South Korean telecommunications giant SK Telecom is no stranger to virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree technology having showcased its live broadcast platform ‘360 Adaptive VR Live Streaming Platform’ (360 VR Live) at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017. This year’s event is no different with the company set to debut its newest VR innovation oksusu Social VR to visitors.
oksusu Social VR is an adaption of SK Telecom’s media platform service oksusu, enabling users to engage with video content and interact with each other inside virtual worlds. The app offers an 80-inch full HD equivalent content viewpoint with SK Telecom expecting an upgrade to image quality when the 5G era approaches enabling ultra-high-speed data transmission, equipped with capabilities to provide 8K(7,680 x 4,320) video content.
Other features include the ability to invite other users into the virtual space, thus allowing friends to share and jointly watch the content together. For MWC 2018, SK Telecom will be showcasing three different virtual spaces: League of Legends (LoL) contest, SM concert video, and SK Wyverns (baseball) match.
Additionally, the tech giant has adapted its ‘T real Avatar __framework’ into the platform so that avatars can accurately reflect a users body movement, facial and emotional expressions in VR, thus aiding immersion for others. SK Telecom also plans on adding more functions in the near future such as appearance changes and other customisations.
For MWC 2018, SK Telecom will be debuting oksusu social VR via VR headsets including Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream.
SK Telecom sees the implementation of 5G networks as an important step for VR adoption, especially when it comes to mobile VR.
“Most of the VR content provided currently are pre-made content played whenever commanded. The real-time online VR content platform is not available because the limited high-speed communications network is unable to support the full VR environment,” the company notes in a press statement. “Once the next-generation network, such as 5G, is applied to the VR platform, users will be able to enjoy high-resolution live streaming VR content in a real-time basis. For instance, a scenery of aurora from the north pole can be vividly presented via the VR platform, and a soccer match played in Spain can be enjoyed like if watching at the stadium.”
SK Telecom plans on commercialising oksusu Social VR later this year, as well as extending VR experiences into shopping, music sharing, concert attendance and more. As it does so, VRFocus will let you know.
via Mint VR