Virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree video streaming technology company Visbit has announced a new partnership today with HTC Vive regarding its Vive Focus standalone headset. Visbit has unveiled an 8K VR Player for the head-mounted display (HMD), due to launch today on Viveport in preparation for Vive Focus’s launch in China.
Visbit made the announcement during an event held by HTC Vive in China, showcasing how its new technology is integrated with the Vive Focus. The player uses Visbit’s View-Optimized Viewing (VVOS) technology, which it claims is capable of playing up to 8K stereoscopic 360° VR videos in both stream-to-play and download-to-play modes. It also features spatial audio support and video encryption to protect IPs.
“The VR video experience to date suffered from poor resolution and unsmooth playing problems. This situation hasn’t been improved much, even after 4K has become more commonly supported. Meanwhile, content creators who have been creating 8K premium quality 360 VR videos couldn’t make their content stand out because nobody was able to see the difference between 4K and 8K VR videos,” said Elaine Lu, Visbit co-founder and COO. “So we applied our unique VVOS technology to develop this player and enable playing of 8K VR videos with or without streaming. By demonstrating the 8K VR video viewing experience together with Vive, we want to invite IP owners, production studios, and camera makers to team up with us and boost the premium quality VR video content. ”
Alvin Wang Graylin, HTC China President of VR, commented: “We know immersive video is a very important content type on mobile-based VR platform. Designed with 3K resolution and 75Hz refresh rate AMOLED screen, the Vive Focus standalone enables viewing of 8K resolution and is the perfect HMD for experiencing high-resolution VR videos. Visbit 8K VR Player smartly overcomes the limitation of mobile chip decoding and internet bandwidth, and enables 8K premium quality VR videos be played on Vive Focus. We are glad to partner with Visbit to bring Vive Focus users a significantly upgraded VR video experience.”
Visbit’s 8K VR Player will be available for free to download for a limited period starting today. In the coming months, Visbit plans to expand support other standalone and mobile VR headsets, that could include Oculus Go, Pico Goblin and the Mi VR Standalone. When details are released VRFocus will keep you updated.