About

Stumpcam founder Alex has played amateur cricket at local level for 20 years, most recently in Surrey.

Alex tinkered with a prototype stump camera using a short range FM transmitter and receiver in 2012 (along with an image flipping 5-sided prismatic reflector), but realised that the cost, size of equipment and complexity of the installation simply would not work for non-technical volunteers in cricket clubs.

After a career was in broadcast, including 5 years at the BBC, he started experimenting with streaming video on a personal website in 1998 (taking down some expensive servers in the process) before settling in to a formal TV career which included stints working on BBC iPlayer and other online streaming video services and channels.

Fast forward to post-COVID 2022, and camera, battery and transmitter technology has jumped forward. Many clubs are far more interested (and capable) of running video streams to club-houses via commercial-grade Wi-Fi, using social media, and selling sponsorships online - so the time was right to bring the concept back in a user-friendly package so local cricket fans can enjoy the best seats in the house. 2023 saw the ECB renegotiate its software provision contract, meanwhile Alex experimented with 1080p cameras. Finally, in 2024, SBC (single board computing) became powerful enough to handle 4k and 8k video, with H265 codec and WiFi 6 standards enabling a complete transformation of what can be achieved inside a 36mm stump.

Stumpcam is now in R&D!