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Russian video recording and analysis developer slomo.tv released a series of new products and enhancements during 2015, with two being adopted by sporting associations for major competitions or leagues. The 12-channel videoReferee® was used on the Canoe Slalom European and World Championships and will feature in the same discipline during the 2016 Rio Olympics. Another new version of the system designed specifically for basketball is now being used by the LKL Lithuanian league.
Since being founded in 2007, slomo.tv has produced a range of recording and control systems based on software and generally available IT components. It moved into sports analysis with the videoReferee® range, which is now used in a variety of competitive games, notably ice hockey and basketball, to adjudicate on contested decisions or incidents.
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During the Canoe Slalom World Championships, which took place in London at the Lee Valley Olympic Course this September, World Canoe Slalom Association ICF used the videoReferee® system to support the judges during the tournament. The 12 channel videoReferee® video judging system offered reliable and safe decisions during the tournament with 55 countries participating and thousands of visitors on site and at home. During the Olympic Games 2016 in Brazil videoReferee® will also be the video judging tool for the Canoe Slalom tournaments.
For the first time videoReferee® was used as the main judging system during a Canoe Slalom World Championship. The event took place at Lee Valley White Water Centre at the outskirts of London. On the race track that was used for the 2012 Olympics 300 athletes from 55 countries were fighting for medals and positions. The videoReferee® system enabled the judges to provide fast and reliable decisions.
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The use of videoReferee® at the Canoe Slalom European Championships in Germany was also a test for the Canoe Slalom World Championships to be held in London in September 2015.
As elite European Slalom canoeists battled it out in the white water during the Canoe Slalom European Championships in Germany last month, competition judges were high and dry in the video suite, using a new multi-camera system for monitoring, judging and evaluating performances.
The International Canoe Federation ICF worked with local event organizers at Canoe Park Markkleeberg (Saxony), one of the most modern white water systems in the world, to install and implement a videoReferee® system from slomo.tv, which was used as an additional tool for monitoring up to 25 gates on the 270 meter-long race course.
Canoe Slalom competitors must get through a complex white water course in a very short time while passing through downstream or upstream gates correctly. The gates must be passed completely, and the canoeist must not touch the protruding gate rods. If they fail to do so, of course, penalty seconds are assessed.
But whether a rod is touched or a gate has been passed correctly is often difficult to judge during the split-second competition and swirling waters.
So video judging systems have been used by the International Canoe Federation in international competitions since 2007.
But existing production equipment and sports technical tools are pushed to their limit, and often beyond, due to less perspectives and available camera signals. Judges, athletes and fans felt that simultaneous view of several signals and perspectives was difficult to achieve and that fair decision-making was impacted as a result.
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Between May 28 and 31 the elite of European canoeing met in Germany for the Canoe Slalom European Championships. During the competition the International Canoe Federation ICF supported the local organisers in implementing video judging systems, using a videoReferee® system. At Canoe Park Markkleeberg (Saxony), one of the most modern white water systems in the world, slomo.tv’s videoReferee® system was used as an additional tool for monitoring the gates. This first use of videoReferee® was also a test for the Canoe Slalom World Championships to be held in London in September.
In order to assist the referees in questionable situations the International Canoe Federation ICF has implemented video judging systems in international competitions since 2007. However, the common technical tools in use often reached their limits because of poor perspectives and available camera signals.
The organisers of the 2015 Canoe Slalom European Championships went in a new direction. During the Championships in Markkleeberg (Germany) ICF supported the local host with the implementation of video judging systems using ideoReferee®. With this system the referees had access to up to 11 camera signals in HD quality. In the competition, all signals could be viewed and marked simultaneously during continuous recording. videoReferee® offered the organisers and referees unprecedented opportunities to clarify controversial scenes, thus ensuring more fairness during competition.
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The deployment of its newly launched instant replay system, Simple R, during the Bulgaria/Denmark World Cup qualifier last month was undoubtedly a recent highpoint for multi-channel recording, slow motion, instant replay and sports refereeing solutions provider Slomo.tv. But viewed in context, it was merely the latest stage of progress for a company whose profile has grown steadily since it was established in 2007.
Sandro Glanzer, Slomo.tv European and ME product manager, readily allows that "Simple R is now on everyone's lips", but insists that there is much more to the company's current offer than this compact 3-in, 2-out instant replay server. "We provide customised solutions at affordable prices for practically all tapeless recording applications," he remarks. "Our major product lines with up to 16 channels of HD include DMR technology – a unique process of simultaneously recording to internal RAID storage and direct into NLE native files to external media. Our servers can be networked together, while we are also very proud to have the only Windows-based broadcasting systems licensed for Apple ProRes codecs."
And, all the time, the sports-oriented range continues to grow. By way of illustration, Glanzer alludes to videoReferee®, an 11 HD channel server for video adjudication, which captures official data from the scoreboard controller and creates a DVD of game highlights. "The system is already very successful in Russia and [has been] installed at almost all major sports arenas," he says.
2013, meanwhile, looks set to be a year of significant new product launches. A combination of mixer, multi-viewer and editing tool, MIXpace aims to "dramatically" reduce space requirements and weight in OB vans; multiple MIXpace devices will be able to access the same video sources simultaneously. Also on the way is the compact, ‘entry-level’ Brick, which provides four recording channels (HD/SD on SSD) and two-channel playback with transitions in a 2U, 9.5" wide form factor.
