You are watching the World Cup championship match from the sideline. So close, you can see the sweat on the goalie’s brow. You practically hear the ball whiz through the air and feel the crowd tense in anticipation. But you didn’t have to wait four years, fight crowds, or pay ridiculous prices for these tickets—you are, in fact, sitting in your favorite chair at home. Immersive television will make it possible and it is being developed today. A group at the Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Germany is taking television quite seriously. In fact, their paper on what they call the Interactive Virtual View Video (IVVV) won the President’s award at the International Broadcasting Convention this year. The group’s plan is to integrate natural audio-visual presentation (such as IMAX® technology) with Virtual Reality to create a truly immersive entertainment experience. They hope to do this by combining two types of technologies, or application branches, into one seamless entertainment application. The first application branch is natural audio-visual presentation. With a wide screen display, panoramic views, and stereo surround sound it can create the impression of being situated inside a two-dimensional setting. Virtual Reality (VR), the second branch, has proven effective for educational and gaming applications. It allows for high interactivity within a virtual scenario. But VR is not yet sophisticated enough to apply to the entertainment industry. The quality of the images is too poor to convince users that they are experiencing a real event. Neither of these technologies is aptly suited for immersive television on it’s own. “…The idea of immersive TV is to design a new broadcast medium that combines the natural experience of the first application branch (audio-visual presentation) with the functionality of interacting with the scene contents of the second branch (virtual reality).” ¹ So how does HHI plan to combine these two applications? They have both a short and long-term solution. In the short-term, the group plans to create a cost-efficient immersive television, using existing hardware—a ‘hyperbox.’ This device will combine three high-definition MPEG-2 recorder/decoder boxes being developed by the HHI, which will feed into an Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV) merger unit that integrates the frames together. The user will view 3D video using a head-mounted display or a small group could view the video using a UHDTV panoramic projection. The viewer experiences the event as if seated, in one location, at the event. But what if viewers wanted to get a different perspective? Perhaps look at the field and players from a different angle? This is where IVVV, the group’s long-term approach, truly takes form. The development team envisions using a number of cameras positioned at different locations around the event to create a set of video streams. The resulting images from these streams would be combined. Then, using complex algorithms, raw computer processing power on-site, and the consumer’s own immersive television set, the images from around the venue would be interlaced together to create a seamless 3D representation of the event that can be manipulated by users. The result is a viewing experience that is not just three dimensional, but allows viewers to adjust the ‘virtual camera’ angle to their desire from nearly any position within the venue. So you get a best view possible of the field, the players, and the game, with all the excitement of being in the stadium…without squandering your holiday savings. ¹ Fehn, C. Kauff, O, Schafer, R. “Interactive Virtual Video for Immersive TV Applications.” Heinrich-Hertz Institute, Germany. 2001.” Talk to someone about this topic  To Top
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