Shure has announced that its recently launched MXA710 linear array microphone is now certified for Microsoft Teams, joining numerous other models in the company’s portfolio of conferencing products that have also received the certification.
The MXA710 is designed for high-quality audio capture in premium AV conferencing environments. It can be placed under or next to a wall-mounted display as well as flush mounted in a table. It incorporates patented Steerable Coverage technology that’s designed to capture audio anywhere in room, featuring four lobes with the 2-foot array and eight lobes with 4-foot array. With onboard IntelliMix DSP, the MXA710 provides automatic mixing, acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction, and automatic gain control.
Further, proprietary Autofocus technology is designed to fine-tune each lobe position in real-time, adjusting for meeting participant movements. Using Designer System Configuration software for deployment, room coverage templates enable quicker lobe optimisation specifically for a wall, ceiling, or table installations.
Available in 2-foot (60 cm) or 4-foot (120 cm) lengths and three colours (white, black, and aluminium), the MXA710 is compatible with both Dante and AES67 audio networking protocols. It is PoE-powered and features LED status bars at each end of the array with configurable colours and brightness. The smaller form factor is intended for smaller meeting spaces up to seven-eight people that are being equipped with video conferencing to provide greater virtual meeting capability. The larger form factor supports large meeting rooms that seat up to around 18 people. Multiple MXA710 units can be used to provide coverage for even larger spaces.
Paul Gunia, Director of Technology Partnerships at Shure, said: “Shure’s solutions are built for the hybrid workplace. Your customers, clients, and students will feel like they’re in the room with you when you use our market-leading array microphones. Our entire lineup of Microflex Advance array microphones is now Microsoft Teams Certified.”
Albert Kooiman, Senior Director of Microsoft Teams Devices Partner Engineering and Certification, added: “Microsoft Teams Certification requires products to meet the most stringent audio quality standards in the AV industry. Shure’s MXA710 provides customers with a high-quality audio experience for superior audio performance during conferencing sessions in an easy to install yet out of the way form factor.”
Vox Cinemas has signed an exclusive deal with Japanese animation film distributor Odex to distribute anime movies across the MENA region.
Under the new agreement, six titles will be released theatrically across eight territories including Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train.
Commenting on the deal, Toni El Massih, Chief Content Officer at Vox Cinemas said: “Vox Cinemas is extremely proud to be Odex’s exclusive film distributor partner for the Middle East and North Africa and, we are confident that our expertise and knowledge of the market coupled with their impressive catalogue of content will drive box-office growth. The pandemic has forced us to look to new regions for content and, with this deal, we are taking a strategic step in adding even more great movies to our summer movie slate. There is a huge appetite for the Japanese comic book genre in the region and we’re excited to bring an impressive line-up of anime to the big screen, starting with the record-breaking Demon Slayer which has received acclaim for critics and audiences worldwide.”
Go Wei Ho, Managing Director, Odex Private Limited, Singapore added: “Odex is delighted to have the opportunity to work with Vox Cinemas to bring Japanese anime movies to the Middle East. Having more than 20 years of experience in the Japanese anime industry, Odex has worked with various cinema operators in South East Asia to build up the anime industry in these territories. Now, for its expansion into the Middle East, Odex is confident that working with Vox Cinemas, a successful and leading cinema exhibitor in the Middle East, the partnership will mark another significant milestone for both Odex and Vox to develop the Japanese anime industry in the Middle East.”
Intigral has launched its flagship OTT platform Jawwy TV in Jordan through strategic partnerships with telecommunications operators Zain, Orange and Umniah.
Jawwy TV will bring Jordanian audiences over 50 free-to-air and encrypted channels such as Rotana, MBC, National Geographic, and FOX HD, in addition to an extensive video on demand (VOD) library comprising movies and series. Jawwy TV’s exclusive original productions and aggregated content from major global content providers such as Fox+, StarzPlay, Cartoon Network and Wide Khaliji will also be available among others.
Intigral has also announced offers available via various payment methods, where weekly and monthly Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) subscribers of Zain, Orange and Umniah, will be able to access Jawwy TV at 50% off the normal price for lifetime. Moreover, credit card and in-App users will get the discounted pricing starting from their date of subscription until July 31, for a limited period, in-App users can get seven days free trial, after which pricing will be $3.99 as configured by the stores.
Commenting on this milestone, Intigral CEO Markus Golder said: “We anticipate that introducing our flagship OTT service Jawwy TV to Jordan, will bring more entertainment value to the subscribers in the market at affordable and flexible prices.” He valued the role of Intigral’s local partners in Jordan who have enabled Jawwy TV to bring its content to the Jordanian audience, adding that Intigral will pursue other planned expansions across more targeted markets throughout 2021.
Notably, Jawwy TV’s launch in Jordan coincides with its launch in the UAE, and follows an expansion in Egypt in November last year.
When Covid struck, sport was one of the most affected verticals both globally and regionally. It compelled broadcasters, sports organisations and everyone in the chain to think creatively and come up with solutions that would enable them to keep fans engaged and address how to conduct and produce sport in these times.
Joining the panel were Ammar Hina, Broadcast Director at the UAE Pro League; Charles Balchin, Head of Projects at IMG; and Ophir Zardok, Strategy Director at LiveU. Well-known TV anchor Joe Morrison moderated.
With most sports events having come to a standstill, Morrison questioned how the sports community was coping and what it had in store.
“Our strategy for the next few years is to develop local talent, because our aim is to eventually have this organisation run entirely by UAE nationals” – Ammar Hina, Broadcast Director, UAE Pro League
Hina commented that while “it was the toughest period” with “no matches and no output leading to no content at all”, the team tried an all-digital strategy with heavy reliance on stories from the pitch. The absence of fans in the stadium, however, has only been physical. With the use of fancams and virtual audio cheering, producers have been striving to retain the spirit of the game and keep it as close to the live action as possible.
Zardok from LiveU remarked that the situation has led to an “acceleration in innovation adoption”.
“More broadcasters who were not willing to adopt new technologies earlier have started to do so now. As a technology provider, we help sports broadcasters, sports organisations and production companies reduce their production cost, and we saw a huge growth here. We helped a lot of sports organisations to gather funds closer to the action and to optimise their production flows.”
Balchin said the lockdown initially caught the IMG team off guard. “One day, we had around 500 people at our Stockley Park office in London – which has five studios and 70 edit suites. The next day, they weren’t allowed to go there.”
He agreed with Zardok that the situation has brought some positive changes in the broadcast workplace. “What has been extraordinary is that it sped things up that were going to happen anyway,” he said, adding that it had also encouraged greater synergies between the “editorial guys and the tech guys”.
“Earlier, we operated in silos. That changed overnight. Suddenly the production guys had to be hand-in-hand with people and we had to learn a whole other language which we never understood in our lives and never wanted to. It became much less of a ‘them and us’ situation.”
The UAE Pro League opted for on-site commentary rather than remote alternatives, even at the peak of the pandemic, but Hina said the league has been mandated to move to remote options for the coming seasons. “We stuck to on-site commentary for cultural reasons. People like to hear the commentary live from the field. At the same time, we had challenges regarding the communication.”
Commentators therefore were in the stadiums to view the matches live and “reflect the best output”, rather than undertaking a virtual relay of the pitch happenings.
“I think both the stadium experience and the television experience will change dramatically. What that does to the viewing figures, we’ll have to wait and see” – Charles Balchin, Head of Projects, IMG
Several other new practices were also inculcated during the pandemic, with some likely to be retained even after things go back to the old normal. The Pro League, for instance, has started using AR elements in its productions, adding crowd cheering sounds sourced from previous matches and making output bilingual (Arabic and English) to maximise exposure.
Asked if LiveU had any spectacular experiences, given its representation in 130 countries, Zardok remarked that its experience with Tencent Sports had been “outstanding”.
“We learned a lot from them; in fact, we took their production set-up and copied it in other places. For example, when they wanted to do the ice skating championship, they used LiveU equipment for remote production, because when you do production on-site, you want to minimise the number of people on-site for safety reasons. You don’t want to pre-cable the entire venue and don’t want a lot of people there; you have to be creative. They came in with just a cameraman and a mic set up in certain locations, and did a lot of productions with us starting January 2020.”
Zardok said LiveU also intends to fortify its presence in the region and expand its expertise here, thanks to the recent Arab-Israeli pact. “We are investing to develop our presence in the region. We actually brought a new person onboard who is based in the UAE. His main goal is to develop our presence there and try to assist the local leagues, associations, federations and production companies.”
Moving on to regional specifics, Morrison asked Balchin’s opinion on how the Middle East is evolving with regard to sport, and IMG’s specific role and challenges as it takes on massive productions in the region.
“We have long seen this area as ripe for development, and with the Saudi Cup, the golf, the tennis … all coming up … there’s a lot happening and so many areas that have the potential to be developed. We have half a dozen events going on here, but are not sure if that is enough just yet to open an office here. But we are right at the cusp of putting our feet firmly into the Middle East. We use the services of a company in Dubai currently, so do we then break out and create our own? That’s what we are exploring at the moment.”
Zardok agreed that with the number of international events in the region going up in recent years, “the local sports scene is quite attractive for vendors”. He added that being associated with MENA-origin production companies ensured greater exposure and allowed technology providers such as LiveU to “penetrate certain markets with this kind of partnership.”
One big challenge discussed in particular detail was the paucity of local talent in Arab countries. The UAE seems to have done much better than some of its GCC counterparts, and Hina said the Pro League is continuously working to engage more with local talent. “Our strategy for the next few years is to develop local talent, because our aim is to eventually have this organisation run entirely by UAE nationals.”
Balchin said the situation is far more challenging in Saudi Arabia.
“We have dedicated applications for LiveU and iOS, where you can capture the footage and make every fan a reporter from the field” – Ophir Zardok, Strategy Director, LiveU
One of the problems we find with some local populations is them saying, ‘We get paid to turn up and press this button, and that’s what we will do. If you want us to learn how to press that other button as well’ – which by the way will make you a better operator than the programmer – ‘then you have got to pay us a lot more.’ That’s the problem we have at the moment. So, to be brutally honest, it’s a challenge.”
He added that his team, as a result, has been unable to find an Arabic-speaking producer. “I am not swamped with applications. I am trying to find someone that can speak and write Arabic, is comfortable doing live television, knows what a running order is and knows what a health and safety certificate is. Just finding those people that tick those basic TV production boxes is the challenge.”
Zardok commented that LiveU often works with local partners and trains them. “Around the world, we have local partners and we normally train them and work closely with them to ensure they know how to maximise the potential of our equipment. We train, teach and transfer knowledge to the local production people, whether a cameraman, manager or anyone else who might want to use the LiveU equipment. Normally, we work on-site with people to make it most effective.”
Hina said the Pro League follows a similar training pattern. “As part of the seasonal plan, we have training sessions all the time. We conduct workshops for commentators, for example, just to make sure that we have a clear output. We have training sessions for the broadcast managers on the field. No less than 20-30 training sessions take place every year. It is part of our plan to make sure that we rope in local talent.”
Balchin agreed that production and professional standards in the UAE have improved significantly, but said this is not applicable to the rest of the region.
“We cannot call MENA one region, in my opinion, under those headings. It does not help, for instance, to have presenters and guests arrive only 10 minutes before a programme. Then how can my producer talk to them about ‘this is what I want you to chat about, this is what I need here, this is what I need there’. A lot of sports, like say Formula One and boxing … do not belong natively to those countries. They bring in the Westerners to make it look great. When Sky did the boxing, there wasn’t a single Saudi cameraman in the 32-camera crew. So, in some regions things have improved, yes, but in other regions they’ve got quite a long way to go. Let’s not think that the Qatar FA has got that many Qataris in it, because it hasn’t.”
Morrison said that in the past, it was customary for international players and referees to travel to European countries to enhance their abilities and “be surrounded by a culture of performance”. He asked the panellists about arranging something similar for production staff. Zardok stepped in to say that LiveU prefers “coming to our clients and training them on-site”.
Joe Morrison is a well-known TV anchor based in Dubai.
The prognosis for the future of sports broadcast in the region was mixed. Zardok said LiveU expects to see “bigger representation in the region and hopes to support the local broadcast industry, with local people”. He also saw more people involved in generating content.
“We have dedicated applications for LiveU and iOS, where you can capture the footage and make every fan a reporter from the field. You can take the footage and transmit it over 4G or 5G with the core technology of LiveU, which is the bonded cellular solution. It’s definitely about the technology and how you do the transmission. There are a lot of tools to do it. Even with 4G, you can get really good bandwidth to transmit a good, high-quality video.”
For Balchin, the situation circled back to professionalism – taking help from international entities, in his opinion, is not a permanent solution. “I think it comes back to the people. If we can find enough good local people, the future will be very bright. What I don’t think will work is IMG UK arriving en masse to do things.”
Hina predicts more personalised experiences in the future, with gaming playing a big role.
“If you think about how it’s going to look, it should be a more personalised experience for each fan. Instead of having one experience for all, where everyone watches the same football – it’s not going to be like this. E-gaming is giving us indications that it should be more personalised. Just as I choose my player and game, this is how it should be. It should be more tailored for the fans, I believe.”
Though e-gaming is likely to become an integral part of fan engagement, he concluded that he does not see it overtaking the actual game.
“I believe they are two parallel projects, but they don’t have the same output. The fans are not the same either. There might be someone who never enjoyed playing the game, but they might be a gaming geek.”
To conclude, all the panellists agreed that whether it is the stadium experience or the television experience, so many new toys are coming our way. “During this Covid time, some people have learnt a new language, some have written a new novel, some have got fit. I’ve tried to learn about all the new technical stuff that’s coming our way, because that’s not my natural area, and my mind is blown. I think both the stadium experience and the television experience will change dramatically. What that does to the viewing figures, we’ll have to wait and see,” concluded Balchin
The number of subscribers to Walt Disney Company’s streaming service Disney+ has reached 103.6m. However, the figures still disappointed Wall Street, which was expecting greater growth. The streaming service has added 8.7m customers over the course of Q2 of the current financial year.
Revenue in the quarter, which ended April 3, totalled $15.6bn and undershot the consensus forecast from analysts, who had been looking for $15.87bn. The most significant impact was at the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment where since late in the Q2 of fiscal 2020, parks and resorts have been closed or operating at significantly reduced capacity and our cruise ship sailings have been suspended.
The company estimated a $1.2bn hit to the parks division in the quarter due to Covid-19 and said it will spend about $1bn in fiscal 2021 to address government regulations and implement safety measures for employees, talent and visitors.
Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company, said: “We’re pleased to see more encouraging signs of recovery across our businesses, and we remain focused on ramping up our operations while also fueling long-term growth for the company. This is clearly reflected in the reopening of our theme parks and resorts, increased production at our studios, the continued success of our streaming services, and the expansion of our unrivalled portfolio of multiyear sports rights deals for ESPN and ESPN+.
Revenue for the media and entertainment distribution division fell 2% to $12.4bn as direct-to-consumer growth was more than offset by continued losses at the content sales/licensing segment. Revenue at linear networks, which includes ABC, ESPN, FX, and all other pay-TV networks, fell 1% to $6.7bn. Domestic affiliate fee revenue in the quarter was up 5%, made up of an 8-point gain from higher pricing partially offset by a 4-point decline from fewer viewers. As expected, broadcast advertising revenue dropped 21% due to lower political advertising, a timing shift for the Oscars, and lower viewership. Segment operating income margin for linear networks improved to 42.2% from 35.3% due to fewer hours of original programming and lower sports rights costs due to the timing of the college football playoffs.
The company noted that it experienced disruptions in the production and availability of content, including the cancellation or shift of key live sports programming from fiscal 2020 into the Q1 of fiscal 2021, as well as the suspension of production of most film and television content. Although most film and television production resumed beginning in the Q4 of fiscal 2020, it continues to see disruption of film and television production, as well as live sporting events, depending on local circumstances.
International Channels revenues for the quarter decreased 4% to $1.3bn and operating income increased 27% to $348m. The increase in operating income was driven by lower programming and production costs and an increase in advertising revenue, partially offset by lower affiliate revenue. The decrease in programming and production costs was driven by a higher percentage of content costs being allocated to Disney+ as we continue to launch the service in additional markets, and lower costs as a result of channel closures.
Direct-to-Consumer revenues for the quarter increased 59% to $4.0bn and operating loss decreased from $0.8bn to $0.3bn. The decrease in operating loss was due to improved results at Hulu, and to a lesser extent, at ESPN+.
The increase at Hulu was due to subscription revenue growth and higher advertising revenue, partially offset by an increase in programming and production costs driven by higher subscriber-based fees for programming the live television service. Subscription revenue growth was due to an increase in subscribers and, to a lesser extent, higher rates driven by an increase in retail pricing for the Hulu Live TV+ SVOD service in December 2020. Higher advertising revenue was due to increased impressions.
The improvement at ESPN+ was driven by subscriber growth and higher income from Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view events.
The company said that revenues for Disney+ were comparable to the prior-year quarter as an increase in subscribers was largely offset by higher programming and production, marketing and technology costs. It added that the increases in subscribers and costs reflected the ongoing expansion of Disney+ including launches in additional markets.
The ESPN+ sports service ended the quarter with 13.8m customers, up 75% on an annual basis, while Hulu grew 30% annually to reach 41.6m customers. 37.8m of these were for the basic SVOD package.
Google Cloud and SpaceX have announced a new partnership to deliver data, cloud services, and applications to customers at the network edge, leveraging Starlink’s ability to provide high-speed broadband internet around the world and Google Cloud’s infrastructure.
Under this partnership, SpaceX will begin to locate Starlink ground stations within Google data centre properties, enabling the secure, low-latency, and reliable delivery of data from more than 1,500 Starlink satellites launched to orbit to-date to locations at the network edge via Google Cloud. Google Cloud’s high-capacity private network will support the delivery of Starlink’s global satellite internet service, bringing businesses and consumers seamless connectivity to the cloud and Internet, and enabling the delivery of critical enterprise applications to virtually any location.
Organisations with broad footprints, like public sector agencies, businesses with presences at the network edge, or those operating in rural or remote areas, often require access to applications running in the cloud, or to cloud services like analytics, artificial intelligence, or machine learning. Connectivity from Starlink’s constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites provides a path for these organisations to deliver data and applications to teams distributed across countries and continents, quickly and securely.
Commenting on the partnership, Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Infrastructure at Google Cloud, said: “Applications and services running in the cloud can be transformative for organisations, whether they’re operating in a highly networked or remote environment. We are delighted to partner with SpaceX to ensure that organisations with distributed footprints have seamless, secure, and fast access to the critical applications and services they need to keep their teams up and running.”
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer, added: “Combining Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency broadband with Google’s infrastructure and capabilities provides global organizations with the secure and fast connection that modern organizations expect. We are proud to work with Google to deliver this access to businesses, public sector organizations, and many other groups operating around the world.”
This new capability, delivered by Google Cloud and Starlink to enterprise customers, is expected to be available in the second half of 2021.
Japanese internet giant SoftBank has agreed an alliance with OneWeb to expand its low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband services in Japan and worldwide. They will promote satellite communication services via the combination of OneWeb services and SoftBank’s services, including advanced communication and Digital Transformation (DX) platform services.
This collaboration encompasses obtaining regulatory approvals and the setting up of ground stations in Japan.
To deliver Internet connectivity worldwide, and to digitalise and revolutionise analogue industries, SoftBank aims to provide advanced seamless connectivity services and DX platform services by using global connectivity solutions that incorporate OneWeb’s services.
On April 26, 2021, OneWeb launched 36 satellites into its constellation. This successful launch brings its total in-orbit constellation to 182 satellites, of the OneWeb’s 648 LEO satellite fleet.
Russia has chosen a famous actress and an award-winning director to fly to the International Space Station and make what it calls the first movie in space.
Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko will blast off in a Russian rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome on October 5.
Russian space agency Roscosmos said Peresild and Shipenko have undergone both a medical and a creative selection process. Their special space flight training is to begin no later than June 1, and will include centrifuge and vibration tests, flights on a zero-gravity plane and parachute training.
The whole project will be covered by Russian state TV Channel One. The co-producers of the movie will be Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin and Channel One director Konstantin Ernst.
In a related development, Roscosmos and Space Adventures, a company that brokers commercial flights to the space station, announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and a production assistant, Yozo Hirano, will launch aboard another Soyuz on December 8.
Maezawa, Founder of ZoZotown, one of Japan’s largest retail websites, also has chartered an eventual flight around the moon aboard a SpaceX Starship rocket.
Russia last sent a space tourist to the ISS in 2009.
Grass Valley has released version 10.20 of its EDIUS X editing solution. Several new functions have been added to the software.
The new features include background file conversion in bin, ProRes RAW colour space selection function, job monitor tab, and H.264 file export leveraging NVIDIA GPU.
EDIUS X speeds up H.265 decoding, waveform generation, operations in complex projects and the rendering of nested sequences. EDIUS X speeds up the initialisation of plug-ins and projects containing a multitude of QuickTitler titles faster.
EDIUS X supports Sony α1 8K XAVC HS files, Canon EOS-1D X Mark III, EOS R5 RAW and IPB files, and Apple ProRes RAW files recorded with Panasonic DC-S1H/ATOMOS NINJA V.
It preserves sRGB, DCI-P3 and P3-D65 colour spaces when importing and exporting MOV/MP4 files and keeps the original clip’s colour space when bin converting into different file formats.
EDIUS X now shows metadata of MOV/MP4 files in the bin while the on-screen display can show timeline timecode, source timecode and user bit simultaneously.
An option is now available to automatically import exported files into the bin. The EDIUS X Workgroup version also offers extended MXF file profile selection in the MXF exporter settings.
Mync has also been updated with all new EDIUS X formats and features additional import settings as well as enhanced export options. In addition to H.264 and H.265, the user may now also export files as Grass Valley HQX and Apple ProRes.
During the expected lifecycle of around two to three years, EDIUS X users will continue to benefit from the ongoing development of EDIUS X. Further free updates are expected to fully leverage AI-driven services and teamwork functions, leveraging the modular EDIUS X design.
Over the last few years, broadcasters have been searching for ways to deliver more immersive video experiences – and AR and VR seem to be the answer. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies have emerged as effective methods to address the need for a more immersive video experience, especially for premium sports events. However, a few challenges must be overcome before widespread deployment can occur.
The first issue with using VR/AR for live sports is the complexity of the workflow. VR production is migrating from 4K to 8K, which requires ensuring 8Kp60 content is delivered with pristine live stitching quality. The industry is nearly there, but there is a high price tag associated with delivering high quality. In addition, equipment size may be a concern for in-stadium and mobile use cases. The alternative is to rely on an all-in-one solution where capture and stitching is done in a single device, which can affect quality.
Another challenge for VR is consumer adoption. The first wave of devices, such as Gear VR and Oculus QUEST, offer limited resolution. Newer head-mounted displays (HMDs), such as the Qualcomm XR2, Oculus Quest 2 and Skyworth 901, offer a higher display resolution. As depicted in Table1, there’s been a drastic improvement in quality of experience (QoE), especially for 8K content that can be natively decoded on those devices.
Table 1: Improvement in quality of experience
For in-stadium applications, there’s an expectation for low latency between the camera capture and the rendered VR content on the mobile device. Latency can be reduced if video processing is done locally in the stadium with an MEC type of architecture, compared to the public cloud. However, the biggest contributor is the protocol used.
It’s important to use low-latency protocols to deliver content. There are two options. One is to use WebRTC as the distribution scheme, which results in sub-second latency. The second is to use CMAF low latency with either DASH or HLS manifest formats. This provides latency in the same range as for broadcast (around five seconds). The problem with deployed systems is the increased processing complexity. Viewport-dependent devices create long delays that prevent an in-stadium experience, compared with viewport-independent solutions that support existing OTT low-latency solutions.
On the bright side, we’re starting to see HMDs with 8K decoding capability and good display performance at a reasonable price, as well as new 5G phones that support 8K decoding.
Evolution of VR
VR processing can be split into two approaches. The first is viewport-dependent, where only the area corresponding to the device’s field of view is sent on the network. The main benefit of this approach is reduced bandwidth; the downside is latency. Each time the user refreshes or moves their head, a portion of the scene is not transmitted. This approach is standardised by MPEG in OMAF v2.0.
Table 2: Differences between standards
The second is viewport-independent, where the full sphere is sent to the device. This approach increases the bitrate but offers the advantage of supporting all devices without requiring any adaptation relying on standard-based OTT protocols. This approach for 4K was standardised in OMAF v1 and has been recommended by the VR Industry Forum in its Guidelines for 8K. There are plans to standardise this approach in the future OMAF version for 8K. Table 2 summarises the differences between the two approaches.
One of the key attributes of a viewport-independent solution is seamless integration in an existing OTT workflow. Operators that want to use low latency, DRM or digital ad insertion systems can support them right out of the gate, without lengthy developments or integration. Another benefit is that any native 8K player can decode the stream, including all new HMDs and 5G smartphones released since 2020. In addition, due to an ABR mechanism, backward compatibility is guaranteed with legacy 4K devices.
In order to support high-bandwidth applications, adequate network infrastructure is needed. At home, a fibre or DOCSIS 3.1 network that offers up to 1Gbps connectivity is ideal. For mobile, a high-capacity network is required – 5G is the perfect fit, with bandwidth ranging from 100Mbps to Gbps, depending on the spectrum used.
One of the myths of VR is that a 5G low-latency network is needed, to avoid motion sickness. This is inaccurate, as the motion-to-photon delay is coming from the application. In the viewport-independent architecture, if the tiles are not arriving on time, a lower-resolution backup background is provided to users during a few of the frames. In a viewport-dependent approach, the content is entirely available to users. Therefore, there is a perceived delay when users move their head.
Current state of AR
Today, AR is mostly used to overlay graphical information in real-time on top of the video watched by users. Soon, the volumetric capture of moving objects within video will be displayed in an overlay watched on smartphones or HMDs. MPEG is very active in the volumetric capture of video and its rendering on consumer devices, with two standards: V-PCC (Video Point Cloud) and MIV (Metadata Immersive Video).
A key element of a consumer AR experience is the use of a smartphone to create an overlay, or a HMD that connects to the end user’s mobile device to create an overlay layer on top of the video played by the mobile device. Expect to see volumetric video applications in the future. The industry is waiting for Apple to work on an XR HMD that will support both AR and VR.
What’s next?
On the VR front, the aggregation of different features – 8K video, multiview, Watch Together, social media – will become the norm. Those technologies are maturing and there will be more commercial deployments on HMDs and 5G smartphones in the coming years. Viewport-dependent technology will be completely integrated into the OTT workflow.
Table 3: Operators and ecosystems implemented
AR is evolving with more video, including V-PCC and MIVS not only being file-based for VOD consumption, but also supporting live for events where a well-known athlete or musical artist is represented like a hologram in front of millions of people. Intel and Canon are pioneering a free-viewport technology, with interesting preliminary results.
We’re only at the tip of the immersive experience iceberg. In a few years, we might be able to watch a live sports event from any angle we choose. Organisations such as MPEG and the VR Industry Forum will play an important role in moving the industry forward.
Beyond VR and AR, the next generation of immersive experiences will involve integrating capabilities such as Watch Together, allowing viewers to watch live sports with friends and chat in a split-screen view during the event.
Google Cloud and SpaceX have announced a new partnership to deliver data, cloud services, and applications to customers at the network edge, leveraging Starlink’s ability to provide high-speed broadband internet around the world and Google Cloud’s infrastructure.
Japanese internet giant SoftBank has agreed an alliance with OneWeb to expand its low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband services in Japan and worldwide. They will promote satellite communication services via the combination of OneWeb services and SoftBank’s services, including advanced communication and Digital Transformation (DX) platform services.
Russia has chosen a famous actress and an award-winning director to fly to the International Space Station and make what it calls the first movie in space.
