Broadcast Bridge
Israeli video capture startup Pixellot is launching a cut down version of its panoramic camera rig to target the remote production of youth and college sports, coaching and amateur sports.
The Pixellott Lemur, introduced later this year, is a three-camera rig with picture stitching software designed for live webcasting.
“There is a huge market for this product,” claimed Robi Podgor, Pixellot's broadcast project manager. “We called it Lemur because we are targeting the ‘long tail’ of second and third tier sports.”
The company also has what it calls a “surround video application” in development. “This is a second screen app taken from the panoramic camera view for streaming to IoS and Android mobile devices. The user can manipulate the images, zoom into it, play replays, stop the action and rewind it – all live.”
Its main product, which is being marketed as an enhancement to tier 1 sports OBs, is a 12-camera array comprising 4 Megapixel cameras which are image-stitched to form a 48 Megapixel panoramic view for HD remote sports production. It supports 25/50 and 30/60 frames per second.
“Instead of covering a second or third tier soccer game with an OB van you can do the same operation remotely with this system by placing one camera on the main stand of the stadium,” explained Podgor. “What is revolutionary is that we send proxy images from the venue to the remote production hub over a standard 1.5Mbps internet link. Operators using a joystick can manoeuvre the angle of the video – zoom in, out, pan right and left and all virtually. This information is sent back to the stadium system and applied to the high-resolution images in realtime.”
Customers of the 12-camera array include TV Azteca in Mexico, UK 3D graphics specialist Alston Elliot and sports data analysis experts Prozone (now owned by Stats).
Applications made possible by the product include virtual advertising attached-to-field and attached-to-players; ball and player tracking-based stats from Sportvu/Stats; the ability to add a 'Star player' cameras with no additional equipment and the possibility to go back and evaluate controversial 'off the ball' events that may be missed by traditional OBs following the action.
Pixellot's co-founder is Miky Tamir, a co-founder of Orad HiTec Systems and the founder of Sportvu, maker of a sports statistics tool acquired by Stats in 2008.
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