Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

"Oh, my God, there are so many people!"

While watching Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin fighting for the men's singles gold medal in table tennis at the Asian Games, Xu Xiaoyong suddenly heard an amazing sound in his ear. He knew that the other party was not talking about the large number of spectators in the stadium, but that there were many people watching the game together in the room. After watching the Asian Games for several days during the National Day, he has heard similar conversations several times.

It's not so much a "conversation" as a voice sent by someone else-Xu Xiaoyong watches the Asian Games online with other users at home with his VR device PICO 4. As for the "room", it is the virtual watching space created by PICO for the live broadcast of the Asian Games.

In this "room", there is a large live screen hanging in front, and behind it is a visual design that reflects the elements of the Asian Games. Everyone is standing in the central square-like area, and everyone has virtual images and can communicate with each other by voice function. Xu Xiaoyong doesn't talk to people directly and feels embarrassed, but he lingers in a novel atmosphere of watching games, which is completely different from watching games on TV in the past.

Xu Xiaoyong, who prides himself on being an old fan, is still fresh when watching the game, thanks to the new way of watching sports created by VR live broadcast technology. The sense of presence superimposed by exposure to virtual space, ultra-clear screen, and spatial sound effects, and the interaction created by many people online at the same time, voice communication, props and so on, is difficult to experience without coming to the scene in the past. This technology has become more and more mature over the past few years, and the often-mentioned problem of experience is being effectively solved. In the process of continuous iteration of products, the layout of PICO in the content of sports events in the Chinese market also promotes the popularization of live broadcast of VR events.

Watch the Asian Games in a different way

Benefiting from the recommendation of colleagues, Xu Xiaoyong used PICO for the first time on this National Day, of course, in order to experience the Hangzhou Asian Games in a different way. In the Asian Games, the PICO video provided a live broadcast of the whole game. After wearing a "helmet", users can not only recommend the number of games through the main interface, jump to the live square of key games, but also "change the channel" through the schedule guide on the left side of the square to watch the live broadcast and playback of other events. On the right side of the square, there is also a button to switch explanations and set seats, so that users can enjoy the same live broadcast content as traditional broadcasting channels in the VR world.

Solving the copyright of the event is only the starting point. How to change the viewing habits of viewers from traditional TV, mobile phones and computers to VR devices, the key word of PICO is "immersion".

The first step in immersion is to keep the body "busy". After DIY's own Avatar exclusive image in the PICO video, users have created a virtual self, which can visit the live squares of various Asian Games events, watch games and chat with spectators from all over the world, cheer for supporting athletes with virtual inflatable sticks or glow sticks, and sit in the square watching fireworks celebrating the birth of gold medals. When rising, you can also raise the "selfie stick" and the real-time picture of the game or other spectators in the square to take selfies.

After the body is "busy", but also let the eyes "cool" up. While the interactive experience is fully done, PICO naturally wants to ensure that the viewing experience is of the same quality. Even if you can't go directly to the competition venue for assistance, the "ultra-high-definition large screen" in the virtual world and the hardware configuration of 4K + definition and 105-degree super-large field of view angle have greatly enhanced the sense of presence of watching the game online. this is also the visual impact that is difficult to match between mobile computers and TV screens.

The double immersion of the body and eye is to let the user obtain the self-satisfaction in the heart finally. In this event, no matter the attention Wu Yanni attracted in the 100-meter hurdles, or Ye Shiwen said boldly after winning the gold medal, "I think I may have another peak." when the younger generation of athletes seek a breakthrough in competitive performance, they also pay more attention to self-expression, not only to sweat, but also to wave a sense of existence. In fact, athletes have all kinds of needs, and so do spectators. Through VR, the off-site audience can change from a simple spectator of sports events to a social, interactive and entertaining participant. when their more and more diverse needs are respected and the game-watching experience is satisfied, the higher their acceptance of the new way of watching the game.

VR watched the game, the gimmick came true.

In fact, the Hangzhou Asian Games is not the first time PICO has cooperated with sports events and sports content. During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, PICO broadcast 64 matches live. This is the first time that PICO has cooperated with a top international sports event, and there has been a rich interactive part around the online watching function of the World Cup, in addition to live broadcast.

After entering the live scene, users can join others in the fan square to watch the game in front of a super screen that is 32.7m long and 18.8m high; they can go to the "Carnival Night Bar" to encounter stars specially invited by PICO; and exchange jerseys and experience football games between matches. On the one hand, through the ultra-clear picture quality and large screen to show the reality of the game, to meet the fans immersed in the game experience, while interspersed with all kinds of virtual interactions and games to enhance the interest of watching the game. It can be said that PICO's development ideas for sports events have been tested since the World Cup in Qatar.

Since then, PICO has participated in the live broadcast of Messi's trip to China and the Chengdu Universiade. During Messi's trip to China, PICO tried a multi-seat + 360-degree live broadcast of VR events. Users can freely switch between the four seats behind the VIP box, the referee in the middle line and the two goals, and feel the visual shock brought by the top athletes as if they were sitting on the spot. At the same time, virtual props such as fluorescent sticks and selfie sticks were also launched in the live broadcast, and were used in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

There is no doubt that users' experience and virtual self-satisfaction in the virtual world is actually the experience and satisfaction they get in reality. From spectator to participation, the various services provided by VR are an all-round improvement compared with traditional television and webcast. Of course, it is also another typical case of science and technology-empowered sports.

Now, the competition science and technology, industry intelligence has been a major trend in the field of sports can not be ignored. In fact, "intelligence" is one of the four concepts of hosting the Hangzhou Asian Games. At the opening ceremony, swimmer Wang Shun and the digital man jointly lit the main torch and set off virtual fireworks, which became the highlight of the whole party, which was just a precursor to technology to bless the Asian Games and connect the real world with the virtual world. In areas such as the main media center of the Asian Games, visitors can experience the fun of cycling in Hangzhou through VR cycling equipment, and when they do travel, the driverless smart bus in the Asian Games Village can also take athletes and tourists on a well-planned AR route.

At the present stage, the tentative application of intelligent technology in sports events can extend the topic and connotation of the event itself. At the same time, cutting-edge technologies such as AR / VR are also happy to use sports competitions as a testing ground for testing products and promoting ideas. Live broadcast of sports events, as a rare content type with both immediacy, entertainment and sense of participation, is undoubtedly a must for all the major video giants. As for the head XR platform and technology R & D brands such as PICO, being able to deal with the content of sports events and serve the people watching sports also means that their products and content services for C-end are further mature.

New technology achieves new experience

At present, the domestic AR / VR market still has great potential. On November 1, 2022, multi-departments jointly issued the Action Plan for the Integration of Virtual reality and Industrial applications (2022-2026). The plan points out that by 2026, the overall scale of China's virtual reality industry (including software, hardware, applications, etc.) will exceed 350 billion yuan, with terminal sales exceeding 25 million units.

According to the global quarterly AR / VR tracking report released by IDC in 2022, AR / VR shipped about 8.8 million units last year. According to survey data released by market research firm Counterpoint Research, more than 1.1 million AR / VR devices were shipped in China last year, which is still a long way from 25 million. It is worth noting that PICO accounts for 43% of the domestic market share. According to the latest report from IDC, PICO still performed well in the domestic VR market in the first half of this year, accounting for 58.7% of shipments, nearly 47 percentage points ahead of the second place.

For VR / AR manufacturers, in order to fully tap and mobilize the potential of the domestic market, it is necessary to enhance the attractiveness of supply-side products and content services.

PICO attaches great importance to the construction of content ecology, and many sections such as sports and fitness, game entertainment and video watching are launched in the video type to meet the differentiated viewing needs of consumers. At the same time, it also combines the boutique route to create VR concerts, VR interactive dramas, VR documentaries and other content with platform characteristics. For example, during this summer vacation, PICO partnered with the virtual idol group A-SOUL to launch a summer roaming VR song club; the documentary "following de Yeh into East Africa," which was released on August 19, is the first interactive documentary on VR adventure jointly created by PICO and Discovery.

Since the goal is to create quality content, it is not difficult to understand that PICO has vigorously promoted cooperation with sports events. The fast-changing sports arena can not only provide an excellent source of material for PICO video, but also increase users' use scenes and stimulate consumers' desire to buy and experience demand.

Since the 2016 Rio Olympic Games launched VR as a live broadcast for the first time, the combination of sporting events and VR live broadcast has become closer and closer. Among them, PICO undoubtedly stands at the forefront of the domestic market. In terms of the characteristics of the product itself, PICO has made a lot of improvements in trying to solve the wearing experience, viewing effect and immersion feeling. The Pancake optical scheme and the front and rear balanced counterweight design greatly reduce the apparent volume of the head and reduce the wearing pressure on the head and neck.

In addition, users can obviously feel the pleasure of watching the games on the big screen during watching the Asian Games. This is because the PICO 4 series has a binocular 4K + picture quality and a 105-degree field of view angle, which is closer to the natural range of view of the human eye. The 50-500Hz broadband linear motor built into the handle also provides users with very three-dimensional vibration feedback. When using cheering props to cheer for athletes, they feel the real vibration in the game.

A successful large-scale sports event is often not only a sports competition, but also a gathering of participants from all over the world. If the Asian Games and even various international events are regarded as a big show, the competition is only a part of Party for athletes and spectators. More extensive participation, more in-depth experience, in order to get more fun and memories during the event.

Whether VR can replace the traditional live broadcast in the future is still a difficult topic to guess, but from the current sports service presented by PICO, VR seems to be more in line with the national participation and entertainment side of sports competitions. What sports fans need to do may be to wait for it to continue to develop. But the most important thing now is that Xu Xiaoyong, who missed the opening ceremony because of overtime, began to look forward to the closing ceremony in the VR world.

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