X-Mo Back on the Field for MLB Coverage

Inertia Unlimited has been used for baseball coverage for the past seven seasons, and this season will be no different. Its X-Mo HD high-speed camera system will once again be used this season by Fox Sports Network (FSN) and the Mid Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) for their season-long coverage of nine Major League Baseball teams.

The X-Mo system, based on Vision Research’s Phantom V12 and V640 cameras, shoots up to 6,200 frames per second at 720 resolution and more than 2,700 fps at 1080. The camera can be used live and provide real-time replays, since it is fully compatible with EVS hardware and software. It has been used by FSN for seven years in regular-season regional coverage of the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

MASN, entering its second year with the system, is the only regional sports network (RSN) in the country using X-Mo. Home games for both the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals will once again benefit from the high-quality slow-motion pictures.

“From the players to management to the broadcasters, MASN is thrilled with the ability of the technology to break down the game and show how various plays unfold,” says Todd Webster, VP of communications for MASN.

Nationals color analyst Rob Dibble has been particularly pleased with it. He worked on a segment with third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, using the X-Mo to slow down his fielding and allow Dibble to break down the play at third base. Dibble was thrilled with the outcome.

“It allows the viewer at home to see the arc of a pitch, the stitching on a baseball, the splintering of a bat,” Webster says. “With balls going 95 miles an hour and things happening in the blink of an eye, the X-Mo allows fans to better understand and better see the trajectory of a ball, the swing of a hit, the tag at home. It’s dramatic in how it can break down a play.”

Although MASN is currently using just one X-Mo system, later this season, the RSN will experiment with adding a second X-Mo, focusing one on the pitcher and one on the batter.

Inertia Unlimited continually updates the X-Mo system for optimal user-friendliness, enabling a member of MASN’s broadcast team to operate the system instead of having an Inertia Unlimited technician on-site.

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