CNET Founder Launching Virtual Reality Network
“Virtual reality won’t be a wholesale replacement of TV, but a massive new industry directly adjacent to the old one,” Reality Lab founder Halsey Minor says. “Virtual reality growth will come from entertainment.”
At CES 2016, Minor debuted Reality Lab’s Quantum Leap VR system, which was streaming live 360-degree 4K video content wirelessly over a Verizon VZ -0.07% LTE connection onto a Samsung SSNLF 0.00% Gear VR device in real time.
Each Quantum Leap camera features 16 individual HD cameras that produce two 360-degree stereoscopic images (one for each eye) for each viewer. Minor says the views are perfectly stitched together in real time, revealing none of the “seams” typically found in VR video content, despite running at 25 frames per second. Since the cameras support higher resolutions than any current VR headset, the technology is already built for the future.
In addition, the system supports Hyper VR, which allows three-dimensional objects and animations to be inserted into any 360-degree livestream.
But Minor isn’t selling this technology. Instead, he’s using it to create his own virtual reality network of channels, which will focus on individual sports and types of music at first. The company’s first partnerships will be announced in the coming months with content timed to launch in Q2.
Minor believe the future of virtual reality is untethered, which is why he debuted his technology on a mobile device.
Minor says the key to livestreaming 360-degree video is to get the best content—the Super Bowl, the presidential debates, big concerts, and soccer matches—and develop it in a different format. The Quantum Leap camera system will allow viewers to choose from multiple perspectives on the fly during event coverage.
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