Veo – A Fully-Automated 180° Camera for Shooting Sports

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by Fabian ChaundySeptember 8^th, 2017

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Danish start-up Veo have developed a 180° camera for shooting football matches that does away with the need for a camera op.

This idea for Veo from the Copenhagen-based start-up of the same name combines a number of available technologies to provide football clubs with a solution to record all their football matches and practice sessions without the need to hire a camera operator.

The first of these technologies is immersive video. Veo is comprised of two 4K cameras positioned inside a housing in such a way as to provide a 180-degree panoramic view of the whole playing field.

Ceo then uses AI to track the players and the trajectory of the ball. It can pan, tilt and zoom around the native 4K image, automatically tracking the action as it unfolds while still maintaining an adequate image quality. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlVM0TkcxhQ

Veo can record and stream, making it an ideal solution for sports clubs looking to improve their online presence and reach more fans, all while reducing costs. In addition, Veo’s interactive video player with drag and zoom allows the viewer to look around the match and create individual selection of highlights to achieve multiple edits with different angles from a single capture.

Unlike other “robot cams” in the market that make use of motors to pan and tilt to follow a single subject wearing an electronic tag, the method behind Veo is completely software-based, undoubtedly making it lighter and less expensive.

The SOLOSHOT3 Pro requires the subject wears a tag.

There isn’t much information on the company’s website yet, but this TechCrunch article reports that Veo will follow a subscription-based system. £999 will get you an annual subscription, with more features – such as logo embeds – becoming available with higher tiers.

According to their website, Veo will be launching soon, but you can sign up for early access HERE.

This is a very interesting concept that will likely interest a large number of sports clubs in leagues both big and small. Even though not much is known about Veo’s technical details yet, this video on Veo’s YouTube channel shows that it makes use of a pair of GoPros. With the current boom in 360 cameras and technology, such as the FreeCapture feature in the new Insta360 ONE, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of this functionality become available in other products – possibly even without the need for a subscription.

Are you a sports event shooter? Do you think Veo could threaten your day-to-day work? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!