RaceTech chooses IDT to capture Super-Slow-Motion images for Sky Sports Racing

El núcleo del sistema creado por RaceTech para el despliegue de Sky Sports Racing es una IDT CrashCam Mini 3510 que puede grabar y almacenar hasta 1300 fps a 1080p.

RaceTech, una empresa que ofrece soluciones innovadoras a la industria hípica del Reino Unido, ha elegido Integrated Design Tools (IDT) como socio tecnológico para capturar imágenes Super-Slow-Motion para la producción para Sky Sports Racing.

Chris Clark, RaceTech's director of racing engineering, notes that "given the speeds at which horses cross the finish line, in a very close finish it is not always clear which horse may have won a race, even in an instant television replay, due to the angles of the television camera and the motion blur associated with the frame rate. We wanted a way to give viewers an experience similar to that of other sports where different replay angles are offered immediately before the official announcement."

IDT UK Sales Director, David Rudeforth, acknowledges that "RaceTech considered many systems in the selection process against the criteria of suitability, performance, reliability, delivery and ease of deployment versus cost. Most high frame rate cameras require a separate server/playback system to capture the enormous amount of frame data. This equates to a high price tag above what is normal on any system before you have even purchased the camera, controller or connectivity interfaces. We quickly established that a camera with built-in recording capability was "There are several camcorders on the market that have slow motion capability, capturing 150 fps, but even at that frame rate the camera performance was insufficient and lacked the required controllability."

IDT cameras are used around the world in various functions, from car crash testing to machine automation monitoring. The core of the system created by RaceTech for the deployment of Sky Sports Racing is a IDT CrashCam Mini 3510 which can record and store up to 1300 fps at 1080p. With dimensions of only 44 x 44 x 70 mm, the camera also has an HD-SDI output that can be played at different speeds.

The CrashCam Mini 3510 is connected to the RaceTech mobile unit via a single optical fiber. An operator-configurable motion activation feature allows images to be captured and played back automatically, freeing RaceTech's production team to focus on other activities.

The camera is part of a family of solutions in which the XStream Mini and R-Series cameras which have two 12G or 6G SDI outputs for applications requiring continuous live feed. They also offer the ability to shoot more footage, even when playing in super slow motion. Although it currently works with resolutions of up to 4K, in the future the company will offer 8K versions.