A Recent Innovation in Digital Special Effects: The CBS “Action Track”TM System

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Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: J SMPTE
Volume: 87, No. 10, pp. 673–676
Abstract: The CBS Action Track system generates real-time multiple-image video of objects in motion using any normal color video source, live or prerecorded. Requiring neither special lighting nor special backgrounds, the system produces video depicting not only the present image of a moving object but also a selectable succession of earlier images commencing with a particular action. Utilizing the advantages of PCM-encoded video and digital random-access memory, Action Track obtains the intended effects: (1) by storing a reference field of video representing the scene at the start of the desired action; (2) by comparing picture elements of subsequently arriving video with those of the reference field; (3) by tagging and storing those pixels visibly different from those in the reference field; and (4) by displaying the real-time video with the substitution of those tagged and stored pixels which comprise the successive images of moving objects. Within the constraints of the television system itself and by utilizing controllable picture gating, Action Track has been successfully and effectively used in a variety of sports telecasts. For these applications it has provided the viewer with expanded visualization of motion and trajectory.
Publication Date: 1978-10-01
DOI: 10.5594/J16656
ISSN: Print: 0036-1682
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/J16656
Author(s): J. K. MooreCBS Technology Center, 227 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905
A. KaiserCBS Technology Center, 227 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905
H. W. MahlerCBS Technology Center, 227 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06905
Copyright: © 1978 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

A Digital Noise Reducer for Encoded NTSC Signals [Active]
Digital Techniques for Reducing Television Noise [Active]
3. Brown Harry C. , “Switch to Digital Filter Design,” Electronic Design , 20 : 70 – 74 , 28 Sept. 1972 . EXTERNAL

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J. K. Moore, A. Kaiser, and H. W. Mahler; A Recent Innovation in Digital Special Effects: The CBS “Action Track”TM System, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 87, Issue: 10, October 1978); SMPTE, 1978. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J16656

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J. K. Moore, A. Kaiser, and H. W. Mahler; A Recent Innovation in Digital Special Effects: The CBS “Action Track”TM System, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 87, Issue: 10, October 1978); SMPTE, 1978. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J16656

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<span class="citation">J. K. Moore, A. Kaiser, and H. W. Mahler; <cite>A Recent Innovation in Digital Special Effects: The CBS “Action Track”TM System</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 87, Issue: 10, October 1978); SMPTE, 1978. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/J16656" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/J16656</a></span>

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J. K. Moore, A. Kaiser, and H. W. Mahler; <cite id="bib-10-5594-j16656">A Recent Innovation in Digital Special Effects: The CBS “Action Track”TM System</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 87, Issue: 10, October 1978); SMPTE, 1978
<span class="doi">10.5594/J16656</span>
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Referenced By

Locus Display of Moving Sports Players [Active]