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Sync or Sink: VRIF on VR InnovationTT: What are the key issues/areas that the VRIF will be concentrating on? PH: It's still early days to really commit to a specific focus. But device interoperability is certainly a very important goal. We need to create content that can be viewed on the maximum number of devices with the fewest format challenges. A lot of this will depend on how the content is encoded and passed through the delivery pipeline. There are lots of technologies and standards bodies involved in between, and our goal is to try and reduce, simplify these so that interoperable services can be deployed relatively easily. We also have to look at the creation of VR content. It's a different experience [from linear 2D TV], and we need to create guidelines for the right way to create content for VR. TT: Today, there is a loss in resolution for VR, but if you increase resolution, there's a trade-off in bandwidth. From a telecom perspective, we are concerned about the bandwidth impact of VR -- is there a solution? PH: Yes, the visual quality is an issue. Generally, you are looking at about a quarter or less of an entire scene in a VR feed. Three-quarters is being delivered but not being seen, which is a huge waste of bandwidth. Different entities and companies are experimenting with different approaches. For some companies, a "tiling" approach is very relevant. [They] deliver only those tiles that are in the user's view at high quality and not others. Also, VR content is being post-produced and then unicast. We may also look at multicast when the creative guidelines are in place and sorted. There is also an approach that uses edge-rendering. This utilizes the cloud-edge, which picks up the right pieces and sends them. But latency is also an issue -- if you look to one side and the visual imagery doesn't change fast enough… so there's no one hard and fast way at the moment. Much of this remains to be seen, it's early days. TT: Is there an approach you are most optimistic about? PH: Well, I'm an engineer so I like the most elaborate option. Cloud-based rendering is the most interesting for me. But it has to come down to price and performance. Also, these are all basically workarounds -- we need to persevere with this till we figure out how to get three-dimensional content to headsets. There's a little bit of evolution that is required to happen. Standards bodies such as MPEG need to look at 3D encoding specifically. TT: How is the VRIF structured? PH: We have a liaisons group that works with the major standards bodies, such as the W3C, MPEG, ITU -- these are the bodies that do the heavy lifting when it comes to developing technology standards, which is a key issue for us. We are also recruiting new members. We've got a lot of members from the content production/development sector and technology vendors. We could probably add some display vendors, but we are engaged with them already. We are likely to set up two sets of working groups -- one focused on technology and technology guidelines; and the second on the human element, looking at things like storytelling in VR, motion sickness etc. We also have people working on various other factors: content capture, quality metrics and various others. The major players are also implementing these today, so we are seeing fast progress [in our understanding of these areas. TT: Are there concerns VR may go the same way as 3D TV? PH: Well, that's why we are creating this organization. To make sure there is an interoperable ecosystem, which was lacking with 3D TV. Content wasn't developed with 3D in mind, it was shoehorned. They tried to make it work, but couldn't. By trying to engage with content creation, distribution, technology etc., we hope to avoid that. TT: Do you see headsets as another challenge? PH: Yes, it is a challenge. We need comfortable, high-quality headsets for entertainment especially. Video entertainment is a different mindset compared to gaming, which is more active. We need to find ways to get more immersion and quality. Phone-based devices offer a low resolution while we need to create a good, immersive experience. Four thousand horizontal pixels per eye is seen as offering a near-realistic experience. It seems like a good target for media technology. TT: VR seems to cause motion sickness as well, in some people. PH: Yes, there's a percentage that suffers significantly, and it can be immediately after seeing any VR content. For most people though, it's not a problem unless its poor quality. VR images have to be stitched to create a 360-degree experience, and if they are not stitched properly they can cause disorientation. Similarly pixel loss or brightness or color mismatches can affect viewers. Macroblocking can be a problem -- if something is missing, the eye is immediately drawn to it and it can confuse the brain. There's also issues with latency -- how quickly the scene moves when you turn your head. If you shift your viewpoint and nothing changes, that can upset the brain. There are other challenges -- for example, with stereoscopic 360-degree video, if you lift your head it can throw people off. There's only a single viewing perspective and that's horizontal. So with different people, different things can cause problems. But if the quality is high and the VR content is properly created and delivered then it’s a very small percentage of people who will suffer motion sickness. — Aditya Kishore, Practice Leader, Video Transformation, Telco Transformation < Previous Page 2 / 2 |
In part two of this Q&A, the carrier's group head of network virtualization, SDN and NFV calls on vendors to move faster and lead the cloudification charge.
It's time to focus on cloudification instead, Fran Heeran, the group head of Network Virtualization, SDN and NFV at Vodafone, says.
5G must coexist with LTE, 3G and a host of technologies that will ride on top of it, says Arnaud Vamparys, Orange Network Labs' senior vice president for radio networks.
The OpenStack Foundation's Ildiko Vancsa suggests that 5G readiness means never abandoning telco applications and infrastructures once they're 'cloudy enough.'
IDC's John Delaney talks about how telecom CIOs are addressing the relationship between 5G, automation and virtualization, while cautioning that they might be forgetting the basics.
On-the-Air Thursdays Digital Audio
ARCHIVED | December 7, 2017, 12pm EST
Orange has been one of the leading proponents of SDN and NFV. In this Telco Transformation radio show, Orange's John Isch provides some perspective on his company's NFV/SDN journey.
Special Huawei Video
Huawei Network Transformation Seminar The adoption of virtualization technology and cloud architectures by telecom network operators is now well underway but there is still a long way to go before the transition to an era of Network Functions Cloudification (NFC) is complete. |
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