The Veo camera and the PIX4TEAM soccer are both soccer recording cameras that use AI to follow the ball during the game. They record the soccer match in different ways, here we’ll look at Veo vs Pix4Team – a camera comparison for videoing your game with the Pix4Team or Veo.

We bought a PIX4TEAM when it first released in order to test it out and let you know what might be a better fit for your team. I know many of you have been waiting to hear our experiences before ordering a camera for your school or club.

Pix4Team Review

I’m happy to say that after our battery issue delay we were finally able to successfully record a full game from the sideline last weekend with Pix4Team. So I’ll share my initial thoughts today, it won’t be as comprehensive as our Veo camera review since this was our first time using Pix4Team successfully. As this next season ramps up teams are making camera buying decisions so we’ll get this out right away and then follow up with another more in depth Pix4Team review this season.

Soccer Video System vs Soccer Recording Robot

The reason many of you are interested in the Pix4Team team is that it’s a different category of soccer recording camera than some of the other automated cameras like the Veo, Pixellot, Trace, or Hudl Flex Focus.

Those are soccer video systems that are self contained cameras recording the game to a hard drive, using software to post process the footage – and then providing tools to watch, clip, review, share, and analyze the video.

Some of those cameras have gotten better at real time processing of the footage. Like the Veo 2 does processing in real time in order to live stream and the demo I saw of the Hudl Flex Focus at the United Soccer Coaches convention indicates it also does real time processing.

Pix4Team Benefits

One of the benefits of the Pix4Team team is that you record onto an SD card, rather than a hard drive in a camera, so your footage is available immediately after the game is over. As you can see from the photo you attach your camcorder to the top of the Pix4Team robot and connect it up with an HDMI and Multi cable

Game Availability

When the game finishes you take the SD card out of the camera, or the robot, and plug it into your laptop, copy it to your hard drive or network, and have the footage right away.

Game Storage

This also means you can bring along extra SD cards in case you run out of space. For example for an ECNL weekend for a club with multiple age groups playing back to back multiple days in a row the ability to swap out SD cards is helpful.

For the soccer video systems like Veo once the hard drive is full you need to clear off a game to record more footage. You can always have multiple cameras to swap out but that increases the cost. Now Veo can upload over Wi-Fi, and I’ve heard Hudl can as well (haven’t gotten our hands on one yet) so it’s easier to offload games but swapping an SD card is still easier.

Battery Options

The Veo, Pixellot, Trace, Hudl all have an internal battery that’s not replaceable. You can charge the camera at the field with a battery pack or or while it’s recording which can make your camera last a full tournament weekend. But you still have to either hang the battery pack at the top of the tripod or run a long cable down the tripod to the ground to the external battery.

With the Pix4Team you can charge up the batteries ahead of time and swap them out at the field when needed. Unfortunately I did have a battery issue with my Pix4Team. I won’t go into the details because it was when they first released and hopefully you will have a different experience but it was definitely frustrating and delayed this whole process of evaluating the camera.

One thing to consider on the battery front is that now you need two batteries charged, one for your camera and one for your robot it sits on. If either is dead the system won’t work.

Camera Options

Another benefit of the Pix4Team camera is that you are able to “bring your own device” in terms of the camera you record with. They do have a list of approved cameras so I made sure to buy a camcorder off the list. I started off with a Sony HDR-CX440 HD Handycam because it was a cheaper option.

For teams and schools that are used to getting higher definition video one of the complaints about the automated camera solutions is that the resolution is limited by the lenses in the camera, with no ability to upgrade. So while I was waiting for the battery issue to resolve I got a chance to save money on a new camera over Black Friday. I ended up ordering a Sony FDR-AX43 UHD 4K Handycam Camcorder which was 4x more expensive than HDR-CX440 but is a better camera.

Camera Costs

One of the big reasons we hear from teams researching Pix4Team is that you don’t pay a recurring fee like you do with the Veo camera subscription. These costs will change over time but the approximate up front cost of Pix4Team (in Euros):

  • 1500 – robot
  • 340-700 – camera
  • 22 – multi-cable
  • 50 – robot battery

With current exchange rates that’s about $2K – 2.4K up front depending on which Sony you go with. Or, if you already have a Sony on their approved list that will save you some money.

There’s also the cost of the tripod but you have that same cost for all the camera types so I won’t include that when comparing Pix4Team costs vs Veo.

I did order the backpack they offer since keeping the robot, batteries, cables, cords, cameras all together is a mess if you don’t have something to store them in, that runs about 200 Euros. It’s pricier than the $100 pelican case for the Veo but it does hold a lot more tech and cords and it’s nice to have your hands free with the backpack.

So $2.5K is a lot more than the price of a Veo camera, with our Veo camera discount you can get it for about $800 right now. However, the cost for Pix4Team is a one time amount. Once you’ve bought all the equipment you won’t have to pay to renew an annual plan.

The above costs are for one sport, so if you want to add basketball to your soccer camera you can pay about 250 Euro. It’s that much for each additional sport you add however it is a one-time cost.

So in summary, the benefits of the Pix4Team are pretty interesting to teams and schools, which is why I pre-ordered one when it was first announced back in 2021:

  • Easy to swap out storage and battery
  • Footage available immediately after the game
  • Ability to upgrade cameras/quality
  • One-time costs, no plans or subscriptions

Unfortunately I hadn’t gotten a good test of the camera from the sideline until last weekend. Now that you know the upsides of Pix4Team lets take a look at footage created by the two different approaches to recording soccer games (Pix4Team vs Veo).

Veo vs Pix4Team

Last weekend we recorded the same soccer game with both cameras on the sideline. It was an 11v11 game played on a field that doubled as a high school soccer and high school football field.

The cameras weren’t right at midfield since there was already a Veo setup there from the previous game. We always arrive early to try and score that center field spot but this was an ECNL club weekend where multiple age groups played back to back so the other camera was already there from previous games.

As you can see from the photo Pix4Team wasn’t up quite as high as the Veo because I had brought along a smaller sandbag and it was a little windy. The Pix4Team robot is heavier than the Veo I and didn’t want to run the risk of putting it up too high and having it tip over without heavier sandbags.

In terms of weather impacting the camera it was a good day since the sun was out and there was no precipitation. it was a bit windy, not a steady strong wind but more of occasional big gusts that would make the cameras sway on top of the tripods.

Game Footage

One thing I noticed while watching the first 12 minutes side by side is that the Veo takes advantage of it’s ability to be able to analyze things after they happen.

All the footage is recorded to the hard drive and the software post processes the game. This allows the panning and zooming to be smooth and also makes it so that camera doesn’t lose the ball in the frame very often.

Unfortunately due to the nature of the technology the Pix4Team doesn’t have the same flexibility after the fact, it has to get the panning and zooming right in the moment or it misses the action.

I took notes during the first 12 minutes of the game and with the Pix4Team the ball went out of frame 24 times. I put each duration into a spreadsheet as I watched and the ball spent approximately 2:44 out of frame during the first 12 minutes of the game. You can see some examples in the clip below

So if you’re accustomed to watching a game recorded by Veo, having the ball disappear for parts of the game can be frustrating. Obviously during some parts of the game it’s not a big deal but there was a sequence where one team earned a free kick in the other team’s half. The Pix4Team robot was distracted and zooming into the opposite half, you hear the thump of the kick and the yelling of the players and then about 8 seconds later the ball came back into view.

The challenge is that in those 8 seconds a goal could be scored and for high level teams that might be the only goal of the game.

I’m guessing that this will improve over time. As you can see in the photo I did update the firmware on the robot the morning before the game and it seemed to help with the tracking. My previous attempt 2 weeks earlier was unsuccessful on one half due to tracking problems so the firmware update really seemed to help.

I remember with our very first Veo there were tracking issues that improved over time. It seems these AI cameras improve as they get many more hours of data in their model so hopefully it will be the same with the Pix4Team.

There’s also the possibility that I missed something in the setup of the camera that contributed to the tracking issues.

As you can see in this screenshot of the app there are definitely more configuration options in the Pix4Team app then in the Veo camera app. This is only the first I’ve had a successful run so I’ll need to spend more time learning the different options.

I just now noticed looking at the screenshot that I had the wide option selected versus normal. It doesn’t look like I had the pan titlt offset toggled either. I was just happy to get a game to record! Next game I’ll have to play with those options more.

Pix4Team Trade Offs

Multiple Components

With a camera like Veo, Trace, or Pixellot if you show up to the field with a charged camera you’ll be able to record. The list of things to remember is longer for Pix4Team:

  • Robot
  • Camera
  • Robot battery
  • Camera battery
  • SD Card
  • Multi Cable
  • Camera Plate for top of Robot

So while being able to swap out, replace, upgrade components is a benefit – it also means if you forget one of those items you can’t record the game. I say this because I’ve done it a few times already. You get everything setup and ready to go and then realize you don’t have the SD card or the Multi cable or the camera plate. It’s sitting on your kitchen counter and you’re dead in the water. To help with this get the backpack that Move ‘N See offers.

Manual Video Editing

After watching the first 12 minutes of the Pix4Team footage I went back into Veo and watched the same 12 minutes at x4 speed to double check how many times it went out of frame using Veo. Once you’re used to using the video tools for watching, sharing, clipping that come with Veo you would miss not having them. For example I was able to use our Easy Highlight Video tool with Veo and generate two highlight videos out of the game in just a few minutes.

If you already have your video clipping/editing process down and you just need the footage the Pix4Team works well but after using tools like Veo and Trace that give me clips I can use, having to find time to do it manually would be a challenge.

Recording in Weather

We’ve recorded with the Veo Camera in some pretty nasty weather. With the Pix4Team you have your camcorder exposed to the elements. They do sell a rain cape you can put over the camera but I didn’t purchase it because it seemed like it would catch the wind. Even on a semi windy day like the weekend with no rain cape there were wobbles.

I haven’t tested the Pix4Team in heavy rain or high wind but the bigger profile and need for a camera cover make me wonder how it will perform. If you have a press box that’s covered with power that would make a big difference. You don’t see that as much in club soccer but if you have a high school team that might be an option.

Pix4Team vs Veo Summary

The benefits of the Pix4TEAM approach are definitely enticing:

  • Easy to swap out storage and battery
  • Footage available immediately after the game
  • Ability to upgrade cameras/quality
  • One-time costs, no plans or subscriptions

For parents, coaches, clubs, and schools who are used to the typical approach of being able to swap out SD cards and batteries this technology fits that criteria but still gives you the ability to have an robot cameraman on the sideline.

If you are not interested in highlight clips and analytics and you just want the raw footage then the Pix4Team team will definitely save you money after the first year.

From my first test the technology of manually panning/zooming the camera with the robot (vs post processing with software) loses the ball for about twenty some percent of the game so be aware of that difference from the automated systems like Veo, Pixellot, and Trace. Those systems can also lose the ball but since they record 180 of the field they can reprocess the footage to get it back into frame.

And I said this is my first experience using the PIX4TEAM so I’m sure I’ll learn more as I go. If you have comments or feedback definitely let me know so I can corporate them into my Pix4Team review. If you have questions or things you’d like to know about the unit definitely send me an email, ben@easysportsvideo.com

Once we’ve finished testing out the robot we’ll probably be renting it out to teams that need it so if you want to try it for your team definitely let me know.