Any analysis you do on a game depends a lot on the quality of the video. I often think it’s not really the camera’s that let people down but more so the angle people video at. Most amateur clubs don’t have natural height so they rely on climbing on top of a clubhouse or a ladder or hoping that there is a hill or some type of natural height to video from.
One company in the US has solved this problem. I haven’t really come across anybody in Europe or Australia doing something similar. The company is Hi-Pod – basically they have designed a mechanism for videoing from heights up to 30ft.
It is not something I have tested myself but I came across it a few years ago and have kept a close eye on it ever since.
In the article by Johnny Bradley – Video Performance Analysis – he details the key things to consider when videoing and is well worth a read. In my experience the higher up you can video from, the easier the job becomes.
Price wise the Hi-Pod is not the cheapest thing you will buy but if your club does a lot of videoing it looks like a really good piece of kit. The picture on the left is of their main system X5 which costs $5,150 (finance available). You can video from a height of up to 31ft.
The product I most like the look of is the xMobile – this allows you video from a height of 17ft, which I think is more than enough. It costs $3,570. It also looks much easier to store and move around the pitch.
I know the company has been trying to find a European distributor for the product and I believe there is some movement on this recently. Although at present I think there are only plans to sell the X5 model.
If anybody has experience of the Hi-Pod or knows of other products like it leave a comment below.
Additional info added 16/3/2010
Some Pictures kindly shared by Richard Bennett from UWE, Bristol. They use the Hi-Pod and here are some of the screenshots they get.
