Red Bull Media House, the production division of the soft drink brand, is testing the automated capture of biometric, GPS and telemetric data to enrich the second screen experience and fuel new revenue opportunities. HD point-of-view cameras from GoPro and Go Bandit can be strapped to equipment or athletes competing in extreme sports like X-Fighters and kite surfing, and can be linked to data capture devices. “In partnership with Go Pro we are testing a performance tracking system and with Go Bandit we can record metadata like heartbeat and GPS and then look to synchronise the data with the content to create some interesting new experiences for users,” explained Red Bull Media House CTO, Andreas Gall (pictured). “We are developing the system in-house because we can influence metadata integration much better when it is under our own control,” he said. “Embedded metadata allows us to deliver richer experiences to our audience and also to explore whether there are any new business models we can build around it.” Using these action cameras and portable EKG monitors, “we can, for example, provide users with information about the temperature of the athlete during a jump or what their stress factor was, or did they go the right way on the track. We recognise the huge possibilities for visualising this kind of data in the future when offered in combination with audio-visual content.” Red Bull Media House is also shooting 4K content for cinema, as test material for 4K display manufacturers, and for its archives. Gall says he is pleased with results from JVC’s GY-HMQ10 4K camcorder and plans investments in 4K post workflows. www.redbullmediahouse.com By Adrian Pennington
