NFL Playoffs 2021: Fox Sports Boosts Super-Mos, PylonCams and Brings Back Megalodon' for Postseason Fox broadcast of Saturday's Rams-Seahawks game to be available in 4K By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, January 8, 2021 - 3:45 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Fox Sports shifts into playoff mode this Saturday for the first of four NFL postseason broadcasts over the coming weeks. Despite a taxing regular season threatened by the pandemic, Fox Sports is looking to ride a wave of innovation that has seen the launch of The Vault remote-production workflow, a second season of Thursday Night Football 1080p HDR productions, the advent of the Megalodon' mirrorless camera system, and other technological advances.
However, while there has been plenty of invention on the technical side, the Fox Sports operations team's greatest triumph this year has been keeping its crew as safe and healthy as possible.
We all have worked together - along with so many others in the industry - to essentially rewrite the book in terms of how to safely produce [live football]. And all the credit goes to our team, who have been just amazing, says Mike Davies, SVP, technical and field operations, Fox Sports. To have everybody singing from the same hymnbook has been fantastic. Frankly, I learn something from this group every day, and I couldn't be more proud of them.
Playoff Playbook: Backend PylonCams, Plenty of Super-Mo, and Megalodon Returns Fox Sports' playoff coverage should feature plenty of unique angles in the end zone with the addition of end-line PylonCam systems for all four games. Fox will now have a 3G Wireless PylonCam (each featuring five miniature cameras) at all four corners of both end zones (Fox will also have a line-to-gain PylonCam system).
That's usually something we don't normally get to until a Super Bowl, says Davies, but, this time, we were able to put in two end-line pylons at each side. That will help us in getting some more ground-level angles because we now literally have the entire end zone covered.
Fox also continues to work with EVS on its extra motion replay system, which uses artificial intelligence to create additional frames in a 60-fps replay, enabling it to have 180 frames per second and be played back as a super-slow-motion replay. Fox first used a prototype of the EVS system at Super Bowl LIV and has looked to leverage it more for this season.
That EVS extra motion could very well be used to derive super-motion on the PylonCams, says Davies. It takes a little while because it has to go from the EVS server to the AWS cloud, where the processing is done, and then back down. But that has been increasing in frequency every week, and super-motion on PylonCams looks absolutely amazing. So we're taking a close look at that.
Aside from the additional backend PylonCams, Fox plans to deploy a camera complement similar to its Thursday Night Football productions. However, Davies says, Fox will have super-slo-mo licenses activated on every single camera covering the field for playoff games: Basically, every camera on the field is going to be super-motion of some kind.
Saturday's Rams-Seahawks matchup will be the latest outing for the cinematic-style roving camera that Fox has dubbed Megalodon, or Mirrorless Gyrostabilized Lightweight DSLR Nonorig (MGLDN). First deployed at the Week 16 Seattle-Washington game in place of a traditional Steadicam, the system features a Sony a7R IV mirrorless DSLR camera and Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lens on a Ronin-S handheld gyrostabilized gimbal with a 1080p wireless transmitter provided by CP Communications. The shallow depth of field delivers cinematic visuals previously unheard of in live NFL-game broadcasts. Megalodon will be used for all four of Fox's playoff games and focus on capturing end-zone shots following scoring plays.
That camera was one of the more surprising things for us because we've been using it in various ways for some time, especially during the pregame, says Davies. But, by using it in a live environment and really picking our spots for touchdown celebrations, behind the bench, and even around huddles, it heightens the production and makes people take notice. We are definitely bringing it to all of our playoff games, and we'll continue to try to enhance it and make it better as we go.
Also included in Fox's roughly 30-camera complement for this Saturday (not including PylonCam systems) is a Sony 4K high-speed HDC-4800, which has become an integral part of Fox's A-game coverage since being introduced in 2019.
The 4800 has been amazing because you can have as many as 10 different replays from that one camera, says Davies. You wouldn't believe how many replays that make their way into [the broadcast] come from that camera.
A Hybrid Production Model: Encore in Seattle, The Vault in L.A. In the compound, Game Creek Video Encore (home to Thursday Night Football this season) will handle this weekend's Rams-Seahawks game in Seattle with director Rich Russo and producer Richie Zyontz at the front bench. The game will be produced in 1080p HDR (as has been the case all season for TNF) and be available for distribution in 4K.
In addition to Encore, Game Creek Bravo will handle one of Fox's two games next week with director Artie Kempner and producer Pete Macheska overseeing the production.
However, Fox's NFL operations have gone well beyond the four walls of a mobile unit this year, having launched The Vault at its Pico facility in Los Angeles. To limit personnel onsite due to COVID safety protocols, Fox took a space that was previously a tape library and transformed it into a work area where nearly 30 crew members can perform replay, graphics, and other functions for productions taking place hundreds and eve
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
NFL Playoffs 2021: Fox Sports Boosts Super-Mos, PylonCams and Brings Back Megalodon' for Postseason Fox broadcast of Saturday's Rams-Seahawks game to be available in 4K By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
