Fox Sports brings out drones, augmented reality, shot tracers for U.S. Open broadcast
Zac Fields, senior vice president of graphic tech and integration at FOX Sports, explained that there will be two versions of augmented reality used for the broadcast next week.
The first is during live action. Every tee shot will be highlighted by some sort of ball-tracing technology — nine tee boxes are equipped with Toptracer for live real-time video overlay, while the other nine have Trackman radar devices that provide enhanced data and are used for FOX FlightTrack, a live trace over a graphic representation of the hole.
Augmented reality will also be used for graphics in the studio, like virtual leaderboards and virtual holes, which “allow our analysts to break down every hole on the golf course in unique fashion,” Fields noted. FOX is using a 75-foot crane that captures overhead views to make this graphics feature possible.
Drones will also be flying around before the tournament starts as FOX captures aerial video to show during its coverage. FOX is also using 4K cameras on three holes.
All in all, FOX will use 110 total cameras, 216 microphones, 36 miles of fiber optic cabling, and more than 62,000 man hours to put the broadcast together.
Some of the tech that FOX tested in 2015, like virtual reality, won’t be used this time around.
See the full story here: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/fox-sports-brings-drones-augmented-reality-shot-tracers-u-s-open-broadcast/