The Virtual Reality Industry Forum (VRIF) announced the general availability of its first set of VR Industry Guidelines at CES. The guidelines include topics relevant for VR content production, distribution, security and consumption.
The initial release of the VRIF Guidelines focuses on the delivery ecosystem of 360 video with three degrees of freedom (3DOF) and 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.
Topics to be addressed in 2018 include Six-Degrees-Of-Freedom (6DOF), live Virtual Reality services and support for high dynamic range (HDR).
Working Together
Christian Egeler, Director of XR Product Development at Verizon 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."
Rob Koenen, President of the Virtual Reality Industry Forum 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 organizations including MPEG, 3GPP, DVB, VR Society and ITU to facilitate technology integration for VRIF member companies and other related partners."
You can download the latest version of the 77-page guidelines document here.