FC Porto's home-ground Estadio do Dragao becomes first stadium to broadcast in 360-degree view
Samsung has taken a revolutionary step in creating a virtual stadium-like environment for the fans who watch matches from home, through virtual reality goggles Gear VR. Gear VR is a virtual reality device which is compatible for selected models of Samsung mobiles.
The gear is to be bought separately and has a space to slide the mobile phone which will act as the screen. The special in-built lenses have a broad field of view which helps in providing a more enhanced vision to the spectator.
The accessory was used for the first time to telecast a football match live, in Portugal. The match between arch-rivals FC Porto and Benfica in Estádio do Dragão became the first match to use this technology on November 8.
Five 360 degree cameras were installed in the stadium for the gear so as to oblige the spectator with various watchable angles for the match. The cameras were strategically located behind each goal-line, behind each team’s bench, and another placed in the stands. The output was a stadium-like experience for the few viewers who were selected to test the device which will be released for the common public on 20th November.
As stated on Samsung’s official global blog, “Together with the Portuguese cable operator NOS, SPORT TV, broadcasting specialists Mediapro and the Portuguese Professional Football League, Samsung helped people watch the game via the Gear VR, just as if they were at the stadium – except they were actually in the Samsung Experience Store in Almada and the NOS movie theater at the Centro Colombo shopping mall in Lisbon.”
Pedro Proença, the president of Portuguese League was very happy with the experiment and expressed his views about it on Porto’s official website before the match.
“The Portuguese League is immensely proud to associate to these partners and to this revolutionary initiative in watching a football match. The match opposing FC Porto and Benfica will surely be followed by an even greater number of viewers, to add to the thousands of fans that will be at Estádio do Dragão and to the millions that will watch it at home, on the television. Portuguese professional football and all the emotion it offers will now be taken to a never before seen level”, he said.
A video which gives people an idea about the 360-degree view of a football match was released by Samsung, and can be seen here.