Landro sports play analyzer Vistas friendly

Landro, the world’s first sports play analyzer, is now available for Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system. Landro, www.landro.com, which is available for football and basketball, was first developed by Jerry Salandro in 2001. The software enables coaches to use a remote control to access thousands of plays without the use of tape. Coaches can easily jump from play to play and sort items by “themes,” such as all defensive plays or all highlights.

Over the past few years, coaches rapidly adopted the technology and began demanding more portable systems that would allow them to record live at the game or catalog plays on the bus ride home.

“When Vista was first previewed I thought, ‘My gosh, this is perfect,’ ” says Salandro, who directed his team to begin designing a software product for the new Microsoft release. “With this new Vista operating system, I could see that personal computers would finally be ready to handle video analysis.”

Salandro said the introduction of Vista will bring the cost of Landro play analysis to an all-time low. For example, consumers can now purchase a laptop computer with Vista and the proper specifications for less than $1,000. With the newest Landro for Laptop software available at just under $1,500, a coach can now enjoy Landro play analysis for less than half of the former price tag of $5,000 and up.

“It really is a plus for coaches. They’re using the same technology as the big guys who have paid tens of thousands more,” Salandro said.

Salandro is also planning an online game-exchange and video service, which will be available later this year. The service will allow coaches and players to share games with their opponents, post recruitment videos and highlight plays directly from their computers to the Internet.

“Landro took me out of the stone-age,” jokes John Banaszak a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and an assistant coach at Robert Morris University. “You’re looking at a guy who could barely use a fax machine back then but as soon as I got that remote in my hand I knew I was done with tape forever.”