InterDigital Opines on How Video Innovation and 6G Evolution Might Shape How We Watch the Olympics of the Future

From traditional 2D video to 3D, volumetric, haptic-enhanced immersive content, InterDigital innovation has shaped the continuous evolution in video content rendering, delivery, and enjoyment. As the world tunes into the 2024 Paris Olympics our InterDigital engineers are looking ahead to the future, exploring how the advent of new technologies and capabilities in video, wireless, and AI might impact and change how we enjoy live sporting events in the future. InterDigital's Video Lab sat down for a Q&A with TVBEurope, while head of InterDigital's MetaVideo group Philippe Guillotel shared his perspectives in CSI Magazine, to glimpse into the future and share their insights into "How will we watch the Olympics in 2032?"

Within the articles, InterDigital's experts offer their perspectives and predictions around new technologies and 6G capabilities that might influence the Olympic viewing experience. VR and XR, for example, have immense potential but the years between now and 2032 will need to address their limitations in latency, encumbrance, and the solitary nature of VR experiences. The Olympics and other global sporting events are incredibly social, and VR must evolve to emulate the same social atmosphere before it is adopted at a broad scale to enhance these environments.

Today, VR is primarily leveraged for sports training rather than entertainment, and athletes often use VR to strategize for their games, relax between matches, or take advantage of the 360-degree cameras view to analyze their performance. Augmented reality (AR) headsets are also being considered and developed to support live sports production.

Following the rollout of 6G in 2030, the Brisbane Olympic viewing experience could be drastically enhanced. In addition to being equipped to address current latency and data transmission issues, by 2032, the Olympics could fully integrate XR technologies, for the first time, allowing simultaneous and seamless engagement between virtual and physical environments.

Volumetric video codecs like VVC/H.266 will play a crucial role in delivering these dynamic experiences. This codec supports the delivery of ultra-high definition content, from 4K and 8K video to high dynamic range (HDR) content and 360 degrees immersive video, with efficiency. When compared to its predecessor HEVC, VVC can reduce bandwidth on the rendering of streamed content by roughly half while upholding the original image quality, empowering network efficiency on increasingly immersive and high-quality video.

Alongside improvements in video capture and immersive video delivery protocols, 6G networks could also introduce exciting capabilities related to the Olympics. New 6G capabilities could empower the inclusion of more on-site and user-generated content that enhance how audiences experience the Olympics, whether through a VR headset that shows a 360-degree perspective of an athlete or haptic feedback that further immerses viewers in virtual fan zones, to "amplify the remote viewing experience and emotional engagement around the event."

Despite the potential, our engineers continue to work through remaining challenges to ensure this exciting future can become a reality. For example, in order for XR to gain mass appeal, it must overcome technical challenges such as lag and barriers to user comfort. The VR experience of the opening ceremony at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang was called 'spotty and disappointing,' so there is even more incentive to improve the experience and offer the utmost physical and neurological safety while infusing realism to enhance the experience.

As we look into our future and the incredible potential of wireless evolution and video innovation, InterDigital engineers are committed to improving the network's quality of service, while also enhancing the quality of the viewer experience. On the road to 6G rollout, we continue to address current challenges and network shortfalls while innovating new depths of immersivity in video and exploring protocols and standards to deliver this content efficiently and at scale. The research and innovation led at InterDigital today will unlock exciting new modalities and capabilities for how we watch the Olympics, and other global events, in 2032 and beyond.

Explore the InterDigital Video Lab's perspective on how XR, immersive video, and 6G might influence how we watch the Olympics in this TVBEurope Q&A and CSI Magazine editorial.