A new trend in professional baseball in Korea is the use of VR technology to film and broadcast baseball games. By setting up multiple VR cameras near home plate, first base, and third base, important moments of baseball games can be captured from several angles and broadcast live.

The video stitching technology that allowed the baseball games to be filmed and viewed from diverse angles was developed by Mooovr (CEO Rachel Kim), a VR solution provider. Stitching is a technology that “stitches” together video streams captured by five cameras to provide viewers full 360-degree video. Since early May, Mooovr has been collaborating with KT to film scenes of baseball games using five cameras installed in key positions on the baseball field. 

Mooovr is a startup that provides VR content, technology, and services as a package based on its highly skilled personnel and cutting-edge VR video production equipment and software. Also, the company has opened an academy through which it aims to provide VR-related training and education.

Its VR production staff is comprised of video producers (PD), directors of photography, and music producers. With the resources currently at its disposal, the company is capable of capturing 2D and 3D VR images and carrying out underwater and aerial filming. So far, Mooovr has produced VR television dramas and music videos with the Korean pop idol groups Infinite and Stellar, and domestic university hospitals are considering using its services to introduce VR-based medical treatments.

To develop its equipment, Mooovr used the best domestic and foreign technologies, combining camera bodies from Canon, lenses from Samyang Optics, and stitching software from VideoStitch. As a result, it is capable of stitching 4K video in real time, and it has significantly enhanced the quality of videos shot indoors and at night. To complement its equipment and platforms, the company also developed a variety of related software, including a VR player.

Mooovr CEO Rachel Kim said, “Following our live VR broadcasting of professional baseball games, we are now conducting a VR project for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.” At its incorporation in 2011, the company was called Kamon, but changed its name to Mooovr in 2014. Mooovr is now operating out of Pangyo Techno Valley based on the support of the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation.

(jshwang@heraldcorp.com)