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Vislink and Focal Point VR Join Forces to Revolutionize Live Event Broadcasting with Immersive Video

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London, 15th September 2023 – Vislink, a global leader in wireless video and data transmission technology, is thrilled to announce a groundbreaking partnership with Focal Point VR, a pioneer in remote presence virtual reality technology. Together, they are set to transform the landscape of live event broadcasting by delivering unparalleled immersive video experiences to audiences worldwide.

This strategic collaboration brings together the expertise of two industry leaders, combining Vislink’s advanced wireless communication technology with Focal Point VR’s state-of-the-art VR solutions. The partnership aims to provide event organizers, broadcasters, and viewers with a new dimension of engagement and interactivity during live events.

Key highlights of the partnership include:
Immersive Video: Through the integration of Focal Point VR’s immersive livestream technology with Vislink’s RF communication systems, audiences can now enjoy immersive, 360-degree video experiences that make them feel like they are right in the heart of the event, even from the comfort of their homes.

Enhanced Interactivity: Viewers will have the ability to control their viewing perspective, switch between different camera angles, and even engage with other attendees virtually, creating a truly interactive and social experience.

Unmatched Quality: The combined expertise of both companies ensures that the live broadcast quality remains exceptional, with low latency and ultra high-resolution video streams, ensuring an unforgettable viewing experience.

Scalability: The partnership’s technology is designed to scale seamlessly, making it suitable for a wide range of live events, from sports and concerts to conferences and expos.

Global Reach: With Vislink’s global presence and Focal Point VR’s cutting-edge VR technology, this partnership is set to have a global impact, providing immersive broadcasting solutions to audiences across the world.

Commenting on the partnership, Robert King, European Sales Director of Vislink said, “We are excited to collaborate with Focal Point VR to take live event broadcasting to the next level. Our combined technologies will provide viewers with a truly immersive and interactive experience, making them feel like they are part of the action regardless of their physical location.”

Jonathan Newth, CEO of Focal Point VR, added, “This partnership represents a significant step forward in the evolution of live event broadcasting. We are proud to work alongside Vislink to bring our VR expertise to the forefront of the industry, delivering unforgettable experiences to viewers.”
The partnership between Vislink and Focal Point VR is set to redefine the way live events are experienced. Audiences can look forward to a future where they are no longer spectators but active participants in the events they love.

For more information about this partnership and the technologies involved, please contact:

Robert King, EMEA Regional Sales Director, Vislink, e: sales@vislink.com

Jonathan Newth, Focal Point VR, e: jonathan@focalpointvr.com

About Vislink: Vislink is a global leader in wireless video and data transmission technology. With a legacy of excellence spanning decades, Vislink continues to provide reliable and innovative solutions for broadcasting, sports, and live event coverage, ensuring that content is delivered seamlessly to audiences worldwide.

About Focal Point VR Ltd: Focal Point VR Ltd is a leading provider of virtual reality solutions, offering immersive experiences for a wide range of applications, including sports, entertainment, and education. With a commitment to innovation and cutting-edge technology, Focal Point VR is revolutionizing the way people engage with their favourite content.velopment community to deliver the content and experiences required to drive sales and make the Vision Pro a success. This is a potentially very dangerous position for Apple to put themselves in but we shouldn’t forget that Apple has a commanding position with Mac as the computing platform of choice for much of the content creation industry.

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Thoughts on the Vision Pro one week later

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In the leadup to WWDC there was a lot of speculative coverage about the much anticipated Apple headset. For the most part the Vision Pro met expectations; the technical specification pretty much matched speculation with the price being at the top end of the expected range.

My feelings about the Vision Pro launch are best described as mixed. The headset is certainly a technical tour de force, and Apple has addressed and solved many of the challenges posed by VR; the 23 million pixel display will deliver crystal clear imagery. Class leading eye tracking and powerful compute will allow developers to create ultra high fidelity CG experiences.

The reverse pass through (which Apple dubbed EyeSight)  is an interesting attempt to address one of the frequent criticisms of VR – that it is socially isolating. EyeSight is either going to work really well at addressing social acceptability of wearing a headset in company, or it is going to land in the uncanny valley and end up feeling ‘’Black Mirror’’ weird. So far, users’ feedback has been at the positive end of that spectrum. If it works, expect this to be a standard feature of all future headsets.

The Vision Pro is undoubtedly a technological achievement, however technology alone does not drive sales. “Content is king” is an old and wise games industry saying. I think it is here that the Apple Vision is less compelling.

There was a lot of focus during the WWDC presentation on content, but almost everything shown was legacy flat content or spatialised 2d apps. All of Apple’s thinking seems to be focused on bringing existing content and experiences to this new device, and not much about how XR can enable entirely new offerings.

It is notable that Apple did not mention the Metaverse once during their presentation; much of the commentary about the Vision Pro since its unveiling has been about how solitary it looked. Apple has focused on addressing the social isolation issue when wearing a headset in company, whilst others (notably Meta) see VR as a gateway to shared worlds. Mark Zuckerberg drew this distinction very clearly in his reaction to the Vision Pro; “Our vision for the metaverse and presence is fundamentally social. It’s about people interacting in new ways and feeling closer in new ways. Our (Meta) device is also about being active and doing things. By contrast, every demo that they (Apple) showed was a person sitting on a couch by themself.”

What struck me the most was the absence of a first party XR ‘killer app’. It seems that Apple is leaving the wider development community to deliver the content and experiences required to drive sales and make the Vision Pro a success. This is a potentially very dangerous position for Apple to put themselves in but we shouldn’t forget that Apple has a commanding position with Mac as the computing platform of choice for much of the content creation industry.

One of the key applications for VR is remote presence. This is what we have been working on at Focal Point VR for the last seven years. Early in our user testing we concluded that for remote presence to deliver its true potential – which is to make the user really feel and believe that they have been transported somewhere else – display clarity approaching human eye resolution is required. In 2018 I suggested somewhere around 35 pixels per degree (ppd) was a sensible target (20/20 vision is equivalent to 60 ppd). Headset resolution roughly doubled since the initial Oculus Rift launch in 2016 (from Rift ~10 ppd to the Quest 2 ~20 ppd). Vision Pro doubles this again to close to 40 ppd making it the first headset (excepting the enterprise focused Varjo headsets) capable of delivering a truly transformative remote presence experience.

We have been maintaining our headset tracker / resolution forecast over the last five years, and I am very pleased to see the Vision Pro just slightly ahead of the curve.

 

Earlier this year Focal Point VR demonstrated our first 16K VR video livestream (~42 ppd). We are very much looking forward to showing what is possible with near human eye resolution remote presence enabled by our streaming technology and the Vision Pro in the very near future.

In conclusion, The Vision Pro is a technical masterpiece. Apple set themselves a high bar, and by doing what they do best, applying the best engineers and substantial funding to a problem, they pretty much achieved their engineering goals. The device will undoubtedly transform and energize the AR/VR/XR world and we look forward to seeing the public’s reaction to it when it arrives in all those Apple stores. Like most developers in the industry, we can’t wait to get our hands on a Vision Pro to see what we can do!


The livestream resolution you need today for the headsets of 2023.

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Accelerating Immersive Live Video

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COVID-19 has severely limited this year’s calendar of live events so far, but things are beginning to change as we enter the second half of 2020. With some sporting events already taking place behind closed doors and audiences restricted to watching the action on screens, could 360° content offer broadcasters, sports leagues and rights owners with a unique way to engage and connect with fans, and enable immersive and highly personalised viewing experiences?

Join MediaKind, Tiledmedia and Focal Point VR on Wednesday June 17 for an exciting deep-dive discussion around live 360-degree content, exploring how it can transform the way viewers experience live events in ‘The New Normal’. Discover how 360° video can be captured, produced, streamed and delivered to enable best-in-market quality for live VR streaming to existing headsets and mobile devices, at the lowest possible bitrates.

A panel of Christopher Wilson, Market Development, Sports, MediaKind; Rob Koenen, Founder & CBO, Tiledmedia; Jonathan Newth, CEO, Focal Point VR; and moderator Chris Pfaff, Founder and CEO, Chris Pfaff Tech Media LLC, will discuss real-life applications of this technology across live sports, theatre productions, music events, concerts and more.

Register now to learn more about 360° technology and how it enables:

  • New interactive consumer experiences through simple, cost effective and scalable 360°-as-a-Service deployments
  • Service providers to connect with audiences and enable impactful, immersive experiences that cut close to ‘being there’
Register Now!
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Hybrid CGI and Stereoscopic Augmented Reality Video Trial

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Focal Point VR Ltd are delighted to report the successful conclusion of the trial phase for the ‘Virtual Veronese’ project in conjunction with the National Gallery and Royal Holloway, University of London. Virtual Veronese is ‘a first of its kind’ R&D prototype created in collaboration with StoryFutures, based at Royal Holloway, University of London. The experience was produced as part of the £80 million Creative Industries Clusters Programme, which is funded by the Industrial Strategy and delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Many of the National Gallery’s paintings would have originally hung in spaces that are very different to the gallery setting they are in today. Paolo Veronese’s ‘The Consecration of Saint Nicholas’ was commissioned in 1561 as an altarpiece to hang in the church of San Benedetto al Po, near Mantua, Italy. During the recent two-week trial, visitors to the National Gallery were able to experience the history of this Renaissance masterpiece in a completely new way. Through the prototype, visitors experienced new forms of immersive storytelling to understand what this painting would have meant in 16th century Italy. With the inquisition at the height of its powers, a Catholic Church anxious about growing Lutheran influence, the public heard how the simple commissioning of a painting was a powerful act of loyalty to Rome. As a guide to this experience you could choose either Veronese’s patron and Abbot of San Benedetto al Po, Andrea Asola (played by a modern actor); or, The Howard and Roberta Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Christianity at the National Gallery, Dr Rebecca Gill. 

Focal Point VR designed and built a custom Stereoscopic AR video capture rig specifically for the project. Filming covered Dr Gill and also the actors playing the renaissance monks. Working with scriptwriter Catherine Skinner, Focal Point VR produced Augmented Reality versions of the experience for the Magic Leap and Mira headsets. These allowed the public to see the real painting set in the recreation of the 1562 chapel and to watch the stories unfold with real video located in the scene. A further trial was run with Oculus Quest headsets to give comparative research in Virtual Reality.

Focal Point VR developed the entire application and worked closely with teams at the National Gallery and StoryFutures to ensure the smooth, public operation of AR & VR headsets.

Ian Baverstock, Chairman of Focal Point VR said “The opportunity to tell the story of this amazing painting was a great challenge. We wanted visitors to understand the political and religious significance of the art but in a short, intense experience. Most of all, we really wanted the viewer to directly connect the painting on the gallery wall in front of them with the dramatic developments in European history that it symbolises from 400 years and 2000 miles away. Using AR or VR based on the painting is a great way to make that connection“.

Lawrence Chiles, Head of Digital Services at the National Gallery said “We’re thrilled to bring this exciting research project to fruition, which helps achieve our ambitions for innovation at the Gallery. It will help us understand how our visitors respond to new technologies and enable us to tell the stories behind our art in new and compelling ways”.

Professor James Bennett, Director of StoryFutures, said “We hope this gives visitors to the National Gallery a real feeling for the magic and transformative nature of what immersive storytelling can do. This is research that tests out the potential for immersive storytelling to engage audiences in new ways and showcases the brilliance of companies in our creative cluster like Focal Point VR”. Will Saunders, Executive Producer said, “we hope audiences will love this experience and that StoryFutures’ work can help organisations like the National Gallery adopt cutting edge technology and innovation in story form to help the UK become a world leader”.

Initial responses from its audience testing in the gallery are overwhelmingly positive. One art and history teacher stated… “It brought the era of the painting to life, I’d love to use this with my students”. Another gallery visitor said, “I really felt I was in the church with the monks”.

‘Virtual Veronese’ was live in the National Gallery from 23rd July through to 5th August 2019.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/virtual-veronese

Supported by Howard and Roberta Ahmanson.
©The National Gallery, London

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Audience of the Future

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Focal Point VR part of winning Audience of the Future Consortium

Focal Point VR is delighted to announce that it is a member of the WEAVR consortium which has won one of 4 large UK Research and Innovation funded Audience of the Future demonstrator competitions.

What is WEAVR?

WEAVR is a new non-linear social viewing platform designed for live events. WEAVR uses real time data to drive storytelling, weaving together disparate data sources with deep AI and using immersive technologies to create a multi-layered, hyper personalized, interactive viewing experience.

Audience of the Future

Imagine being inside the world of your favourite stage performance or watching your favourite athletes every move with enhanced stats for the entire match, or immersed with others, solving a detective narrative involving dinosaurs and robots in a national museum or shopping centre.

This will become a reality for UK audiences from 2019 as globally renowned IP, storytellers and technology companies come together to demonstrate cutting edge immersive experiences thanks to funding through the government’s industrial strategy.

The £18 million total investment of government and industry funding is a key element of the Audience of the Future programme, delivered by UK Research and Innovation and announced by government in March 2018 in the Creative Industries Sector Deal. It is comprised of £12 million government grant funding through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and £6 million from industry.

The awards will be made across the areas of Sports Entertainment, Visitor Experience and Performance. The demonstrators will be tested at scale with 100,000 users to evidence the business models behind them.

 

WEAVR Consortium wins Sports Entertainment Demonstrator

Esports – video games that are played competitively and watched by massive audiences – has the fastest growing global audience for live sports. In 2017 over 388 million people worldwide watched esports, and the number of esports fans is projected to grow a further 50% by 2020.

Our consortium will produce a new platform called WEAVR that leverages the data-rich environment of esports to transform the way esports – and further down the line physical sports – are experienced through cross reality technologies by remote audiences.

The WEAVR consortium includes ESL UK, REWIND, Cybula, Dock 10 and the University of York as well as Focal Point VR. The team includes leading academics and innovators across immersive technologies, data-driven content production and broadcast. WEAVR will transform the experiences of millions of esports fans, generate new audiences and open up new revenue streams for the broadcast entertainment industry.


Being part of the winning WEAVR consortium represents a huge vote of confidence in the technology and strategic direction that Focal Point VR have pursued.

We will be looking for new investment and new partnerships as we take our 8K+ 360 live streaming technology and products deeper into esports and physical sports future broadcasting.

Focal Point VR will also be hiring additional engineers to augment the existing team as we take on the additional workload of the WEAVR integrations and demonstrations.

The official WEAVR Launch Press Release can be found here.

Showcasing VR video live-streaming ‘from anywhere’ in partnership with Livewire Digital at IBC 2018

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12th September 2018. Guildford, Surrey, UK. Focal Point VR will attend IBC to show its professional broadcast quality virtual reality (VR) 360° live-streaming platform capable of being deployed anywhere in the field.

Focal Point VR has developed an ultra high quality high resolution 360 and VR live stream platform capable of delivering VR video streams up to 8K. However until now high bandwidth 4K+ VR streams required a fixed line broadband connection to deliver. In partnership with Livewire Digital, Focal Point VR will demonstrate an end to end, go-anywhere solution pairing Focal Point VR’s Camera and Stream Processors with RazorLink® Smart Networking technology embodied in the Livewire Digital SilverBlade II.

Jonathan Newth, Focal Point VR’s CEO, said “The ability of VR Video to ‘teleport’ the media consumer to another place live represents an entirely new paradigm for video. We are really excited to be working with Livewire Digital to enable live VR video streams from virtually anywhere.”

Commenting on the partnership with Focal Point VR, Tristan Wood, Managing Director, Livewire Digital, said, “Immersive video is an exciting and growing market which requires the fast, reliable communications that RazorLink Smart Networking can deliver.”

Come and visit us on the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilion in Hall 5, Stand B48c at the RAI – Amsterdam, Netherlands 14th September – 18th September 2018

 

If you can not attend IBC we will be live streaming from the stand to 360 social media during the show.  Visit our show YouTube channel or our Facebook page during show hours and join us wherever you are.

 

Media contact:

Jonathan Newth

Focal Point VR PR

T: +44 7771 558545

E: jonathan@focalpointvr.com

 

About Focal Point VR

Focal Point VR is a 360 and VR video production and technology company.  We are dedicated to creating the technology necessary to realise the dream of people being able to put on a VR headset and be ‘teleported’ to another place, live.

Focal Point VR has developed a range of 360 cameras and live stitch products based on its proprietary Ubiety ultra-high resolution software platform.  We provide clients with hardware and software solutions to deliver professional broadcast quality VR video live streams; we also have a full service production team which can handle end-to-end VR video production, post or live.

 

http://focalpointvr.com/

 

About Livewire Digital

Livewire Digital design Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions that provide reliable, optimised communications links that operate over cellular, terrestrial and satellite services. Combining networking knowledge with expertise in broadcast video, electronics and mechanical engineering, Livewire Digital offer leading edge products and bespoke systems to a broad range of markets and organisations.

 

https://www.livewire.co.uk/

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Announcing Our New Camera Rig & Stream Processor

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Focal Point VR are delighted to announce that we are now selling our own camera rigs and stream processors. We recognise there is a strong demand for very high quality 360 camera rigs which include live headset preview mode or live streaming. Over the last 2 years we’ve been increasingly assembling our own rigs and processors for the live streaming projects we’ve been commissioned to film. We’re now making the results of that development available to everyone.

The first 2 systems we’re putting on sale are aimed at the 6K resolution market. We’ve got a dedicated 3 camera rig – the FP-6K – and a matched live stream processor – the FP-A6 on sale. We’ll be publicly showing these systems at AR & VR World at Excel in London this week. During their debut month, both systems will have a 10% introductory discount. We’re also offering 2 day hire of the systems with the hire costs refundable against subsequent purchase.

Focal Point VR’s live production stream processors are based around our proprietary Ubiety software platform. Ubiety has been designed to meet the demands of the highest quality 360 and VR live streaming environments. Amongst other things this feature rich platform includes support for low latency ultra high resolution 360 streaming using NDI and exceptionally fine control over stitching using our StitchPaint technology.

 

 

We’ll continue to expand the range with new products in the pipeline aimed at 8K filming and streaming due to be announced shortly.

 

Focal Point VR launches VR live stream platform

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Focal Point VR is launching its 360° Virtual Reality live stream software platform – Ubiety – at BVE 2017 on Feb 28th-March 2nd.

Virtual Reality offers an entirely new way of experiencing the real world. With streamed VR video, this emerging technology can give people the chance to be in the best seat in the house for every future real-world event. Focal Point VR is creating the technology necessary to realise the dream of people being able to put on a VR headset and then be ‘teleported’ to another place, live.

Focal Point VR is showcasing Ubiety at BVE 2017 ExCel London on stand Q54, Hall S1-8.

Attendees of BVE 2017 will have the opportunity to experience VR ‘teleportation’ courtesy of Focal Point VRs Ubiety technology. Discover an entirely new way of experiencing real world live events through streamed VR video, for a demonstration come and visit us on stand Q54.

The Ubiety software platform supports everything from delivering an HD 360° stream to YouTube through to multi viewpoint 360° and stereo VR ultra high resolution (6k and beyond) event coverage delivered to customisable VR apps and html5 players. www.ubiety.tech

The Ubiety Platform is comprised of two main components; the Ubiety Stream Processor, which connects to the VR cameras and processes the video into a VR stream; and the Ubiety VR Player which runs on the viewer’s VR device. Ubiety can be configured to stream over a client CDN or can be setup with a managed CDN providing a complete turnkey camera to headset solution.

About Focal Point VR

Focal Point VR is dedicated to creating the technology necessary to realise the dream of people being able to put on a VR headset and then be ‘teleported’ to another place, live. Ubiety is the first stage in a roadmap building to a fully depth-enhanced, live, ultra-high resolution VR video streaming platform which will deliver true ‘presence’.

 

Contact

Jonathan Newth
e: jonathan@focalpointvr.com
t: +44 (0) 7771 558545

Taking back control of live

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Focal Point VR demonstrates the power of the VR experience with a live production from the IMG Champions Tennis

Best viewed live and in high definition, sport has long been considered immune from many of the pressures facing linear TV. However, young people are switching off from TV sport as part of a drop in average audiences of nearly a tenth in six years, analysts have claimed.

Recent research by Ampere Analysis found that 18 to 24-year-olds, the younger end of the so-called ‘millennial’ age group, were 17% less likely to identify sport as their favourite form of programming than the general population.

At the same time viewing figures for TV sport are down on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been widely reported in the US that broadcast audiences for NFL matches have dropped across all major networks while UK sports channels, including Sky Sports, BT Sport and Eurosport reveals 2016 average weekly viewing is down by 9% compared to 2010

The data should ring alarm bells for pay-TV operators that rely on sport as the main draw for subscribers.

Ampere suggested that the rise of online streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube, as well as social media, was providing stronger competition for young people’s attention.

This should come as no surprise. As a demographic, millennials have become accustomed to being more in control over how and when they consume TV content and, as a result, streaming services have grown in popularity with this audience more than any other.

“With an ageing fan base, broadcasters must get their eyes back on the ball if they are to retain – and grow – this highly desirable audience,” says the analyst.

There is a way in which sports rights holders and live event content owners can innovate a way out of the impasse.

Streaming an event live in 360° to smartphone apps and virtual reality headsets offers a fundamentally different experience and what’s more, one that puts the viewer in control.

“VR video offers a genuine alternative way of consuming video,” says Ian Baverstock, Co-Founder, Focal Point VR. “It is different from conventional video recording in the way people perceive it. You lose some advantages of editing and action replay and the ability to zoom in and out of a picture. In effect, you lose the directed experience. But what you get in return is a feeling of authenticity and presence which is of tremendous appeal to a cynical youth audience who don’t value content served when someone else is in control.”

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Instead of being mediated through someone else’s perspective, VR is about being live and present at the event.

“It’s about having the freedom to look around and see what is really going on,” says Baverstock. “Offering consumers, and especially millennials, the chance to be part of something live yet under their own control is extremely valuable.”

To help prove the point, this week’s matches from the IMG Champions Tennis, including the final on Sunday December 4, are being live streamed in 360-degrees to a specially created app available to a select audience of broadcasters, sponsors and technologists.

The season ending finale of the ATP Champions Tour features some of the greatest players ever including John McEnroe and Pat Rafter competing indoors in front of a packed house in the awe-inspiring Royal Albert Hall.

Viewers will be able to switch between multiple streams for different perspectives on the live action much as they would access a Red Button on TV but all without leaving the VR stream.

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“We are not editorialising in any way,” explains Paul James, Co-Founder and Head of Production. “This is a viewer-based experience where they are the editor. The viewer makes the decision about when and where they want to watch. Our role is to make sure that when consumers do come to VR for the first time they experience such a ‘Wow’ that they will want to return for more.”

The event is also a prime opportunity to experiment with various aspects of what is still an emerging technology. Three different rigs will be arrayed around the court ranging from a stereo pair for 3D capture, a GoPro mounted rig for output to YouTube and a high-end system comprising three Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K outputting dual streams of 4K and 6K.

Signals from the latter configuration will be fed into Focal Point VR’s own encoding, stitching and packing solution and delivered [by content delivery network/over the internet] to the app and also to an embeddable HTML5 player.

Longer term, the ability to share the experience with friends and family will be essential to the success of live VR. Developments by companies including Facebook are already working to crack the issue by introducing avatars and voice into the live feed.

“Ultimately you want to be able to share the experience of attending an event virtually with a member of your family who may live many miles away. While this capability is unlikely to be available in the first commercial launches of VR, the technology will soon offer the chance for both of you to teleport to the same experience. A step even beyond that is to enhance the ability to move around within and interact with the VR world, for example by being able to point rather than just look. Our technology allows broadcasters to engage with consumers on a completely new level.”

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