The Dallas Stars tested out an aerial “Sky Cam” type technology this past week for a couple home games, and somebody finally dug me up some video of it. (thanks Dave Weldon)

We’ve been investigating something similar to this in Pittsburgh, although the rigging at Mellon Arena has made it near impossible to pull off.  One thing I noticed is that the camera has some trouble coming back to center axis when it does a sweep across the ice, which would be a deal killer for me.

I operated something like this on demo at a college basketball venue last year.  Interesting perspectives, and interesting to see how it plays out with the speed of hockey, particularly during quick changes in direction.  We sat in the top row and after 5 minutes you didn’t even notice it was there.

You might recall the “Rail Cam” demo a few years back at the Dallas All-Star game, which had no problem keeping up with action but was a definite distraction to the main TV cameras and the fans.

Something like this has a place in hockey.  Maybe not so much for the in-arena crowd, but it could bring a much needed “feel like I’m there” element to broadcasts.

Face it, something is lost in translation from being in an arena to TV.  No matter how great the broadcasts are produced, it’s still tough to get that “I’m there” feel at home.  Teams and broadcasters need to start taking chances on technology like this to help bridge that gap.

So here it is.

I’ve been ready to go live with this blog for about two weeks.  Writing this post and naming this blog has been my stumbling block.

I’ve had enough rewriting the first paragraph 100 times.  Here’s the deal:

- I’m the Director of Media Technology for the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Before that I ran the video production department.  I work with a lot of exceptional and dedicated people.  Yes, working for the Penguins is awesome — but it’s a lot of work.  The time and effort people around the organization put in to get the job done would blow your mind. 

- I am not a spokesman for team.  Those of you familiar with me on Twitter already know this.  Don’t expect breaking news or organIzational statements from me, that’s neither my job nor place.

- What you can expect from me is talking about the things I love:  media technology, cutting edge video production, great concepts, the future of the content creation world, and of course, what I’m working on in regard to the Consol Energy Center.

- Two inspirations for doing this, and what I hope to be a blend of:  CanesVision-HD and Glen Gower from the Senators.  CV-HD documented their control room upgrade this past summer, and Glen always finds interesting topics from the presentation and entertainment world.

So that’s it.  Hope this works out for all of us.  All four of us that will be reading.