The Virtual Buzz at IBC Starts to Look Real posted: 29/09/2016 by Andy Marken
Well, you come to the right place. Theres plenty of fun here. Thats Cindy and Arlette. Arlettes from Paris. - Miss Carrie, Westworld, MGM, 1973
The HMD (head mounted display) marks are finally disappearing from my kids after watching nearly 90 hours of awesome 4K VR streaming content from the Rio Olympics.
Steven Antturi, head of post production at IM360/DigitalDomain and part of the Rio OBS (Olympic Broadcast Services) team, was a little bit disappointed that they could only send the 360 video streams in 2K.
As the Captain said in Cool Hand Luke, What weve got here is failure to communicate
NBC executives are trying to figure out how they can optimize their investment in the 2018 winter and 2020 summer Olympics
There was a lot of discussion about VR, 360 and how quickly both flavors will be unleashed at this year's IBC (International Broadcast Conference) in Amsterdam.
But there were also more fundamental issues that faced many of the exhibitors and visitors:
- How quickly and at what cost broadcasters can upgrade their systems to deliver all of their content over IP (internet protocol)
- Who's going to survive with all of the digital content people launching services/content?
- How will providers meet the consumers' new expectations?
IBC discussions on how organizations create, collaborate and deliver rich, immersive content
Antturi understands the need to ensure everyone with an HMD had a flawless viewing experience from Rio's Olympics but still, 4K is well twice as good. As for the 360 and VR difference, he noted, We've always called our work 360 but once it gets in marketing's hands
Folks around the globe voted with their eyes that they wanted OTT (over the top) content rather than regularly scheduled programs - there were more than three times the streaming viewers than network viewers.
The writing is on the wall for content/service providers people want to make up their own viewing schedules and watch the stuff on whatever device is in front of them.
As a result, there was a lot of discussion at IBC on how organizations create, collaborate and deliver rich, immersive content quickly.
IBC suppliers as well as studio/network executives and filmmakers discussed how they will develop and test new ways to distribute film and TV content to people everywhere, anytime-- especially since the IP-born folks are suddenly serious competitors.
It's no wonder the future zone had wall-to-wall bodies as everyone tried to figure out what the content was going to look like, how they were going to deliver it and most of all, how they were going to monetize the stuff.
The seismic shift was a major part of the discussions (as was content security) on the IBC floor and behind closed doors.
At the same time, NBC executives are trying to figure out how they can optimize their investment in the 2018 winter and 2020 summer Olympics.
The 2017 challenge for all networks, studios, stations and content providers and developers - including YouTube, Facebook, Alibaba and others - is that everyone is rushing to dominate local, regional, national and global markets.
An unstated concern though was that the sheer volume could overwhelm, confuse, tire, and turn off the consumer.
IP-only players have little to lose, while established firms have to retain existing customers and capture the next generation of viewers.
VR could open that path for them.
Goggles Everywhere
Cord, no cord, self-contained, phone-attached people with HMDs were bumping into things throughout the halls at IBC. Almost everyone was demonstrating how they are going to help people shoot, produce, distribute and view VR content.
What IBC clearly showed is the waters are muddy and they will get bloody.
Hint: Those who offered the complete solution at the show were selling something!
Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich discusses Project Alloy with Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Microsofts Windows Devices Group. Krzanich claims Alloy contains everything you need to have a VR experience without extraneous components. It includes the computational and graphics power to create the virtual images and an internal battery for power, as well as 3D cameras and sensors powered by Intel's RealSense motion tracking technology.
While the HMD folks like to say they're ahead of the content people, it isn't quite true.
There's a big difference between announcing and shipped/sold devices.
Hooked - VR augments the viewing experience by hijacking the viewer's senses and taking them into the alternate world for a short period of time. Extensive discussion has already taken place on the possible issues of the effect of the altered state.
And the impact!
The initial challenge is to deliver a full-fidelity experience for the viewer that recreates every photon the eyes could see and every small vibration the ears could hear.
Sounds simple enough, right?
According to people who know this stuff, humans can process about 5.6GBs of sight and sound.
Nielsen's law of the Internet means that's about 200x what the internet can provide.
It's the Law - Proposed by Jacob Nielsen years ago, Nielsens Law is similar to Moores Law of computational power. However, bandwidth is growing at a slower pace and is rapidly being outstripped by data distribution requirements.
Content Quality
Films and video are typically shot at 24 - 30fps (frames per second); and since your eyes can easily handle higher speeds, new production options are being tested.
To meet the need for live streaming events 60, 90, 120fps content is necessary to eliminate motion blur and disorientation.
Refresh rates north of 60fps are needed - especially for OTT streaming - to cut down lag, which mean
