Super Bowl tech: Instant replays to be more precise than ever before

It was a play that will live in infamy. Late in the third quarter of the 1979-80 AFC championship game, Houston wide receiver Mike Renfro made a catch that, to those watching at home and in the broadcasting booth, was clearly a touchdown. But because officials on the field lacked the benefit of television cameras and instant replay, it was ruled an incomplete pass on the field. The touchdown would have given Houston the lead, and could have potentially changed the momentum of the game. It's easily one of the most infamously incorrect calls in NFL history.

The NFL eventually went on to institute instant replay, but even with the benefit of being able to rewatch a play on the field, officials still occasionally struggle to get it right. But for Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday, an advancement in camera tech is about to make the instant replay a lot more exacting. And at the same time, it will make the home viewing experience better as well — slow-motion replays will be crisp, smooth, and slow.

Camera manufacturer NAC will be supplying the Super Bowl broadcast with four Hi-Motion II cameras capable of recording up to 1,000 frames per second at 1080p. This is a giant leap forward in camera technology — previous models recorded at a paltry 600 frames per second. We're sure that this kind of technology probably has a lot of scientific uses — MIT made a camera that can capture 1 trillion frames per second. But for a diehard football fan, there's no better use for a high-tech camera than getting each and every call exactly right on the field.

[Image credit: Andy Shaindlin]

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