The first set of virtual reality (VR) industry guidelines will be presented during CES in January by the Virtual Reality Industry Forum (VRIF). 

Virtual reality

Experts from Ericsson, Irdeto, Sky, TNO and Greenlight Insights will assemble to discuss the emerging VR trends and availability of the VRIF guidelines during a two hour masterclass.

Outlining its 2018 roadmap with demonstrations from Fraunhofer and Qualcomm, the guidelines cover topics relevant for VR content production, distribution, security and consumption. 

VRIF President Rob Koenen said: “As virtual and augmented reality continue to evolve, the VRIF Guidelines serve two main purposes: first, to support end-to-end interoperability across the virtual reality ecosystem, from production to consumption, and second, to ensure a high quality user experience.

“As the industry moves towards standardised VR solutions, we are also cooperating closely with other industry organisations including MPEG, 3GPP, DVB, VR Society and ITU to facilitate technology integration for VRIF member companies and other related partners.”

VRIF was first launched at CES in 2017 to further enhance the consumers widespread benefit and availability of high quality audiovisual VR experiences. 

The initial release of the VRIF Guidelines focuses on the delivery ecosystem of 360-degree video with three degrees of freedom (3DOF).

Vrif logo

It incorporates:

  • Documentation of cross-industry interoperability points, based on ISO MPEG’s Omnidirectional Media Format (OMAF)
  • Best industry practices for production of VR360 content, with an emphasis on human factors such as motion sickness
  • Security considerations for VR360 streaming, including user privacy and content protection

The masterclass will involve the VRIF address topics including six degrees of freedom (6DOF), live reality services and support for high dynamic range (HDR). Member companies are also encouraged to bring topics and suggestions to the various working groups for consideration.

Director of XR (Extended Reality) Product Development at Verizon, Christian Egeler said: “VRIF is helping the video industry to create and support a thriving VR ecosystem. This technology represents an extremely promising and powerful opportunity, and it is imperative that we work together to create a powerful experience for users out of the gate.

“Beyond ensuring that the entire video ecosystem can collaborate to deliver compelling VR experiences, we must work together to effectively protect that content and enable monetisation. At the VRIF, we are focused on all these various challenges and opportunities.”

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