NHK uses CG technology for visual impact

To make live
sports broadcast easier to understand and to show them in a more attractive
manner,

Japan’s
NHK has developed enrichment systems using real-time motion analysis and
computer graphics (CG).

The systems
correctly extract player or ball regions from sports video by using feature
extraction and classification, and automatically track them by predicting their
movements. At a session at Broadcast Asia representatives of the firm explained
in detail that the prediction process also enables interpolation and real-time
computation. The system can broadcast virtual CGs linked to movements of players
or balls in real-time or just after the original play.

The
systems have been used by NHK in live sports broadcasts. During sports
broadcasts in the current situation, tactics, rules, etc. are often visually
described by placing CGs on top of the pictures taken by the camera. In recent
years, virtual studio techniques using CGs linked to camera work have improved.
For example, by displaying the virtual K point of a ski jump, such techniques
make it possible for viewers of ski-jump competitions to get more visceral
information about the sport.

Indian Television