oculus, VR, AR
I am lost in the world of VR. Very lost
 

Is VR a Lot of Crap? Or Is It Just My Imagination?

Posted May 14, 2018
Share To
 
 

Well, maybe this my Cranky Old Man Get Off My Lawn Moment... or maybe it's my Emperor's New Clothes moment.  Who can tell?

I have always been a proponent of new video technology.  I have my 3D camera!  I have my Google Glass over there in the drawer.  I have my L-16 camera, waiting for the video upgrades.  I don't think anyone can call me a troglodyte.

However...

The other night, Lisa and I attended a meet up in NY at Vimeo Headquarters down in Chelsea.

Spectacular space by the way - really amazing architecture, and righ next to the Hi Line.  

I was there to give my usual talk about 'how to make a living in video', There were two other speakers. One was there to talk about and give a demo of VR tech and video.  

I was all ears. I am always  interested in new video tech.  I still have my original Oculus developer's kit.  

She threw some video on the screen to show what was apparently the 'cutting edge' of VR tech when applied to video.  Mostly I think this stuff shows up on Snapchat.

"Look!" she said. "Portals. Very popular." 

A portal, as far as I could tell, is a kind of VR door that you go through to see... well, some crummy graphics.   Look, you go in the portal, you go out of the portal.  In the portal, out of the portal.  Cool!  In the portal, out of the portal.  

But that was not all!

Then, we got shown a video clip of a woman with a hat.  The hat was not real. The woman was.  "Look, when she moves her head, the hat moves with her". 

Move the head, move the hat. Move the head, move the hat.  

I get it.

Finally, we got a demonstration of a woman who appeared to be in Paris, but isn't. But look, she looks like she's walking in Paris. 

Cool! 

And that was it.

In the portal, out of the portal.

It reminded me a lot of when I saw the first demonstrations of 3D TV.  

Cool!

I know there is alot of buzz around VR and AR.  Maybe I am too old, but I don't get it.  Do you?

Write to me and explain. 

Thanks. 

 


Recent Posts

The world of television before cable had been limited to 3 networks and a handful of local TV stations. But the advent of cable meant that suddenly there were 60, 70 soon to be 100 or more new channels. And all of those channels needed content. But where were they going to get it from? A huge market for content had just opened up.


Q: What do TV news and Netflix have in common? A: They both appear on the same screen. They both tell stories.


This morning, I went out early to buy my copy of the weekend FT — a great newspaper, by the way. I was a bit surprised to see that my regular newsstand, on 6th Avenue and 55th Street, had exactly 3 newspapers for sale — one copy of Baron’s and two copies of The New York Post. That was it. No FT, no NY Times, no Washington Post, no… nothing.


Share Page on:

Twitter