The next big thing in the industry

Every now and then, when the topic of Virtual Reality (VR) has come up, most industry professionals have seemed sceptical about the technology and it has often been dismissed as just another fad. Judging, however, by what I saw at Cannes and NAB this year, and the number of big names involved in developing technologies around VR, it seems like the next big thing in the industry.

VR specifically seems to be making great progress in three areas, namely gaming, cinematic VR and 360° videos, which are mainly flat videos morphed into a sphere for playback.

Of course, with the likes of Google having developed the Google Cardboard for $17 to turn your smartphone into a VR headset, it’s going to make the technology more accessible to ordinary folk.

Then there is the Samsung Gear VR; Facebook’s Oculus Rift; the HTC Vive, a high-end device with room-scale technology and the Sony PlayStation VR. With all of these technologies available to the public, VR seems to be edging forward boldly.

Within the realm of broadcast, we see this taking greater shape in the guise of augmented reality.

We saw some really exciting work at the Ncam stand in this area at NAB and I personally think they have some really cool technologies. If augmented reality is of interest to you, this is one company you want to watch.

But it’s not just the manufacturers who are tinkering with VR. Media biggies like Discovery, the BBC, MSNBC and Sky also seem to have their fingers in the VR pie.

Another topic that received a lot of attention both at Cannes as well as NAB was High Dynamic Range (HDR). In fact, with more cameras supporting ultra HD and 4K and more DoPs shooting in this resolution, expect to hear more about HDR in the coming months.

BroadcastPro ME is also celebrating its sixth anniversary this month at XL Club, Habtoor Grand. Hope to see you there!