Recently updated on November 6th, 2021 at 10:22 pm
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The latest usage and application of VR in sports is in the 2018 Winter Olympics. The location is at Pyeongchang in South Korea and the event is still ongoing from 9th Feb to 25th Feb 2018. A top broadcasting company, NBC, has successfully produced an app calleed NBC Sports VR app that will provide live virtual reality coverage of this big event. VOD (Video On Demand) mode is also available if you miss the live session. Some of the popular games that you can enjoy using this VR app are skiing, snowboard, skating and ice hockey.
NBC Sports VR App Coverage…
The VR app will provide more than 50 hours of live virtual reality coverage. NBC also has shared the whole programming schedule on their site so you’ll not miss them. What you can do now to enjoy it is to download the app from the Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store. If you cannot find it in your Play Store, maybe because it is not yet available in your country.
To view it in VR mode, you can use the Google Cardboard, Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR (which is powered by Oculus) and Windows Mixed Reality headset. Basically, it is a full mobile virtual reality experience. Else, you can just enjoy the live video in 360-degree or 180-degree format.
Intel True VR Involvement…
The technology behind this is built and powered by Intel True VR platform. For your info, Intel is the VR Experience Partner for this XXIII Olympic Winter games. The Intel team will cover 30 events in VR mode. With their effort, the viewer can choose their favourite camera angle or viewpoints when watching their games in VR. Their main equipment used during this process is the Intel True VR camera pods which has the panoramic and stereoscopic capabilities. This enables them to create realistic view from every angle. Furthermore, it is also able to perform real-time streaming at 1TB data per hour.
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| Intel True VR Camera Pods |
Perhaps, the short video clip below will help in explaining behind the scene of it…
Looks like they are very serious on applying the VR technology in this sports industry. Apart from that, the Olympians also used the VR technology for their training as well since most of them are not very familiar with the terrain and slopes in Pyeongchang. With the limited time they have, they must have a more strategic way to train themselves and it seems that VR is one of the way. Wish to see more of the VR applications in the next Olympic games. For more info, you can visit:
1) “Experience the 2018 Winter Olympics in virtual reality” from NBC. You can get the guideline and programming schedule here.
2) “Experience The Olympic Games in Virtual Reality” from Intel.
2) NBC Sports VR App in Google’s Play Store.
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