High-quality, reliable streaming for 360-degree video and other virtual reality (VR) content is a goal that is difficult to achieve. The nature of VR means that a lot of data must be sent very quickly in order to keep up and not cause buffering or frame-rate drops that can not only break immersion, but even cause illness in some users. Visbit are launching an open Beta for a streaming service that aims to tackle those problems.
Visbit have created an end-to-end streaming platform that can offer a stable streaming of 4K and above video, VR and 360-degree videos over standard wi-fi connections for mobile VR devices. The platform handles hosting, transcoding, streaming and playing, making the process easier for creators and users.
The service was previously in closed Beta being tested by certain selected partners, but the open Beta is adding a few new features, such as adaptive bitrate streaming, which can adjust in real-time to the bandwidth the user has available, offline playback and the ability for creators to embed 360-degree video supported by the service into their own apps.
The open Beta will be supported on Google Daydream, Gear VR and Google Cardboard with additional platform support to be introduced later in the coming months.
“Thanks to the feedback from our closed beta users and initial testing, we’ve made a number of tweaks and additions to make our all-in-one streaming service more robust and available for broader adoption,” said CY Zhou, Visbit co-founder and CEO. “We continue to push the limits of what is possible – evident in our recent industry-first 12K streaming breakthrough and support for live streaming – and are looking forward to integrating these features, and more, into our service in the near future.”
The company claim that they have overcome the problems of streaming video in 12K, and that the service can handle livestreaming 360-degree content to allow VR users to watch events broadcast in 360-degree in real-time.
Visbit will be demonstrating the streaming service at the upcoming VRLA Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Centre on 14th-15th April. Further information and the chance to be involved in the open Beta is available on the Visbit website.
VRFocus will keep you informed on Visbit and other VR services.