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NFL bringing HD to instant replay

NFL instant replays now in HD

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
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Matt Elliott
Man, that's a sharp picture. The Sports Network

Like many Americans, NFL referees will spend a fair amount of time this fall watching football in HD. The NFL is upgrading the replay equipment in all but three of its stadiums so that its officials can review plays in high-definition. Fans of the Giants, Jets, Colts, and Cowboys will be dismayed to learn that their home games will lack HD instant replay until the stadiums in New York Jersey, Indianapolis, and Dallas are replaced in the next few years. Along with reviewing controversial calls in HD, the refs will also get to view replays on larger 26-inch screens--up from the 20-inch displays they've been using.

The NFL hopes that a sharper picture will increase the accuracy of the refs' calls. The advantages of HD over standard-def are even more evident during slow-motion and freeze frames, according to a spokesperson for Harris Corporation, which supplies the NFL's replay equipment.

In addition to improving the chances of getting a call correct, here's to hoping that HD replays also shorten the time it takes for a replay official to make his ruling.