Piero technology enables better sports clips for mobile phones

Red Bee Media’s Piero system, the first technology of its kind that enables better analysis of sports games, can now be applied to archive footage and can be used to repurpose clips for mobile phones.
Piero enables viewers to see 'play' from angles that cannot be captured by cameras.
The Piero technology transposes pictures of real players into a virtual stadium, where it is possible to view and analyse play from different angles in animated sequences. Offside, forward passing and other offences can be seen from the best angle for analysis - even if the play has not been captured at this angle.
“Piero is giving old and new footage a new lease of life. It’s helping broadcasters make more out of the content they already have. It can also be integrated with game information, results and statistics graphics to form an inclusive package for match analysis,” said Andy Townsend, Design Systems Manager at Red Bee Media.
The Piero tool can also be used to repurpose sports clips for mobile phones. Piero can show ‘play’ from the clearest angle, zoom in on ‘play’ and add extra graphics to the screen such as markers showing where a player has run and the path the ball has taken.
Piero was initially developed for BBC Sport and was released last year. It is now available to any broadcaster. Until recently, it has only been used on games filmed with special mechanical tracking camera heads.
Red Bee Media has now developed the Piero technology so that it can be used on archive footage, or on other games not filmed using purpose-made mechanical tracking equipment. The new Piero system uses image-based tracking for calibration. The line detection software used can be applied to any footage with at least three lines in the picture.
Jim Irving, Series Producer, BBC Sport, said: “Piero lets us tell a story that is editorially-driven. It enables us to use the best footage from any of the cameras we have at a match – a much more cost effective use of feeds. We’ve been able to put new depth into sport programmes for traditional fans and enthusiasts, and help wider audiences understand what would otherwise be difficult to explain.”
(GB)