Panasonic Develops New Ultra-Wide 64:9 Camera System for Capturing Sports

You remember that one time when you wanted to put four of your 16:9 aspect ratio wide-screen TVs side by side and watch the game in super-panorama? Yeah, neither do we. But apparently Panasonic does, considering the 64:9 ultra-wide camera system the company has developed.

The system (pictured above) intelligently stitches together the feed from four different 16:9 cameras to create a 720p, 64:9 ultra-wide experience. All together, the rig weighs 88-pounds and can capture a 160-degree panoramic view of the action. Compared to 16:9 that’ll look something like this:

Of course, making this happen required some software magic as well as hardware. Although the cameras are aligned so one picks up where the other left off, custom software stitches the feeds together “seamlessly” in real time, while an operator controls all of the four cameras simultaneously.

And this is why that first sentence really isn’t a joke, viewing the picture involves using four side-by-side 16:9 widescreen TVs.

Panasonic developed the tech to capture sports and possibly help coaches better analyze games. Set to be released commercially in November at a yet undisclosed price (you know what that means…) those who want to see the system in action now will have to travel to Sydney, Australia, where Panasonic is planning to demo the beast at the Integrate 2013 electronics expo today through Thursday.

(via Gizmodo)