Cameras to give ‘crazy’ views of Mavs games

Cuban says the American Airlines Center and freeD (Free Dimensional Video) have spent six weeks installing high-res cameras in the AAC roof to be deployed as soon as the Lakers-Mavs game on Nov. 21 that will give ‘crazy’ views of games. It will allow any video image to be frozen and turned 360 degrees, giving fans seeing the images on the AAC videoboard and viewers watching Fox Sports Southwest telecasts unique views of the game. The technology has already been used in the NFL and in the 2014 NBA All-Star Game. The software can take a single byte and transform it into views. Cuban:

For example, right at the jump ball, what does Tyson (Chandler) see? It literally recreates that perspective. If the ball goes out of bounds and you want to see who touches it, you’ll be able to spin the whole thing and look from any angle. The secret sauce is it converts (the high-resolution video) to actual data. And the double secret sauce is from that data, you can recreate any of the visuals. So from this, that is recreated into data. From using the software, you can look at it from any angle.

The Mavs will initially be the only team with the technology on videoboard and replays. Other teams will be able to license it for videoboard and local TV use but will need to pay money. NBA replay officials in Secaucus, N.J., will have access to the Fox Southewest feeds and will be able to use the technology to confirm or reverse calls by the ref.