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Wembley to host English football’s first video ref this week
The German Bundesliga uses it, the American MLS is on board, but never before has the video assistant referee (VAR) system officiated a formal match in the home of football: England. That changes this Friday when England plays Germany at Wembley Stadium in one of several international friendlies ahead of the FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia next year, which itself will adopt replay referees for the first time.
Bundesliga is the latest soccer league to use video referees
MLS began using video assistant referees (VAR) earlier this month, and when the top German league began its season today, it too employed the tech. Bundesliga announced back in January that it would use the video review tech during the 2017-18 season and now the system has made its debut on the pitch. The league says that all 23 referees from last season will serve as video officials to assist those calling the action up close on critical decisions, including three who retired following the 2016-17 campaign.
Starting August 5th, all MLS games will have video review
After a few years of planning and testing, Major League Soccer is ready to roll out video review in all of its games. For each game, including the playoffs and MLS cup, there will be a fifth referee on the crew with access to all available broadcast replays. That person's job is to alert the head referee to "clear and obvious errors or serious missed incidents" in four specific situations: Goals, penalty kicks, red cards and mistaken identity. Embarrassing referee gaffes have hit some high profile games over the years, and everyone hopes that video review will help, which is why the MLS and FIFA are expanding its usage.
ASUS T101MT gets the quick and dirty video review treatment
We've already witnessed ASUS' netvertible undergo some hands-on testing, but the units inspected up until now have all been pre-production devices. Well, finally a retail T101MT has made its way out to online scribes and we've got the first video review for your delectation. We're told that the machine is still pretty thick and a tiny bit too heavy to comfortably hold in one hand for long periods of time, but also that the previous touchscreen issues have been rectified -- it is now "responsive and precise." The general theme is that you shouldn't expect too much out of it, particularly since a 480p YouTube clip gobbled up 95% of the T101MT's CPU cycles and still provided only a choppy picture, but if your ambitions are sufficiently moderate, ASUS' latest could prove a versatile little machine. Video awaits after the break and a summary review can be found at the source. Update: The YouTube video played was a stop-motion animation running at 5fps and therefore shouldn't be considered representative of the T101MT's video performance. What should be taken as representative is the fact that it maxed out the CPU.
Archos 3 Vision PMP given one-handed shakeycam review
Curious about how well the new Archos 3 Vision portable media player stacks up to its bulkier, more voluminous predecessors? Perhaps the video review after the break courtesy of Archos Fans forum user roylovelock will satiate your curiosity -- it will, at least, make you a bit queasy thanks to the handheld camerawork. Placed next to an Archos 5 the thing looks positively lilliputian, but its 3-inch touchscreen seems more than adequate and, while 8GB of storage may not be much, microSDHC expansion offsets that. The review praises the device's functionality, including integrated FM receiving and broadcasting as well as its seemingly solid hardware design and upwards of five hours of video battery life. Not so highly regarded is the non-responsive UI, with a curious on-screen thumbwheel that looks highly unintuitive -- at least when used by this particular thumb. The video below is informative but a bit painful to watch, so feel free to skip straight to roylovelock's written impressions on the other end of that read link, which are rather more easy to take in on a Monday morning.[Via Archos Fans]
Flip Video Ultra HD video review
What better way to give you a look at Flip Video's new Ultra HD camcorder than by reviewing it on video... shot with the Ultra HD. The specs are simple: 720p / 30 FPS, 8GB of storage on-board, HDMI out, and pretty much nothing else. Still, a camera this cheap ($199.99) and this small definitely has its uses. Of course, you'll probably be distracted (like we were) by the bad, bad image stabilization issues. But don't just read about it -- take a look at the gallery below to scope out what the thing looks like, then watch the videos after the break to hear (and see) our thoughts, and catch the cam in some heavier -- shakier -- action. Needless to say, both videos are available in HD.
