Intel Snaps Up Replay Technologies, Looks To A Future Of More Immersive Sports

Intel wants to be where the action is, and with wearables growing in popularity for athletes, it’s proven to be a great time for the company to expand its presence in the sports realm. Today, we learn of a way that the company is furthering itself there, with an acquisition of Replay Technologies, which caught Intel’s eye with its “freeD” video capture format.

Those who attended or watched Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s annual CES keynote this year might remember him showing off freeD – little did we realize that just a few months later, the tech would become Intel’s.

Replay Technologies’ freeD format is named as such because it allows whoever’s controlling game footage to manipulate the scene to provide more of an impact. If a default view of a sweet dunk seems underwhelming, then the camera angle could be adjusted on-the-fly to provide a better one. This kind of tech might seem like an ideal complement to Intel’s RealSense camera technology, but as it stands right now, the two are definitely disconnected and will be for the near-future (the press release doesn’t even reference RealSense).

A freeD control room requires some extensive hardware

You can see an example of freeD in action with this recent NBA broadcast:

Intel sums up its reason for the acquisition as such: “Together, we will scale this new category for sports entertainment that we call immersive sports, which is attracting the attention of leagues, venues, broadcasters and fans. Immersive sports requires the high-performance computing Intel is known for, and it’s also data driven – fueling the continued build out of the cloud. For athletes, coaches, broadcasters and fans, the ability to capture, analyze and share data adds compelling new dimensions to the game.”

We’re sure it won’t be long before we see freeD pop up at future sporting events. If you’re interested in learning more about freeD, you can do so here. Intel also has a dedicated site to show off all of the ways it’s currently involved in sports.