Virtually There: The Industry Drives Towards a VR Oasis
So you want to get into virtual reality? 现在是这样做的好时机，因为虚拟现实将继续存在——不管你戴不戴尴尬的头盔.
Unlike other passing tech fads that have fallen to the wayside, VR has utility that extends beyond gimmicky entertainment tricks. 游戏和沉浸式体验正把我们拉向虚拟娱乐的更深处, like Ernest Cline’s Oasis in 一号玩家准备就绪. 只是现在，虚拟革命不是从游戏机或专用虚拟现实系统开始的, it’s beginning with your smartphone.
考虑 口袋妖怪去, the mobile augmented reality game with over 7.500万次下载. 这款游戏将你的手机变成一个管道，通过摄像头和GPS让你进入现实环境中的虚拟世界. This is called augmented reality, 或基于“增大化现实”技术, where you’re overlaying virtual content on top of the real-world view. However, AR is just the first step into full VR immersion.
VR一直是关于沉浸在完全人工的世界中，并与人造人互动, 字符, 和环境. 就在短短几年前， 人们嘲笑这个想法 that VR could change the world. 许多人期待的是一种Max Headroom类型的显示，在这种显示中，事物看起来非常虚假和扭曲，以至于很难想象包含虚拟交互的真实体验. 但任何戴过Oculus Rift的人都会告诉你，这种沉浸式体验可以提供4K的视觉效果, ,很快, 8 k的视频.
像《欧洲杯在线投注赔率》这样的新应用就像一种入门药物，不仅会让我们对更吸引人的内容产生兴趣, 还有新的硬件. 不知不觉中, paying for a VR headset like Oculus Rift, PlayStation虚拟现实, 或HTC VIVE, 或者对普通消费者来说，投资电脑为它们提供动力似乎并不那么遥不可及.
In order for VR to take off in more than gaming and entertainment, 质量 content and efficient ways to distribute it need to be addressed. 从安全开始, 零售, 建设, and tourism will benefit from this technology, giving access to thousands—if not millions—of people. 然而，这些身临其境的体验需要原始的内容交付，可以随着受众的增长而负担得起规模. 像这样, 视频质量(分辨率), 无缝播放, and low latency will make or break VR’s success.
Breaking Down Quality and Delivery Barriers to Spur Adoption
VR delivers high-value experiences, yet it does require some thoughtful preparation—especially for live events. 最近兴起的360度视频可以将观众虚拟地传送到体育赛事等现场活动中, 音乐会, 或者政治集会. But to feel like you’re there, you need the highest 质量 possible. The higher the image 质量, the bigger the bitrate (and final file size for a video-on-demand asset), which in turn requires greater bandwidth. 目前, most 360-degree video tends to be captured with low-resolution cameras, but more 4K and even 8K cameras are on the rise.
对于普通消费者, streaming 360-degree video from the NBA, 潜望镜, and Facebook can eat up data plans, resulting in expensive phone bills, 同时也造成了大量观众的网络拥塞. The congestion means that the user’s experience can be dramatically hindered, as the network chokes on sending the fat data to the mobile device. 因此, 网络运营商, 内容提供商, and consumers have a keen interest in the efficient delivery of VR.
360度VR流媒体也带来了另一个挑战——延迟，它影响了观看体验的两个独特方面:头部运动和缩放质量. 如果你在移动你的头(或眼睛)，并且你的移动和视频刷新之间有延迟, you notice motion-to-photon latency. Ideally you want a refresh rate less than 11ms at 90Hz for desktops, and 16ms at 60Hz for mobile devices. If you have more than that, you’ll likely experience nausea.
当您尝试通过自适应流减少带宽需求时，会出现另一个延迟问题. 举个例子, 一种方法是动态地调整流，只在观看者看到的地方(即在他们的视野范围内)传输高质量的视频，而在其他地方传输低分辨率的视频. 一旦头戴式耳机中的传感器检测到用户移动了他们的视场, the area where they are now looking snaps into sharp focus, and needs to do so within a few hundred milliseconds (ms). It is this latency that is critical, and it will require streaming with a latency of less than 200 ms. 一些供应商正在将这项技术应用到他们所谓的视场自适应流媒体或视图优化流媒体中.
最后的挑战之一是实现高效编码，以减少传输视频流所需的带宽. 大多数HTML5播放器和移动设备都支持VP9和HEVC编解码器, and enable the same 质量 video at a lower bitrate, 减轻成本, 质量, 以及交付问题. 然而，它们也需要播放设备上更大的马力来解码流.
The Reality of Virtual Reality: Put a Game Plan in Place
当你开发VR用户粘性时，用户体验将成为许多技术决策背后的驱动力. The last thing that consumers, 网络运营商, 内容制作者想要的是他们的VR内容阻塞网络，并提供糟糕的用户体验, which would distract from the immersive content.
在一般情况下, 公司应该考虑以下最佳实践，以确保它们为构建高质量的VR奠定基础:
- 考虑 the bitrate you need to deliver the highest 质量 stream, 并提供自适应比特率流，实现VR内容所需的灵活性.
- 使用360度自适应流媒体技术，最大限度地减少数据占用，并提供动态调整的观看体验.
- 确定低延迟对直播体验的重要性，并相应地调整流媒体工作流程.
- Adopt high-efficiency codecs, such as VP9 and HEVC.
The Value of Virtual Reality
VR有能力创造技术驱动的体验，引领体验互联网. 看看今年的消费电子展, 太多的消费电子产品制造商会让你相信虚拟体验, 比如坐在虚拟现实汽车里, is almost as good as the real thing. And the potential goes far beyond games and entertainment. 当你有能力将观众置于沉浸式环境中，他们可以自己探索，并在他们的视频馈送上添加数据增强, you can begin to imagine use cases that apply to corporate training, 工业监控, 教育, 医学研究, 电子商务, or a plethora of other non-entertainment applications.
企业必须停止将虚拟现实视为下一代很酷的娱乐媒体, and instead consider it as an 信息al tool with specific niche uses. 通过采取措施计划一个支持VR质量和发行方面的基础设施, 企业将更有能力推动VR在各行业和用例中的采用.
VR is going to hit faster than most of us can imagine. The more we continue to augment our reality, 我们就会发现自己在混合现实体验中来回跳跃. 在现实中, we already get lost down the Facebook and social media rabbit hole, 我们很容易看到自己穿过镜子进入虚拟世界.
绿洲就在不远处.
克里斯·麦克 is the director for PR and communications for Wowza媒体系统. This is a vendor-contributed article. 流媒体 接受供应商提供的文章，仅基于他们提供给我们读者的见解和信息的价值.
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