A VIDEO recorder that cuts the boring bits out of sports broadcasts and selects only the most dramatic highlights could soon be on sale.
The Japanese electronics company Sharp is developing software to help viewers who are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sports programmes on satellite television.

It promises that they need not sit through hours of dull play while watching a recording of the big match. It will select the most dramatic moments by detecting slow motion parts of the broadcast, which usually coincide with the best action, such as when a goal is scored in football, or a try in rugby.

Slow-motion effects are normally produced by repeating each frame. The software detects these points on the tape by analysing each video frame and comparing them with a number of frames on either side.

It also looks for the video effects broadcasters use to signal the start of replays, such as a flying programme logo. Having identified the slow-motion sections, the software generates an index of highlights, which can be watched in sequence, or expanded to show each action sequence followed by the slow-motion replay.

New Scientist reports that the program is even able to discard slow-motion sequences from advertisements by checking that the colours appearing on screen match those in video frames from the game.

Sharp wants to build the new technology into future generations of video recorder and digital television sets. It could also be used by broadcasters, to produce compilation tapes of games for archiving.