Quote:
Originally Posted by elhelmete
CJ, I'd be curious about your opinion on something.
My expertise is in broadcast TV and considering my actual job title, I know enough about the technology to be...dangerous. But mostly I hire very, very smart people to handle that for me.
A few years ago one such person was working with a partner using a teeny amount of VC $ to essentially solve a data problem simply by using a camera picture. In other words, rather than set up a complex remote data collection and report system they just use video from a camera, and not necessarily a special camera or under highly controlled circumstances. I was kind of floored, but they chuckled and said something to the effect of, "pound for pound the data we can get from this video is just so superior."
I know you hand time races a lot off of video replay. Based on that hands-on experience, do you think this could eventually be the better way to go, or that it could be done in wholesale and offered as a data product for sale?
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I don't actually hand time for the record, I use video editing software with timing capability. Accuracy is dependent on the frame rate and quality of the picture.
Currently the video isn't precise enough to be as accurate as the beam system (when it functions properly). It is as or more accurate than current GPS and Trakus-like systems. It takes a bit of work to learn all the different angles at the various tracks and the different distances. You have to establish a baseline first from accurately timed races.
Once we have a frame for every hundredth of a second with video it could be as accurate as the beam system IMO. GPS is getting better all the time and maybe could get there some day, but it isn't yet. Trakus...meh. Seems almost DOA to me at this point.
