly amazing improvements!  |
I remember when they showed the downs and yardage in football where they basically used a character generator imposed on the screen. BTW, I think the first color telecast of the Olympics, at least for the USA, is the 1964 Tokyo games plus they share another first, the first to use the Telstar satellite for relays back home. I think they only could have a few hours of live TV though due to Telstar's orbit.
BTW, I'm still using the same TV now as I did for the 1984 Sareyevo (sp) Winter games.