TL;DR: The Australian Open is streaming games for free on YouTube. The catch is that the players, court, and ball are all 3D generated. They and constructed in near-real time using cameras and video tracking software.
The loophole allows the Australian Open to show a version of live events at the tournament on its own channels, despite having sold lucrative exclusive broadcast rights to partners across the globe.
Demonstration video: https://youtu.be/H-TCgvSeYj4
Around 15 years ago my brother and I worked on an RFID based limb and ball tracking prototype. The idea would be to allow instant replays of sporting events from any possible angle.
We never got funding to complete the project, and transmission interference was always tricky.
I was at the airport and there was an NBA game on tv and on another tv were Disney characters playing basketball. It took me a while to realize it was the same game.
As a software developer (previously game developer) I was very impressed with how good the tracking was. Not just position, but complicated moves, dribbling the ball between their legs, facial animations, everything with less than a 10 second lag.
The Disney version was way more fun to watch.
I like the idea, as I’m not a tennis fan, but the 3d models are too poor quality. It looks like some quick indie project, or as a result of a hackathlon, not something from top class sport event. Or was it only an internal demo, and leaked somehow?
It might not be great, but it’s something. As a life long fan since the Bjorg era, not being able to watch tournaments for years has been kind of deflating.
This is kind of awesome. Also, there’s an extra * in your link
Fat fingers. Thank you for catching that.
