MainConcept – Will Multiview HEVC pave the way for Extended Reality and the Metaverse?
The next frontier of entertainment lies in interactive and immersive experiences, where traditional TV and device screens give way to rich, 3D environments that surround the viewer. And while video compression technology might not grab the headlines, it’s the backbone of 3D video content creation and delivery, enabling the seamless, high-quality experiences that extended reality (XR) and metaverse applications demand. Interestingly, the codec, Multiview HEVC (MV-HEVC), which is designed to enable 3D video experiences, is currently enjoying a surge in market adoption. This increase is largely driven by Apple’s launch of the Apple Vision Pro headset, which uses the MV-HEVC codec. Since then, many more OEMs are adding in support for the codec to their devices. What impact will this have on the industry, and might it help facilitate widespread adoption of extended reality and acceleration of the metaverse? For clarity, extended reality and XR are used throughout as a catch-all term for virtual, augmented and mixed reality.
Brainstorm – The flexibility of virtual production
Virtual production is already a mature technology that not only allows for high-quality results, but also reduces costs and contributes to increase the industry’s sustainability. The introduction of advanced rendering technologies such as game engines or real-time ray tracing significantly boosted the quality of the real-time renderings, allowing content creators of any size and kind to produce photo realistic content, meaning high-end results no longer restricted for high-budget filmmakers, but available to a wider range of creators.
Net Insight – How IP turns the page on sports video production and distribution
The landscape of sports streaming is evolving rapidly. Recent studies show that a staggering 71% of US sports enthusiasts now opt for live viewing, underscoring a significant opportunity for the media industry and rights holders alike. As viewers expand their preferences across platforms like OTT, digital channels, and FAST, the media industry must move forward to cloud-driven production and distribution processes to serve the burgeoning demand for real-time sports content.
New Regions = New Revenue for Sports
Some sports are undoubtedly global leaders, with an audience to match. Then there are others, which enjoy immense popularity in certain markets but are less well known elsewhere. Ice Hockey, for instance, is a national obsession in Canada but is still relatively niche in the UK. Rugby has an estimated global following of 475 million people, but its popularity tends to be concentrated in specific regions. When it comes to building up a dedicated audience in new markets, there are several challenges that need to be overcome.
Social Experiences – Covid and Beyond
Most of us are social creatures and even when apart, we strive to be together. The bond that we create from shared activity, such as watching movies together, runs deeper than one might think. Research published in a scientific journal which involved chimpanzees watching a video in pairs, showed how they became more sociable with each other after the viewing session ended. This indicates that the bond we form from activities such as watching video content together has deep evolutionary roots.
The Changing Face of Business Resilience
It’s almost a cliché to talk about how the last few years have changed live broadcasting.
Broadcasters kept going even though events were canceled, and companies like Dejero kept them on air producing great content. The need to shift working practices to distributed models where people could work from home came almost overnight.
We heard from many of our customers that they already had the capacity to handle remote workflows and connectivity with their existing Dejero solutions, but hadn’t had a reason to harness its full power until the pandemic.
From an overall business resilience perspective, we found these new ways of working provided new challenges and created a level of vigilance that we have never seen before. Resilience has always been a primary focus for broadcasters who demanded increasingly robust forms of business continuity to ensure they stay on air—or risk the loss of advertisers, audiences and, ultimately, revenue.
Ateme: BaM Shortlist – Publish
Ateme’s 5G streaming solution can take the video experience to a new level, by leveraging the high bandwidth, low latency, Mobile-access Edge Computing and programmability of the 5G network.
Pixotope: BaM Shortlist – Produce
Pixotope is at the forefront of democratizing virtual production and empowering content creators with accessible solutions for boundary-pushing immersive storytelling. Our XR Edition, based on our award-winning virtual production graphics software, was developed in response to the growing use of LED volumes in virtual production and the resulting need for hardware optimization as well as simplified, efficient, and resilient workflows. XR Edition removes the need for bespoke set ups and proprietary hardware to power extended reality (XR) workflows and environments. The result is an off-the-shelf software solution featuring a range of purpose-built tools that simplify setup and operation.
Mo-Sys bMR: a flexible route to LED content studios
Mo-Sys partnered with on-air graphics specialist Erizos Studios to develop bMR (broadcast mixed reality). This solution uniquely combines Erizos’ expertise in broadcast graphics and MOS based news/sports workflows, with Mo-Sys’ innovation in LED virtual studios and precision camera tracking.