I have been fascinated with virtual characters ever since reading science-fiction novels that featured sentient personas that provided guidance to captains of starships on intergalactic missions. Those concepts migrated to television and cinema, from Star Trek’s holodeck simulations in the ’60s, to Max Headroom in the ’80s, to the holographic virtual companion Joi in the film Blade Runner 2049. Although the idea of virtual humans has been around in pop culture, anime, and
Since its inception, 360 video has given us a glimpse of what was possible with a panoramic view of video that created a new paradigm of experiential media. It was interesting in the beginning, but I have realized its limitations, and I am now looking to take it to the next level. One major limitation of 360 video is that it is an overall flat experience, since it positions the
Artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, and natural language processing will be the next transformative technologies for streaming. They all will have an impact on streaming through all stages of production, from content creation to consumption. With the proliferation of AI in many different industries, there’s no doubt that it will be heavily used for live streaming on a wider scale in the near future. Some of the companies and technologies
19
Sep 2017
360° VR Live-Streaming Workflow
The hype around VR is dwindling, and the industry is now faced with the reality of delivering on the promise of giving consumers compelling content and experiences. 360° VR live streaming has gained some traction over the past year as the production process has improved. Until recently, capturing 360° video was difficult, complex, and often convoluted, and panoramic camera systems combined a morass of different technologies based on work-arounds and
Many things have transpired since my previous Streaming Media article, Is Virtual Reality Streaming Ready for Primetime?, appeared last November. In that article, I predicted that when YouTube provided a platform for virtual reality (VR) content, VR would be poised to enter the mainstream. Eight months later, with YouTube allowing users to livestream 360° VR videos, we can see a path to mass consumer adoption. VR remains a niche market at
Virtual Reality (VR) has recently caught the attention of the press, inspired the creativity of a multitude of content producers, and captivated the imaginations of the public. Many companies are entering the VR arena and are throwing their hats in the ring with their own Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), cameras, hardware, and software for the consumer market. While the biggest market to date for VR has been in the gaming world,
02
Feb 2015
Streamline Your Portable Streaming System, Part 3: Switchers, Streaming Appliances, and Portable Encoders
To kick off Part 3 of this series on streamlining your traveling streaming kit, we’ll look at some switching options. In Part 1, we looked at software-based switching you can do within your laptop with our discussion of the MacBook Retina-based streaming system (using Telestream Wirecast Pro) that has worked for Mobeon on a number of projects. Here we’ll look at hardware switchers that are compact and versatile enough to
In this segment of this 3-part series on building a streaming production kit you can take on the road, we’ll look at a key component of any streaming production: cameras. As you might expect, there’s a tremendous number of cameras on the market, many of them released in the last year or even the last few months. When assembling a streaming kit that’s easy to transport from event to event,
19
Jan 2015
Streamline Your Portable Streaming System, Part 1: Streaming Software, Capture Cards, and Signal Converters
As the founder and owner of Mobeon, a company that specializes in streaming production, I’m always looking for ways to streamline my kit and simplify my workflow to give my client the best stream possible regardless of the venue. At Mobeon we handle a vast range of events events varying from small- to large-scale, and our clients run the gamut from Fortune 100 companies to startups to and non-profit organizations. Drawing