Inside Intel’s Plans To Capture The Olympics In Virtual Reality
In what will be the the largest-scale virtual reality event to date and the first live virtual reality broadcast of the Olympic Winter Games, Intel will rotate roughly two dozen 180-degree cameras that it built in-house across 18 live events over the two-and-a-half week event. It’ll shoot 30 events in total — another 12 with 360-degree cameras — to create a mix of VR live streams and video-on-demand content.
For the live events, three to six cameras will be dedicated to each, offering multiple camera views that viewers can switch between at will. During downhill skiing, one at the gate might show an athlete preparing to start, while a few others might be placed at key turns on the course and the finish line.
Intel’s in-house production team will also provide a fully-produced version of the VR experience known as the VR Cast. By switching back and forth between the 180-degree panoramic, stereoscopic camera views, a director’s cut will stitch together an automated story for the end user, similar to the one viewers have come to expect from the traditional TV broadcast.
Data overlays from the traditional broadcast, such as the athlete’s name and nationality, real-time statistics, a leaderboard, medal counter and post-event results, will be provided by the Olympic Broadcast Service and available to users in VR as well.
The live feeds will then be sent to the cloud where they’ll be distributed across Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR, Windows Mixed Reality, and the rights holders’ apps and web browsers, such as the new NBC Sports VR app and non-U.S. broadcasters, such as CBC in Canada and Discovery in Europe.
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