Comment by GeekyBear | Hacker News Reader

Comment by GeekyBear | Hacker News Reader

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The argument in favor of the tech Apple is using in this essay sounds pretty compelling.

> The NextVR acquisition is what led to the incredible Apple Immersive video format, which enables capture of 3D video in 180 degrees in 8K resolution at 90 frames per second, an absolute juggernaut format with 8 times the number of pixels of a regular 4K video. The best way to think of the new Apple Immersive video format is kind of like a new IMAX-3D, but the real magic is the fact that it’s projected inside an imaginary 180-degree sphere (horizontally and vertically) that takes over your entire field of view.

Vision Pro is the first VR headset that enables playback of 180-degree 3D video at what feels to the eyes like 4K quality.

"IMAX-3D" sounds much more compelling than watching a flat image on a television.

That's definitely impressive tech, and I'm sure the experience inside a headset is pretty incredible. What I'm saying is that it is not a good match for live sport.

When you watch sports they have multiple cameras all over the place. Fixed cameras with long lenses, cameras that zip over the pitch, cameras on blimps, slow mo cameras and so on.

These cameras are so much better for enjoying sport that they put giant screens in the stadium so you can see what happened after a goal is scored.

That experience is never going to work in a VR system (beyond VR as a way to have a big screen available) because if you kept shifting the position and focus you'll make everyone very motion sick.

> When you watch sports they have multiple cameras all over the place.

Why assume the viewer doesn't have a choice of viewpoint locations they can decide to switch between?

I can certainly see a usecase for that and it's not sports (though I guess you could call it that lol).

But prudish Apple will surely block that from happening. I don't really get why. It's a valid request and one where the technology really shines. I use similar content on the quest 3 and it's great but it would be so much better on something like the vision pro.

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