Nokia today announced a “new generation” of virtual reality technology.
Nokia has enhanced their OZO product line with an “ambitious slate” of new technologies and enhancements.
OZO Reality is a line of highly specialised virtual reality technology – both hardware and software. 360° cameras (OZO+) capture sharp images, whilst their software offerings (OZO Creator and OZO Live) bring the video through post-production and into a virtual reality format.
The update enables content producers to edit virtual reality as a live stream which Nokia hopes will enable enhanced brand storytelling through VR, making it perfect to showcase tourist destinations, sporting, and live events.
Paul Melin, VP of Digital Media at Nokia Technologies, certainly uses boundary-pushing language: “”There is virtual reality, and then there is OZO Reality: our vision for the future of virtual and mixed reality experiences, seamlessly blending the real with the virtual and transcending time and space,” Melin gushed today. He clarified that he was looking to have Nokia’s innovations “work together” to provide immersive VR experiences.
All three building blocks of the OZO tech have benefited from significant upgrades. OZO+ will see improvements to dynamic range and image color, allowing for a sharper, cleaner and more natural picture. The camera captures RAW format data and creates depth maps ready for 3DFX compositing – one of the products main unique features. OZO Creator has a brand new feature in its ‘image signal processing pipeline’ (ISP), along with an OZO+ compatible depth map export.
OZO Live is introducing spatial audio mixing capabilities and, excitingly, will feature in the world’s first public demonstration of dual-UHD output for 4K per eye resolution live streaming.
Melin is optimistic about the near-term future of VR and AR, saying that the technologies are reaching a “tipping point” which will see rapid growth in the industry.
Nokia will be showcasing the enhancements at NAB Show in Vegas next week.
