NFL Playoffs 2022: CBS Sports Rolls Out New Sony F5500 Shallow-Depth-of-Field Camera, TrolleyCam, Live Drone for AFC Championship NFL Today show iw onsite in KC; RomoVision makes big strides By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, January 28, 2022 - 3:00 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Coming off one of the greatest games in NFL Playoffs history, CBS Sports is primed to deliver its biggest production of the year at the AFC Championship on Sunday. With more than 80 cameras covering the game and its NFL Today studio show onsite at Arrowhead Stadium, CBS is looking to go out on a high note in Kansas City.
Overall, it has been a really amazing season for us, says Steve Karasik, VP, remote productions, CBS Sports. We're looking forward to another exciting and innovative production on Sunday. I think we showed last week - not just in that unforgettable Kansas City-Buffalo game but also in the Tennessee-Cincinnati game - just how great our production can be. We're going to carry that momentum into this weekend, and we'll have every possible angle covered.
80+ Cameras: Sony HDC-F5500, TrolleyCam, Live Drone, and More CBS will be well-covered in the air - with TrolleyCam and Skycam cabled aerial systems, as well as a live drone - and on the ground with 16 super-slo-mo cameras and two shallow-depth-of-field wireless RF cameras on the sidelines.
CBS will use the Sony HDC-5500 on the sidelines as a combo broadcast/shallow-depth-of-field camera.
In addition to the Atlas Cam RF Sony PXW-FX9 shallow-depth-of-field system that has become a staple of CBS's NFL coverage, the network will deploy an RF Sony HDC-F5500 handheld shallow-depth-of-field system. The F5500, which first appeared on NFL coverage in November, can switch between a traditional broadcast sideline handheld configuration and a shallow-depth-of-field cinematic configuration.
We're very excited about the new Sony F5500 camera because it allows [the operator] to go back and forth between a normal game camera and a shallow-depth- of-field camera, says Karasik. We experimented with it on a regular-season game a couple of months ago, but we wanted to [formally] debut it for the first time on a major national game like this. We feel like it's going to add a whole new element to the broadcast.
The TrolleyCam will fly parallel to the field at speeds up to 65 mph.
The TrolleyCam point-to-point cabled camera system is back, having drawn rave reviews on CBS's Playoffs coverage last year and this year (check out the aerial replay shot it captured of a Bills-Chiefs TD at 00:27 in this clip). Provided by Flycam, the camera zips along a wire from one end of the stadium to the other at up to 65 mph to capture front- row angles for viewers.
It gives us a lot of really exciting and different types of shots that you haven't seen much in football, says Karasik. We got a lot out of it last year in the playoffs and so far this year as well. The TrolleyCam really shines on long runs and big plays, so, with the explosive offenses of both the Bengals and the Chiefs with guys like Tyreke Hill, Jamar Chase, and Travis Kelsey, there's going to be a real opportunity to get some exciting replays out of that TrolleyCam.
MECOLE HARDMAN TURNING ON THE JETSpic.twitter.com/EfEyXbzXoY
(via @NFL)
NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) January 24, 2022
After deploying a live drone first during a game in Green Bay earlier this year, CBS will bring back the Beverly Hills Aerial-provided camera for the AFC Championship.
The drone will give a lot of real impressive sense-of-place shots for director Mike Arnold to weave into the broadcast, says Karasik. We used [Beverly Hills Aerial drones] a lot on our SRX auto-racing coverage, and they were tremendous. We're excited to see what the drone can give us on Sunday.
Remote control for one of four Sony HDC-4800 high-speed 4K robo systems provided by Fletcher for zoom-in replays in Kansas City
3G Wireless is also supplying 20 pylon cams across the two end zones, as well as two line-to-gain cameras embedded in the first-down markers.
NEP's Aerial Video Systems (AVS) is handling RF for all the wireless cameras (including the Sony PXW-FX9) and also providing the RF Sony HDC-3500 handheld, and the RF system for the TrolleyCam system, as well as an RF Sony HDC-P1R Steadicam and an RF Sony 3500 handheld for the NFL Today studio show.
In addition, NEP's Fletcher division is providing four Sony HDC-4800 high-speed 4K camera systems zoom-in replays, two Sony HDC-P43 high-speed goal-post robos, a Sony HDC-P31 booth robo, two Sony HDC-P1R hallway robos, and a Panasonic AW-UE150 PTZ camera for the commentator camera system.
Inertia Unlimited is supplying the RF Sony PXW-FX9 shallow-depth-of-field camera, as well a Sony Venice 4K cinema camera in the booth to shoot play-by-play man Jim Nantz and analyst Tony Romo.
The broadcaster has gone heavy on Canon glass, including a full arsenal of 4K UHD-DIGISUPER 111x and 122x lenses. In addition, the SkyCam system is outfitted with a Canon CJ20ex5 lens, while the Sony 5500 has a Canon 17-120mm Cine Servo lens.
RomoVision Hits Its Stride: Now Available on First Replays As this season progressed, so too did CBS Sports' RomoVision augmented-reality-driven replay segments. The technology, which CBS created in conjunction with Second Spectrum (owned by Genius Sports) and the NFL's Next Gen Stats system, shows 11 X's and 11 O's on a virtual field on the left side of the screen as Romo breaks down the play.
By the time the regular season came to an end, CBS Sports was using RomoVision on first replays, thanks to an accelerated turnaround time in the truck.
A look at the @Juiceup__3 TD in RomoVision courtesy of @NextGenStats@NFLonCBS #BALvsPIT pic.twitter.com/gIEdtXyRfH
NFL (@NFL) December 5, 2
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
At just 20 years old, Sean Melia from Summerhill Co. Meath has been revealed as the winner of Super Garden 2026. Sean is the youngest ever contestant and winner...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
NFL Playoffs 2022: CBS Sports Rolls Out New Sony F5500 Shallow-Depth-of-Field Camera, TrolleyCam, Live Drone for AFC Championship NFL Today show iw onsite in KC; RomoVision makes big strides By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
