How Much Would You Pay For this Kind of F1 Coverage?
I don’t want anyone to think that I’m obsessed with Formula One television coverage, but when I saw this fantastic demo the other day, the only thing I thought was - Bernie needs to see this:
If you play the video and sit back, all you’ll see is a ride on board a VW Beetle around what I’m assuming is New York City. However, grab your mouse, click on the video and drag for a few seconds and then the thing really comes to life.
360° interactive images have been available on the web for years and years, but to the best of my knowledge they’ve all been static. You could look around a room, or you could get a nice panorama from a cliff top. I’ve never seen them be interactive and contain motion before.
Take a Look Around You
The technology that enables the above visuals has been developed by a company called Immersive Media and they’ve created a housing containing 11 lenses called the Dodeca 2360. It’s about the size of a small ball and I think FOM needs to buy about 20 of them.
Imagine watching an onboard shot during a race and being able to spin right around to see who’s following or who’s to the side. Envisage being able to watch the start of a Grand Prix from the center of the pack in 360°. Or catch an overtaking manouvre, but instead of seeing the beginning from a reverse angle and the end from a different one, you just follow all the action in one sweeping pan. The possibilities are endless.
Pan, Tilt and Zoom
There might be one spanner in the works though, in that as far as I can tell the technology only allows for post-processing viewing, so no live action as yet, but that’s bound to change soon and in the meantime even using it for replays would be a major step forward.
Incidentally NASCAR already use something along these lines, although their’s appears to be a single lens on a motorised platform and could easily miss much of the action. Additionally only one person can control that camera’s direction, but when everything is recorded from every angle, anyone can look anywhere.
How much would you pay to be in control of your own race viewing, to be able to follow your favourite driver yet see so much more than they ever could? I’d put that right up there with the desire for high-definition coverage, what about you?
May 16th, 2008 at 7:19 pmme said:
here’s a better shot of the camera sitting above the beetle:
engadget.com/2007/05/31/check-out-th…
the camera is also responsible for the ‘google street map’ images. i want one!
May 16th, 2008 at 7:23 pmme said:
also, seems red bull might have already been using this technology for some of their ‘other’ sports interests:
http://demos.immersivemedia.com/index.php?clip=RB
May 16th, 2008 at 7:26 pmmy FA fantasy said:
Lovely! That’s just what I want for Monaco race! I’d be able to check out the surroundings… Vorsprung durch technik, zooropa … Why there’s no Zooropean GP on the calendar?
May 16th, 2008 at 7:38 pmme said:
erm, well lack of land hasn’t prevented bernie in the past has it?
there’s no race track in the middle of the pacific either, so i guess it could happen, and the proprietors certainly have the funds to support such a venture.
i guess if we spot the chosen one on the grid this year, we’ll know exactly what he’s doing there
May 16th, 2008 at 8:28 pmSteven Roy said:
That camera is a great toy but would I really wasnt it in F1? It would be great for sorting out incidents after the race. I can imagine how Fisi’s incident at the start of Turkey would look.
On the other hand I definitely don’t want some TV director controlling 20 of these because most TV directors have enough difficulty conveying events as it is. Why are TV directors obsessed with the back of Ron Dennis’s head?
May 16th, 2008 at 8:31 pmme said:
for me this would have to web based video, even if they didn’t appear until the race was over, i’d want to have a look around myself.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:52 pmbrendan stallard said:
“How much would you pay to be in control of your own race viewing”
Me,
My own control of the race, not so sure. I think my price would peak at a max of $300 per year. Beyond that: I would find other things more interesting or rewarding.
I can afford more, sure, but I don’t want to pay more, and frankly: its already expensive enough with some drivers earning more per race than I will earn in my entire life.
brendan
May 16th, 2008 at 8:56 pmSidepodcastFan said:
Fantastic find Me…..It will certainly be a good addition to all F1 coverages.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:33 pmlou said:
WOW! We need this in F1! how great is that! amazing find! But i don’t think i could cope with it during a live race, with live commenting, and live timings too. I think i would end up missing parts of the race, and getting confused, but i would love it if it were available afterwards. As you say, it would be brilliant to see onbourd footage of acidents and overtaking.
May 17th, 2008 at 7:54 amF1Wolf said:
not sure if the teams would be happy having people able to zoom around on all bits and pieces on their cars
May 17th, 2008 at 10:23 amme said:
a good point, and the cars might look a bit daft with an orb positioned above them, but they put the current onboard cameras to shame.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:59 pmCorey said:
This is a great tool. I think it would need to be web-based for sure and probably not live. Would be great to watch interesting portions of the race and be able to look around.
While mounting on the cars would be difficult, imagine if they used a couple of them from different vantage points around the ground and then you could look around and see what was happening while the camera was on the race leaders.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:03 pmme said:
that would be very cool too.
just to take it a bit farther, apparently there’s also a headcam, which will let you literally look around. no need for mouse input at all.
masternewmedia.org/news/2008/04/22/360_pa…
i think i might feel a little bit self-conscious wearing one of those though.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:11 pmme said:
also, even more crazy is this flattened view of the world:
immersivemedia.com/viewers/li…
it’s a bit confusing to watch, but does ensure you miss nothing.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pmAlianora La Canta said:
It would be a useful replay tool, but I’m not sure how much more I’d pay for it. For one thing, it seems to need a faster broadband connection than I have for any useful movement to be had from it…
May 17th, 2008 at 4:42 pmme2 said:
I wouldn’t pay a penny. Sorry but good HD multi camera coverage (including POV cams) gives a much better sense action. Everything is just too small with the 360 camera view.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pmAlianora La Canta said:
I can’t get HD, me2. Between the inability to get planning permission to put up a digital dish and the lack of reception in my area, I’ll have to stick to dreaming for now…