Immersive live-event broadcaster NextVR has built its name over the last few years by bringing you up close and personal with some of the biggest sporting events. Looking towards 2018 and the future the company has announced plans to improve and evolve its experience for fans across the world.
NextVR plans on doing this in several ways. Firstly there’s going to be six degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) giving viewers the opportunity to move in every direction to explore the captured space while in headset. So if a referee or spectator is in the way, you can simply shift and look around the field of play just as you do when you’re actually at the event. To being with the first rollout phase will integrate 6DoF into on-demand experiences in 2018, followed by the debut of live 6DoF.
Then there’s quality, with NextVR enhancing the detail capture capability of its proprietary VR cameras and encoder infrastructure giving fans content in a much higher resolution on compatible VR headsets. Content will be available in high-res in early 2018.
Lastly, NextVR is getting into augmented reality (AR) for the first time with plans to bring digitally captured content into a users physical environment. AR capability will start to become available in mid-2018 for fans to enjoy.
“VR is the most demanding visual medium ever created and we’re just beginning to deliver on its potential to convincingly create experiences that mimic reality,” said David Cole, NextVR Co-Founder and CEO in a statement. “The ability to move naturally inside the experience and the increased ability to see detail add a critical level of presence and realism.”
The NextVR app is available for free download, and compatible with a Samsung Gear VR headset or Google Daydream View, along with a compatible smartphone, PlayStation VR, or Windows Mixed Reality. New hardware support, including all-in-one mobile headsets, are planned for 2018. When this happens VRFocus will let you know.