The NHL could have a brighter long-term future thanks to some new technology.
HWKI, a tiny, helmet-mounted camera has, according to the product's specs page, the potential to give viewers an in-game experience the likes of which has never been seen before.
Nothing in hockey has been this exciting since the one-piece stick. Impossibly small. Incredibly high performance. Intuitive beyond belief. This is a smart camera that has capabilities we've just scratched the surface on. Prepare to be blown away.
Check out the video of the camera in action:
Could you imagine tuning into an NHL game and having the camera switch from the usual wide-angle shot of the entire rink, moving up and down the ice with the action, to a shot coming directly from Patrick Kane's helmet, peering down at the puck on his stick as he weaves his way through the neutral zone before dishing to Patrick Toews? Then the camera shifts to Toews' view as he dumps the puck into the offensive zone and gives chase.
This little camera could spell this exact future for the NHL - and really, every sport. The NFL, which has implemented iPads on the sidelines and added a camera over the field, would, no doubt, love the addition of a miniscule in/on-helmet camera to help catch all the important, but small moment's fans and coaches miss outside the tackle pile.
The camera is truly tiny - the specs page says it is 3" x 2" and weighs less than 60 grams. It records video in MP4 format and audio in MP3.
It also says that it records at 1080p, which is pretty darn good for something of that size.
One potential problem is the tiny battery size: 5V. The website only says that it offers "greater than 80 minutes" of recording time, meaning batteries would have to be replaced during intermission.
There is also the question of how the transmission of the video/audio feed would work and whether it would make the actual attachment to the helmet, larger. The NHL has tried this before, having the refs wear helmets with cameras attached, but the units are, for the most part, bulky and impractical.
