If 12 cameras surrounded the city and pointed inward, you could do a “Matrix-like” freeze frame and zoom in. This Visualized Reality was used by CBS at last years Super Bowl. Synched cameras surrounding the field can create a VR-like environment, playing back the action from any angle. They used 33 robotic cameras, each pointed at the same spot from different angles so motion can be viewed from any angle. Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Lab developed key technology. Ultra High Definition Chips with 8.3 million-pixel (3840 x 2160) sensors will be integrated into JVC’s Ultra High Definition TV cameras and stored in a Quvis HDTV box than can be networked with GigE. In a broadcast of a soccer game, for example, the entire field can be shot digitally in real time with the QuadHDTV™ sensor. All action on the field can be recorded with one camera and played back in “instant zoom replay.” Great for Portland traffic reports. It might be feasible to circle the city with USB/Firewire webcams running TeVeo software on a Palm-sized OQO for “matrix” movies combined with “free” community networking. It’s the New Economy Coalition. Commercialization of university research is a good thing.
Intel’s Oregon software labs and Orad use multiple cameras to “vectorize” sports games in real-time. Games can be stored, replayed, and modified with user interaction. Intel‘s TOPlay controls the view of a game. One perspective is a ball’s-eye view. An entire soccer match takes up about 4MB. The audio streams at 5kbps and the video at 25kbps. Intel and OradNet are in talks with various sports Web sites, including ESPN. Digital Sports Entertainment (press release & video demo) and Orad could team with TOPlay for World Cup Action in the Sapporo Dome.
BTW, The World Cup is being held in Korea, where nearly half the citizens have broadband – it costs less than $25/month there. Half of the 30 million Playstations are in the Far East. Everquest, the multi-player game, draws 400,000 at $10/month. The Matrix multi-player game, will allow thousands to play at the same time. The U.S. now ranks tenth in DSL per 100 homes — down from fifth only a year ago. Korea, Japan and China are the broadband leaders.
Welcome to the real world.
