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X Games Goes Live

The X-Games start today in Los Angeles. The first five minutes of X Games 13 will be televised on August 2, 2007 at 9 p.m. ET, airing live simultaneously on ESPN in the U.S. and 18 ESPN International networks around the globe, reaching 267 million viewers in 145 countries. The entire opening show, as well as an additional 40 hours of X Games 13 coverage, will also be webcast on EXPN.com.

The newly re-designed EXPN.com website will include comprehensive coverage from the event, including:

Exclusive multimedia coverage of each final – live results, video recaps, photo galleries, insider information and features;
Blogs and vlogs from Moto X rider Brian Deegan and skateboarder Danny Way. These X Games gold medalists will discuss practice sessions and competition preparations;
X13 Podcasts – video and audio podcasts available via the ESPN Podcenter, EXPN.com and iTunes;
Page 2 – Mary Buckheit, from ESPN.com’s award-winning Page 2, will file all-access stories from behind-the-scenes at X Games 13;
X13 Surf Webcast – free replay of the X games 13 surfing competition held July 3-6 in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Webcast features complete user integration; simultaneous leaderboard, chat transcript, polling and video highlights;
Rally Rider – exclusive X Games online video game lets users to create their dream rally track and set their driver loose on an original creation.
In total, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will offer 14.5 hours of X Games coverage.
MediaFLO USA will offer eight hours of live X Games coverage daily, from August 2-5, on EXPN — a special mobile TV channel dedicated solely to the X Games

In other news, I-Movix will attend to the International Broadcast Convention in Amsterdam next month (IBC News).

I-Movix has already taken its first steps in Europe with its participation at several major LIVE EVENTS, the Redbull XFighters in Dublin and Madrid and the Evian Masters - the Professional Women’s Golf tournament.

The Movix SprintCam shoots from 500fps to 5000fps with instant HD/SD - SDI output for replay.

RF Central’s RFX-CMT-II is a camera-mounted transmitter (right). With HD, SDI or ASI signal inputs, the transmitter can be mounted on a camera for live news and sports coverage. The compact unit offers a variable 6MHz/7MHz/8MHz modulator and 100mw power output. A 5.8 GHz version has not yet been authorized.

Like the technology from “The Matrix,” the Kewazinga system uses a curved rail with cameras affixed at regular intervals. Unlike the movie version, however, Kewazinga uses conventional video cameras or exotic slow-motion film cameras to capture live, full-motion sequences (video). Kewazinga’s technology delivers results at near-real time speeds on garden-variety computers from Sun Microsystems and Dell Computer. ESPN, which uses the technology in the X Games, calls the effect “AXIS“. Some 36 video cameras are suspended on a rig around the biker ramp to capture X Games competitors’ flips, spins and other tricks on hard drives.

Ken Aagaard, SVP of operations and engineering for CBS Sports, says, “The biggest difference between EyeVision (video) and Kewazinga is that we’re not recording and storing and that our cameras move while theirs don’t. With our system there’s no tape replay, no turnaround time for capturing and rendering.”

Perhaps some of the techniques used for X-Game broadcasts could be applied on a smaller scale. JVC’s HD Everio GZ-HD3 has three 16:9 progressive scan CCDs for 1440 x 1080 HD recording on a 60GB HDD ($1,300 USD). Hitachi will have a Blu-Ray model.

A WiFi-enabled Nikon S-50c ($350) could provide continuously updated stills uploaded directly to Flickr. Breeze Systems has the leading application for controlling Canon PowerShot cameras from a laptop.

Zoomify, SocialCanvas and Microsoft’s HD View can host your photos — with an Infinite Zoom. Autostitch, the world’s first fully automatic image stitcher, can create Gigapixel panoramas without any user input.

Immersive Media uses 12 cameras (right), but isn’t “live”. Microsoft RoundTable ($3000), features 360° panoramic views powered by 5 built-in cameras. It’s used with Microsoft Live Meeting.