Name
Live VR end-to-end workflows: real-life deployments and advances in VR and network technology
Date & Time
Tuesday, November 10, 2020, 3:15 PM - 3:45 PM
Timezone
UTC
Mauricio Aracena Ozgur Oyman Jason Thibeault
Description

Live VR sports events are gaining traction among viewers since immersive services add a closer experience than watching on a TV providing even better point of views than being at the event. The content acquisition of the Live VR feed is captured using additional cameras dedicated for this purpose (in addition to the traditional cameras). In the venue, there might be several locations where the VR content is captured. The director may choose which Live VR feeds are distributed to home delivery, either by producing one single VR feed, or by giving the choice to the end user to select which one to watch, or a by offering a combination of a produced feed and individual cameras. In this paper, we describe and analyze the live VR workflows from an end-to-end perspective such as production, contribution, distribution and consumption aspects and describe how this can be complementary to the traditional broadcast services with a 4K like experience. We also describe how the recent advances in VR technology can improve VR experience in an optimal bandwidth using view port dependent technologies (for instance using MPEG OMAF format) and how VR production techniques (such as volumetric) provide advance tools for capturing footage from many angles for producing live free-point of view consumption and volumetric replays. This paper also presents Live VR service deployments using those technologies and it will describe the technical challenges from an end-to-end perspective on how to achieve high quality (VR360 8K equivalent) considering aspects such as bit rate, latency, CDN configurations and device capabilities. Finally, we also address how any high speed broadband infrastructure like 5G , Fiber of DOCSIS 3.1 infrastructure and new 5G devices with their built in 8K capabilities can simplify the Live workflow, and how it can accelerate the 8K VR deployments. Keywords: live VR, VR360, Volumetric, VR workflows, 8K, 5G, Omidirectional Media Format (OMAF)

Technical Depth of Presentation
Fundamental: This papers describes best industry practices of live TV and VR workflows.
Previous knowledge on the following would be beneficial:
- A general understanding of streaming and broadcast services (production and distribution)
- Basic understanding of video coding
What Attendees will Benefit Most from this Presentation
This is for all audiences, but the level of the paper is for C-Suite executives and decision makers.
Take-Aways from this Presentation
- Description of Live end-to-end workflows for VR streaming for real-life VR deployments - Volumetric techniques for production and free view point consumption - 5G and 8K end-to-end consumption