The Current State of the Virtual Streaming Experience: VR, AR, XR

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Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 10:00am (PT)

Virtual Reality has long been touted as the next streaming experience. A new way to tell stories. A new way to experience them. But, 360-degree video is far from that promised land, and the mechanics, hardware, bandwidth, and ability to tell immersive stories have yet to materialize. That doesn’t mean that the technology doesn’t have merit. In fact, related experiences, Augmented Reality (AR) and Extended Reality (XR), offer a potential to revolutionize some streaming experiences, such as live sporting events. In this webinar, we will explore the current state of VR, AR, and XR in the streaming experience, some of the challenges in implementing these technologies, and what the future might look like for AR and XR enabled streaming.

Webinar Recording

Topics Covered

  1. I think we need a level set. What is the difference between VR, AR, and XR?
  2. How have streaming platforms and content owners been using VR? Is it just 360-degree video?
  3. What needs to happen within streaming to make more use of VR’s potential? Is it a new way of storytelling? Is it missing technologies?
  4. What about AR? Are we seeing any adoption of AR within the streaming experience?
  5. What does an AR-streaming experience really mean? What technologies are still needed (i.e., edge compute, 5GUW, etc.) that aren’t quite there yet?
  6. I think XR is the most misunderstood of the three. It’s clear what VR and AR promises. But what about XR? How can it be applied to the streaming experience?
  7. When will we get to a tipping point? Is this a chicken and egg issue? Do content owners and streaming operators need to invest in experiences so that consumers see the opportunity and are willing to pay for them (and the equipment)?
  8. What are some of the streaming video stack technologies, like encoding, which might need to be improved to support these new experiences?
  9. The Streaming Video Alliance has been doing a proof-of-concept to understand streaming latency in VR video. What role will the network operator play in these new experiences?
  10. What’s on the horizon? Is there anything coming, technology or service provider, that may accelerate these experiences?

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Panelists

Click on a panelist’s picture to visit their Streaming Video Alliance profile. Note: if their profile is not public, this will redirect to their LinkedIn profile.

Brian Stevenson ( at Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SME))

Brian Stevenson makes stuff up for a living. He is a passionate innovator, prolific patent filer, serial technology entrepreneur and an alumna of 5 successful start-ups that have helped shaped today’s entertainment experience while bringing joy and excitement into the lives of millions of people. A huge proponent of IP based content processing and delivery, Brian has built many ground-breaking IP products and solutions for Operators, Studios and Content Owners, all while fostering the shift to “Cloud Native” and SaaS infrastructures and business models.

Brian is a regular contributor to SMPTE, SCTE, and a frequent speaker at industry events on topics as diverse as Edge Computing, VR/AR & Haptics, and AI & Inference.

Gilad Talmon (CEO at Tetavi)

No bio available.

Sanjay Mishra (Associate Fellow at Verizon)

Accomplished Telecommunications professional with extensive experience in launching new and strategic products and services. Laser sharp Focus on technology innovation in areas of web-based media and cloud-based platforms. Skilled at service and product definition, system and network architecture, market and technology assessment and business process engineering,

Holder of US Patent for innovative design of enabling a mechanism for online ordering content such as video-on-demand. The mechanism allows ordering via a set-top-box on a TV or Internet-based online ordering. Content can be rendered on a TV or any device connected to the Internet. The mechanism also simultaneously initiates provisioning and billing of the asset on the underlying Network and Operations & Billing Support Systems (OSS/BSS) granting either perpetual ownership license and/or setting time-limit for rentals based on type of purchase. [US Patent: 9446261]

Thierry Fautier (Managing Director at )

Thierry Fautier is a Silicon Valley veteran. As Vice President of Video strategy at Harmonic, he drove innovation, standards, and strategic partnerships. Active contributor to the industry, he founded and chaired the Ultra HD Forum, co-chaired the Streaming Video Alliance VR group, and co-founded the VR Industry Forum. In TV Broadcast Europe top 25, he also won a Technical Emmy Award for his work on AI optimization applied to real-time video compression.

Brian Stevenson ( at Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SME))

Brian Stevenson makes stuff up for a living. He is a passionate innovator, prolific patent filer, serial technology entrepreneur and an alumna of 5 successful start-ups that have helped shaped today’s entertainment experience while bringing joy and excitement into the lives of millions of people. A huge proponent of IP based content processing and delivery, Brian has built many ground-breaking IP products and solutions for Operators, Studios and Content Owners, all while fostering the shift to “Cloud Native” and SaaS infrastructures and business models.

Brian is a regular contributor to SMPTE, SCTE, and a frequent speaker at industry events on topics as diverse as Edge Computing, VR/AR & Haptics, and AI & Inference.

Gilad Talmon (CEO at Tetavi)

No bio available.

Sanjay Mishra (Associate Fellow at Verizon)

Accomplished Telecommunications professional with extensive experience in launching new and strategic products and services. Laser sharp Focus on technology innovation in areas of web-based media and cloud-based platforms. Skilled at service and product definition, system and network architecture, market and technology assessment and business process engineering,

Holder of US Patent for innovative design of enabling a mechanism for online ordering content such as video-on-demand. The mechanism allows ordering via a set-top-box on a TV or Internet-based online ordering. Content can be rendered on a TV or any device connected to the Internet. The mechanism also simultaneously initiates provisioning and billing of the asset on the underlying Network and Operations & Billing Support Systems (OSS/BSS) granting either perpetual ownership license and/or setting time-limit for rentals based on type of purchase. [US Patent: 9446261]

Thierry Fautier (Managing Director at )

Thierry Fautier is a Silicon Valley veteran. As Vice President of Video strategy at Harmonic, he drove innovation, standards, and strategic partnerships. Active contributor to the industry, he founded and chaired the Ultra HD Forum, co-chaired the Streaming Video Alliance VR group, and co-founded the VR Industry Forum. In TV Broadcast Europe top 25, he also won a Technical Emmy Award for his work on AI optimization applied to real-time video compression.

Moderated by Jason Thibeault

CEO

Jason Thibeault is the Chief Executive Officer of the Streaming Video Technology Alliance, the international association of companies collaborating to solve critical challenges in delivering a better streaming video experience and increasing adoption. Prior to this role, Jason spent eight years at Limelight Networks, a leading CDN, where he held several roles including product manager and marketing strategist. Jason is an inventor on multiple technical patents in the streaming industry and a proven entrepreneur. He is also a contributing editor to Streaming Media Magazine.

About the Streaming Video Technology Alliance

The Streaming Video Technology Alliance is the international technical association addressing critical challenges in streaming video. By educating the industry on the technical nature of the issues, providing a neutral forum for collaboration across the video ecosystem, and publishing documentation that defines technical solutions, the SVTA is helping to improve the streaming video experience at scale. Over 100 companies including network operators, content rights holders, OTT platforms, service providers, and technology vendors – representing some of the biggest names in global streaming – participate in bi-weekly working group activities and quarterly face-to-face meetings.