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Scoreboard Overlay with OCR

Use optical character recognition to read the scoreboard at your venue and automatically update your livestream scoreboard overlay

Updated over a year ago

To automatically update your scoreboard overlay in your Spiideo Play broadcast, you can use optical character recognition (OCR) to read your arena scoreboard in real time. When the venue scoreboard updates, OCR reads this and updates the scoreboard overlay in your broadcast!

Requirements for Scoreboard OCR

To enable scoreboard OCR, you will need:

  • A Spiideo Play Pro subscription

  • A digital scoreboard at your venue

  • A Spiideo camera where your arena scoreboard is visible

With this, you can setup scoreboard OCR


Setup Scoreboard OCR on your Scenes

Step 1:

Navigate to the 'CloudControl' tab > Click on the scene you wish to setup Scoreboard OCR on


Step 2:

Navigate to the 'Settings' sub-tab, scroll down and choose 'Add scoreboard'


Step 3:

Choose 'Scoreboard read by a Spiideo camera (OCR)' and click 'Next'


Step 4:

Here you can choose to either calibrate Live (real-time camera image) or from a previous recording. If you choose the second option, it is important that the cameras have not moved since that recording

Choose the option that suits you best from the contents section on the right hand side to continue the tutorial


Live Calibration (Using the scoreboard in real-time)

Step 1:

Choose the camera that can see the scoreboard and then click 'Next'


Step 2:

Outline the scoreboard with four annotations, starting in the top left corner. Once your annotations are placed, you can drag them to capture the full scoreboard and then click 'Next'

You can zoom the image in the top right to get more accurate view of the scoreboard


Step 3:

Now annotate your scoreboard my dragging to create your first annotation box. Once placed, you can click on each annotation to identify what it is. Annotation groups are:

  • The match clock (required)

  • Home team score (required)

  • Away team score (required)

  • Match period (optional)

Annotation boxes must all be the same size for their annotation group. So you should copy the first box of each group for all further annotations.

Any errors you encounter will be displayed below the image as well as the problem annotation displayed in red. In general, common errors are:

  • Digits (your annotations) overlap

  • Annotations are not the same size

  • Annotation is not defined

  • Missing required annotations


Step 4:

Once all annotations are complete, click 'Next' to finish the scoreboard OCR creation process

Your created scoreboard will now be stored in the 'Scoreboard' section of the scene settings. Here you can:

  • Toggle the scoreboard on or off for broadcasts

  • Remove the scoreboard entirely

  • Edit the scoreboard annotations


Recorded Game Calibration

Step 1:

Choose the recording you wish to calibrate with, from the list and then click 'Next'


Step 2:

Scrub along the recording timeline until a moment where the scoreboard is active. Once found, click 'Next'


Step 3:

Choose the camera that the scoreboard is visible from and then click 'Next'


Step 4:

Outline the scoreboard with four annotations, starting in the top left corner. Once your annotations are placed, you can drag them to capture the full scoreboard and then click 'Next'


Step 5:

Now annotate your scoreboard my dragging to create your first annotation box. Once placed, you can click on each annotation to identify what it is. Annotation options are:

  • The match clock (required)

  • Home team score (required)

  • Away team score (required)

  • Match period (optional)

Annotation boxes must all be the same size for their annotation group. So you should copy the first box of each group for all further annotations.

Any errors you encounter will be displayed below the image as well as the problem annotation displayed in red. In general, common errors are:

  • Digits (your annotations) overlap

  • Annotations are not the same size

  • Annotation is not defined

  • Missing required annotations


Step 6:

Once all annotations are complete, click 'Next' to finish the scoreboard OCR creation process

Your created scoreboard will now be stored in the 'Scoreboard' section of the scene settings. Here you can:

  • Toggle the scoreboard on or off for broadcasts

  • Remove the scoreboard entirely

  • Edit the scoreboard annotations


Have further questions about scoreboards or Scoreboard OCR? Reach out to support via the chat!

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