A gold medal final lasts seconds. At Milano Cortina 2026, the short track speed skating final—in which Jordan Stolz and Femke Kok seemingly made short work of obliterating Olympic records—lasted just over half a minute. Britain, meanwhile, took a breathtaking gold in the mixed team snowboard cross by a narrow 0.43 seconds.

In this environment, when the starting gun fires, every framing decision must be locked in. As with all live sport broadcasting, the room for error is small, and there can be no second takes or resets to get a better shot. There’s a production risk that can’t be avoided; cameras can miss moments, angles can obstruct. While traditional broadcast innovation, like rail cameras and first-person view drones, has narrowed that risk and brought the viewer closer to the action, it still operates within a flat, fixed perspective.

How Volumetric Video is Changing Sports and Music
Volumetric video changes the capture model itself. By recording subjects from multiple viewpoints simultaneously, it preserves the spatial performance rather than committing to a single camera angle at the point of capture. Producers can then reposition the virtual camera in post-production, even if the final output is rendered in conventional 2D. The end result is a different relationship between time, perspective and editorial control.

This distinction matters in high-profile sporting arenas. Early deployments, most notably at Paris 2024, showed that volumetric replays could be successfully integrated into top level sports coverage. While often constrained to replay segments that required additional processing time, they showed clear editorial value.

Milano Cortina 2026 marked a further step forward for the technology. AI-powered replay systems built on volumetric capture delivered significantly improved visual fidelity, with some sequences approaching almost cinematic standards. The quality leap was immediately visible, signalling that volumetric workflows are evolving from experimental enhancements into credible broadcast tools.

The uneven pace of adoption across sectors, however, reflects differing priorities. In music and selective creative productions, volumetric capture has enabled directors to defer certain camera decisions until post-production. Artists from Radiohead to A$AP Rocky have captured music videos entirely volumetrically, demonstrating how the boundary between capture and creative decision-making can be collapsed, freeing the shot from being permanently defined on set.

Why Aren’t Blockbusters Keeping Up?
Cinema presents a much tougher challenge. Blockbuster filmmaking is deeply director-led. Framing decisions are deliberate and often central to narrative intent. Sets, lighting plans and blocking are constructed to be seen from specific angles. Volumetric capture fundamentally shifts this by decoupling capture from final framing.

The hesitation, therefore, is not primarily about technical feasibility, but about authorship and embedded workflows. Directors must reconsider how their control ebbs and flows in a spatial medium where perspective is programmable after the cameras stop rolling.

As a result, widespread volumetric capture of entire narrative features remains unlikely in the near term. More commonly, multi-view rigs are being integrated selectively into visual effects pipelines, where the flexibility they provide aligns with existing post-production processes. The technology’s strengths are tangible today, but they are being applied pragmatically rather than universally.

What Needs to Happen Next
Creative convention may shape adoption in cinema, but engineering constraints are still limiting deployment in broadcast. Live production environments require reliability under stress. It is one thing for volumetric workflows to work in controlled demonstrations, but another to scale them predictably.

Visual quality is typically the first compromise under real-time constraints. Techniques such as 4D Gaussian splatting can produce high-fidelity representations, but they introduce latency. Generating these models requires iterative learning processes that cannot be accelerated through forcefully adding in more parallel compute resources. Even emerging single-camera approaches struggle to scale effectively in multi-camera environments, which remain essential for full volumetric capture.

Bandwidth heightens the challenge. Uncompressed volumetric datasets are substantial, and even with compression, bitrates can still reach tens or hundreds of megabits per second. Distributing that at broadcast scale, particularly to large audiences or mobile devices, remains a complex challenge.

In short, the industry’s next breakthrough is unlikely to come from capture hardware alone, and will depend on mature, interoperable ecosystems for compression, transport and decoding of volumetric formats. That said, the direction of travel is clear. Just as first-person view drones and cloud-based production have altered expectations of live sports coverage, volumetric workflows point toward a future in which perspective is no longer permanently fixed at capture. In the near term, they will continue to operate within director-led 2D outputs, adding flexibility upstream without disrupting established viewing experiences. Over time, as delivery systems evolve and extended reality devices mature, the possibility of viewer-controlled viewpoints may move from demonstration to mainstream.

For now, volumetric video has flourished where the stakes are highest and the moments are unrepeatable. In the Olympic arena, where fractions of a second define history, preserving every possible perspective is vital.

ESPOO, Finland—European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin’s Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive the next generation of video coding standardization—for better immersive media and mobile video user experiences in the 6G era.

For the first time, the three partners are combining their video codec research expertise with the goal of strengthening Europe's role in next generation standardization, they said.

Researchers from the three companies recently demonstrated a new video codec with considerably higher compression efficiency than the current standards (H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, and H.266/VVC) without significantly increasing complexity, while also improving energy efficiency and scalability. The documented research provides early evidence of technology capable of meeting the requirements for the next video coding standardization phase—an important milestone that helps initiate the process towards future decision-making, according to the companies.

Fraunhofer is a pioneer in the development of audio and video standards, having developed the MP3 audio standard in the early ‘90’s. The German institute was also a co-developer of the AAC standard and involved in the development of video MPEG standards as well.

The partners’ joint submission to the oversight bodies—the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)—was positively evaluated and is expected to help catalyze progress towards evaluation and decision-making by the standardization committee, the companies said.

In line with forecast 6G deployment, the next video codec standard is expected to be operational from 2029-2030 and will define the digital media landscape for the following decade. Until then, current standards, such as VVC, play a vital role in delivering advanced video experiences, driving market demand for high-efficiency streaming, immersive media formats, and scalable solutions across diverse devices and networks.

The new standard will be essential to a wide range of video-based applications, including mobile communication and streaming, as well as immersive and low-latency experiences. Anticipated use cases include the coding of professional-, user-, and AI-generated content; coding of gaming and 3D content; coding of content for machine consumption; and automotive and industrial use.

“Nokia’s inventors have been instrumental in the development of all market-adopted video codecs for the last three decades, including fundamental H.26x video compression technologies, and we are excited about shaping the next generation of video standards,” said Ville-Veikko Mattila, Head of Multimedia Technologies for Nokia. “By working together at the very start of the standardization journey we will ensure that the values of openness, excellence, and sustainability are embedded in the next generation of digital media experiences.”

Magnus Frodigh, Head of Research at Ericsson, said, “as a global connectivity leader, Ericsson is perfectly positioned to research and drive 6G enablement capabilities. We are proud to partner with Nokia and Fraunhofer HHI in video coding to combine research expertise and shape the next standard. Our partnership video codec achievement not only shows the ability of European technology leaders to come together and pioneer breakthroughs, but, by being prominent at the very start of the process, also flags our combined determination and commitment to shape the next generation of standards.”

“Video technologies are central to the digital experiences of tomorrow,” said Prof. Thomas Wiegand, Executive Director of Fraunhofer HHI. “Our joint research with Ericsson and Nokia demonstrates Europe’s strong competence in advanced media technologies and its active role in global standardization efforts. This collaboration also builds upon the contributions of the broader JVET research community, whose work continues to drive progress in next-generation video coding.”

In the U.S., 6G video encoding standards research is being led by the Next G Alliance, a D.C.-based industry alliance that a year ago produced a white paper titled “Video Codecs for 6G-Machine-Type Communications: Improving the Quality of Critical Application Roles.” The paper addresses the role of video codecs in 6G machine-type communications and points toward the needed evolution of video compression for 6G.

DALLAS, Texas—Nokia has announced that Charter Communications will be using Nokia’s comprehensive AirScale equipment portfolio, including 5G RAN, for its 5G wireless network to deliver wireless 5G connectivity, faster speeds, and increased network capacity to Spectrum Mobile customers in its trial markets in the United States. 

The deal is the first win for Nokia with a major MSO. 

In announcing the agreement, the two companies explained that cable operators have spent more than $1 billion on Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum with the intention to build 5G networks to offload traffic from their leased mobile networks and to deliver faster wireless service. 

Using compact and lightweight small cell products, cable operators can more easily and cost-effectively provide 5G wireless connectivity by leveraging their existing DOCSIS infrastructure without having to build additional cell sites, the companies said. 

As Charter continues to grow its mobile customers, which grew to 6 million customer lines as of Q12023, the MSO said it needed a 5G wireless connectivity solution to offload traffic from its leased mobile network. 

Charter will deploy Nokia’s 5G RAN products, including strand mounted radios for CBRS, baseband units, and a newly developed 5G CBRS Strand Mount Small Cells All-in-One portfolio on the company’s assets, which will help Charter continue to deliver mobile traffic in strategic locations across its 41-state footprint while providing customers with the best possible 5G service experience.

“Charter is committed to providing our customers a fully converged connectivity experience that combines high value plans with the fastest wired and wireless speeds throughout our footprint,” Justin Colwell, executive vice president of connectivity technology at Charter Communications, said. “Incorporating Nokia’s innovative 5G technology into our advanced wireless converged network will help us ensure that Spectrum customers in areas with a high concentration of mobile traffic continue to receive superior mobile connectivity, including the nation’s fastest wireless speeds.”

“This news builds on our more than 20-year relationship working with Charter to enhance its network. We are excited to expand its current trial to additional select metropolitan markets in the US, enabling an enhanced user experience for Spectrum Mobile subscribers,” Shaun McCarthy, president of North America Sales at Nokia, said. “This win strengthens Nokia’s leadership position in the MSO space for 5G wireless deployments.”

HACKENSACK, N.J.—In a notable advance in the transmission of live video over 5G networks, several tech partners joined forces to trial live video transmitted over 5G slices that were automatically and dynamically set-up according to real-time analysis using single and bonded modems. 

The partners involved were LiveU, L.M. Ericsson, Nokia, and the University of Patras (UoP), under the Horizon Europe 5G-Solution project. 

The partners involved in the trial noted that one of the most promising mechanisms in 5G Stand-Alone (SA) networks is “slices”. 

In essence, this is the ability to provide as high performance as possible, or QoS, to authorized users, end-to-end within the cellular radio and Core network, they explained. This means that QoS-centric applications, such as live uplink video transmission for event coverage – from news to sport and beyond – have a higher probability of receiving the needed QoS for ultimate signal stability on location. 

Achieving this outcome raises, however, several important tech questions, they noted. How can these slices be allocated and managed and how can the 5G cellular operator provide the QoS level it guarantees to multiple broadcasters over a specific slice in a certain location?

“One of the technical obstacles to the wide deployment of slices is the static/fixed allocation of resources (spectrum, QoS within the network borders), and dynamic, per-demand management of slice allocation,” explained Baruch Altman, head of 5G Technology Projects at LiveU, said,  This has not been automated yet. Hence the theoretical 5G benefits for remote production at scale have up to now not been fully realized.” 

In this trial, transmitting over 5G slices that were automatically set-up according to real-time analysis was achieved using several LiveU multi-cam LU800 field units and a network management process called Zero-Touch-Automation (ZTA), LiveU reported. 

Each unit transmitted up to four independent camera feeds simultaneously by bonding multiple modems, networks or slices. One of which was a slice specially configured for broadcasters’ uplink video contribution. The ZTA mechanism dynamically allocated in real-time 5G slices according to LiveU units’ transmission needs and the network overall load.

The ZTA mechanism, specially designed by Ericsson, identified in real-time changes in the network performance resulting from the increased upload demand, the companies said. It then notified the network management orchestrator (CDSO, by Nokia), which drove the reconfiguration of the network (deployed by UoP) by setting-up a special upload-oriented slice. 

Modems in the LiveU units automatically identified the newly available special slice, started using it, and LiveU bonding algorithms began transmitting live video packets using this dedicated slice. Bonding this slice with the “best-effort” slices or commercial networks allowed each of the LU800s to transmit four video streams concurrently and at a high quality, with stable bandwidth and latency. Bonding special slices, in real-time, with other modems, networks and bandwidths was instrumental in maintaining video continuity and overall QoS throughout and to reduce the spectrum needed from the new slice, the companies said. 

This trial further demonstrated that even with adaptive ZTA of dedicated “guaranteed performance” slice allocation, bonding transparently and agnostically multiple modems, networks and slices is needed so that broadcasters can enjoy the highest level of video quality and reliability in these congested areas, under changing conditions and over any network configuration.

“These pioneering tests demonstrated how remote production can benefit from real-time, adaptive 5G/6G end-to-end dedicated slice allocation with the highest QoS possible,” explained Altman. “Currently, only cutting-edge solutions like LiveU’s field units can make optimal use of such advanced 5G capabilities and convert them to immediate value for the customers, while supporting network operators’ need for efficient operations. This collaborative achievement emphasizes again LiveU’s leadership at the forefront of 5G technology development for its broadcast, sports, government and other customers.”

ESPOO, Finland—Nokia has announced a major partnership with DOCOMO and NTT to jointly define and develop key technologies for 6G wireless services. 

The companies said that they will focus on two proof-of-concepts for the emerging 6G technologies: an AI native air interface and sub-THz radio access. 

These aim to demonstrate a performance gain with an AI based 6G air interface compared to a conventional air interface, and to show that high-data rate beamformed access can be achieved in a high frequency band at 140 GHz.

Nokia and DOCOMO have a long history of pioneering wireless research that started with 3G in the 1990s and include work on both 4G and newer 5G offering, including 5G O-RAN. 

While deployments of 5G are ongoing and most experts believe 6G is years away, a number of telcos and researchers have been working to refine and develop next generation, 6G, of wireless technologies. 

In announcing the collaboration, Nokia said that it believes 6G will not just build on existing technologies and systems but expand and transform what a network can do, fusing the human, physical and digital worlds.  

To achieve that, Nokia has outlined six key technologies that will be vital components of future 6G networks: new spectrum technologies, AI native air interface, network as a sensor, extreme connectivity, cognitive, automated and specialized architectures, and security and trust.

Among the six key technology components, the initial focus of the partnership is to demonstrate the benefits of AI-based learned waveform in the transmitter with a deep learning receiver in the mid-band, as well as to test high data rate indoor communications in the sub-THz band. 

These technologies have the potential to substantially improve deployment flexibility and to increase network throughput beyond that of 5G in the respective spectrum bands without necessarily increasing energy consumption. 

Providing high-rate access will be important in enabling enhanced and new use cases in the 6G era, such as multi-modal mixed-reality telepresence and remote collaboration, massive twinning and collaborating robots.

The participating companies plan is to set up environments for experiments and demonstrations in DOCOMO and NTT premises in Japan and Nokia premises in Stuttgart, Germany, and to begin performing the desired tests and measurements in 2022.

"DOCOMO has been collaborating with Nokia since 2014 to accelerate the experimental trials for 5G wireless technology and promote the creation of new use cases,” explained 

Naoki Tani, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at DOCOMO. “We are excited to work with Nokia to realize the 6G concept. DOCOMO and NTT will now start the experimental trials of two 6G proof-of-concepts for high-rate transmission in the sub-THz band and AI native air interface, and contribute to 6G commercialization with vertical industry partners."

Peter Vetter, president Bell Labs Core Research, Nokia, added that “We envision that 6G will unify the human experience across the digital, physical and human worlds. We build on a long tradition of collaborations between the world-leading labs at DOCOMO and Nokia Bell Labs. Nokia is very honored to engage in this collaboration with DOCOMO and NTT, as global leading operators that are always among the first to bring new generations to the market. We look forward to working together and validating key concepts and key technologies to realize the 6G vision.”

PHILADELPHIA—Comcast Business has announced that it is partnering with Nokia to deliver 5G private wireless networks using Nokia DAC (Digital Automation Cloud) private wireless solution and digitalization enabler platform. 

The first Comcast Business and Nokia deployment will be showcased at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia after it launches during the first quarter of 2022. The deployment will illustrate how private LTE and 5G networks can help organizations improve critical operations and infrastructure while enhancing the fan experience, Comcast said. 

Potential applications on display may include immersive court-, rink-side and outdoor video experiences, digital signage throughout the venue, and the use of the internal network to provide fans inside the arena with real-time information about parking flow or expected wait times on their way out of the venue, Comcast said. 

“With this strategic partnership, Comcast Business is able to expand its robust portfolio of connectivity solutions to include end-to-end private networking; offering sports and entertainment venues and enterprise customers a one-stop-shop for advanced connectivity solutions,” said Bob Victor, senior vice president of product at Comcast Business. “The unique combination of our network, WiFi expertise, Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, spectrum, and managed services, will enable enterprises to address their business challenges head-on while ensuring their network infrastructure remains available, reliable and secure.”

Enterprise businesses, as well as government organizations, can benefit from private wireless networks by helping them address their mission-critical infrastructure and operations connectivity requirements, while fostering innovation in next-generation customer and employee experiences, Comcast said. 

“Nokia 5G industrial-grade private wireless network solutions are designed to meet the security, coverage and performance requirements for a wide range of organizations seeking to restructure their business operations and improve customer experience,” said Stephan Litjens, vice president, enterprise solutions, Nokia Cloud and Networking Services. “In selecting Nokia as a private wireless connectivity partner, Comcast Business can combine its technical expertise, market reach and expanded network solutions to become a leading provider of private wireless to enterprises in North America.”

The 5G private wireless network solution adds to Comcast Business’s existing capabilities including DeepBlue for advanced, large-scale WiFi deployments and MachineQ for long-range, low-power, and large-scale IoT solutions. 

ESPOO, Finland—Nokia recently completed a trial with Mexico’s TV Azteca that looked into video transmission uses with 5G standalone and edge computing. Among the things the trial was looking for was improvements in latency reduction and overall efficiency, flexibility and cost, Nokia said.

The trial used 100 MHz spectrum in 3.5 GHz frequency with Nokia 5G technology for core and radio access (RAN). TV Azteca tested the transfer of raw HD/4K video from cameras to its encoding server for the subsequent distribution without the need for additional infrastructure.

The tests showed that 5G connectivity enabled more agile camera deployment and repositioning during live events that can create a more dynamic viewing experience. It also showed how flexible video streaming can improve operations communication, security, fleeting monitoring and automation.

Other results showed the potential of new applications for TV coverage in areas like smart stadiums, as well as the ability to use edge computing platforms to host AR services or run event-related analytics. 

“5G technology has the potential to transform the broadcast industry, thanks to its reduced latency and cost benefits,” said Marcelo Entreconti, head of Enterprise, Latin America at Nokia. “This trial has shown that TV Azteca can transmit events live, in real time and without compromising quality, giving them a competitive advantage in the market and demonstrating the opportunities that come with embracing 5G.”

Once requiring its own specialized networks, television is rapidly becoming just another cloud-based service being delivered by general-purpose IP networks, both wired and wireless. But streaming video, nonetheless, is still a big challenge for network operators. Sharing a network with other content and applications raises both traffic engineering and security challenges. Customers have high expectations from years of rock-solid cable TV service, so service assurance is critical. One of the key pieces in delivering customers the quality of experience (QoE) they expect is a new breed of network analytics.

In the coming five years, the networking industry will be moving from 4G LTE to 5G, the new wireless standard. Promising +10X download speeds, 5G will open up the world of mobile television. While this is getting a lot of attention in the television industry, one of the other significant shifts that will come with 5G is a move to a cloud-based architecture across both mobile and fixed networks based on virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN).

Virtualized, SDN networks have long been used in cloud data centers, but the technology is swiftly migrating to the wider area network and, with 5G, to both wired and wireless networks. One of the reasons this approach is being embraced is that SDN networks running on virtual platforms are cheaper to run, not simply because they use general purpose computing platforms instead of specialized networking hardware, but they also use the physical resources more efficiently.

This efficiency is the result of them being more dynamic. SDN makes IP networks far more flexible and scalable. They can re-allocate under-utilized hardware resources instantaneously to meet whatever needs arise. Thus, if Ninja invites Drake to play Fortnite with him, instantly bringing 500,000 new viewers to his video stream, the SDN controller can spin up the network processing resources to meet the sudden spike in demand.

A PATCHWORK JUNGLE

Dynamically re-assigning IP resources to meet sudden shifts and spikes starts with good analytics. However, the analytics traditionally used in data centers aren’t enough. The wide area network outside the data center is a jungle made up of a patchwork of telecom operators, ISPs, MSOs, long-haul carriers and content delivery networks (CDNs). Traffic between them traverses a continually shifting constellation of peering points. Video streams can come from anywhere, and demand from viewers can shift in the blink of an eye.

Making matters even more challenging, the traditional network analytics approaches aren’t sufficient. Wide area networks have depended for decades on Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to understand what was going on in the network. But as its name suggests, SNMP isn’t up to the complexity and the real-time demands of today and tomorrow’s networks.

The other key analytics technology is deep packet inspection (DPI). Deployed in routers with the processing power to look inside each packet at line speed and identify the payload, DPI can be expensive. Thus, operators tend to deploy the technology to do spot checks at key points in the network. However, its biggest challenge is that the majority of video streams are now encrypted, so DPI has no way of identifying the payload.

MAP AND CATALOG

The good news is that there is a wealth of network data that can be used to bolster SNMP and DPI. The problem is that this data is currently collected in silos across multiple different systems—making it extremely arduous (or impossible) to use them for better planning and traffic engineering. Thankfully, recent big data techniques, such as streaming vector, column-store databases, are coming to the rescue.

Using only public available data of the same sort that Google collects, it is now possible to literally map out the entire internet and catalog the development, over time, of everything happening on it. For instance, it is possible to map IP flows from source to destination. If you know the destination, for instance, a Netflix cloud server at AWS, then you know what service your customer is accessing. With this technology, operators are able for the first time to understand what over-the-top applications are traversing their network and how they are impacting it.

With this holistic view of the entire network in real-time, operators can adjust their resources for dynamic service assurance. They can also work intelligently with partners upstream, such as content providers and cloud providers, as well as downstream, such as neighboring networks and CDNs, to adjust their own resources. Is peering point A acting as a bottleneck, while peering point B is under-utilized? Would a different cloud provider better serve a content provider, such as Netflix, in a newly served market?

As television moves into the cloud era of 5G, it is leaving the very predictable confines of its purpose-built cable networks to become part of the world wild web. While there are all kinds of good reasons to go this route, it also raises issues around network management and service assurance for increasingly demanding customers. Happily, network operators, content platforms, cloud providers and distributors have new tools to take the guesswork out of network planning and troubleshooting. These techniques are already being deployed in 90 percent of US cable operators. Along with SDN and network virtualization, which are coming with 5G, they will form part of the core technology of this exciting and challenging new world.

Kevin Macaluso is General Manager, for Nokia’s Deepfield group.

ESPOO, FINLAND—Nokia points to slower-than-expected VR development as a major factor in its decision this week to halt development of its 360-degree OZO VR camera.

The camera, which drew industry accolades and large crowds at industry gatherings like the NAB Show and the IBC convention, found initial success for special projects, such as pieces to promote Disney’s most recent adaptation of “The Jungle Book” last year.

However, despite initial excitement, the 360 VR market did not grow as expected, particularly with regards to content development, says Michael Inouye, principal analyst with ABI Research.

ABI Research was one of many market research companies forecasting a surge in professional and prosumer 360-degree camera sales.

In August 2016, it forecast sales of professional grade and mid-tier prosumer 360-degree cameras to reach nearly 2 million and consumer 360-degree cameras to reach 4 million units by 2021.

“I think a big part of it [the decision to halt OZO development] was the market wasn’t developing as rapidly as they had hoped,” he says.

Much of the content being produced was promotional rather than a feature-length film or even shorts, he says.

“Even the live 360 video part of the market has been more experimental than formal services,” he adds.

Another likely factor in Nokia pulling the plug was that its camera was positioned for the high-end of the market. When introduced in November 2015, Nokia priced the camera at $60,000. Today, it is priced at $25,000 on the company’s website.

“We’ve seen a lot of cameras coming in at lower price points targeting both the professional and prosumer markets with very similar feature sets and [delivering] a similar quality of experience from the end consumer as the Nokia unit,” says Inouye.

Staff reductions stemming from the decision are expected, according to the company. Up to 310 of its 1090 employees, mostly in Finland, the United States and the United Kingdom, could be affected.

While Nokia is discontinuing further development of the camera, it pledged to maintain “commitments to existing customers,” according to a company announcement.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission this morning announced that it had “just authorized the first LTE-U—LTE for unlicensed—devices in the 5 GHz band.” This was according to a tweet from @FCC on Twitter, and soon after, a rare blog post from Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC Office of Engineering & Technology.

“This action follows a collaborative industry process to ensure co-existence of LTE-U with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed devices operating in the 5 GHz band,” Knapp wrote.

(Addendum: Please note that after publication of this article, TV Technology was apprised of T-Mobile’s intention to launch LTE-U later this year: “T-Mobile Tees Up LTE-U for Spring Deployment,” Feb. 23, 2017 )

There was no specific public notice on the action, but rather a couple of equipment modification grants for Ericsson and Nokia. The Nokia grant covered its FW2R LTE module, a 2x2 MIMO transmitter operating in the 5,160 to 5,240 MHz band at 0.581 watts maximum combined conducted output power; and at 5,745 to 5,825 MHz at 0.583 watts output—in both 20 and 40 MHz BW modes.

Nokia received a limited single-modular approval (click image at right for .pdf version) subject to a number of conditions, including that it the FW2R cannot be marketed to third parties or the general public. The antenna also must be installed to provide a “separation distance of at least 20 centimeters” from people and not be co-located or operating with another antenna or transmitter outside of the scope of the modification.

The Ericsson grant, below at right, covered its BS 6402 MIMO LTE base station, pictured above, in the 5,150-5,170 MHz and 5,170 to 5, 250 MHz bands at 0.119 watts output, for indoor operations only. A third set of frequencies, 5,735 to 5,845 MHz was approved at 0.112 watts output.

In addition to the tweet and the blog post, the grants were ballyhooed in a statement from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai:

“LTE-U allows wireless providers to deliver mobile data traffic using unlicensed spectrum while sharing the road, so to speak, with Wi-Fi,” he said. “…voluntary industry testing has demonstrated that both these devices and Wi-Fi operations can co-exist in the 5 GHz band. This heralds a technical breakthrough in the many shared uses of this spectrum.”

Also see...
Sept. 28, 2015
“LTE-Unlicensed Spectrum Group Forms”
‘Evolve’ is the name taken on by a newly formed coalition of wireless carrier groups advocating for development of unlicensed LTE technology, or LTE-U, also known as “LAA,” or “Licensed Assisted Access.”

MONTREAL—Haivision and Nokia are teaming up to help provide more access to live virtual reality streaming. The companies have announced that Haivision’s KB 4K encoder is now compatible Nokia Ozo’s virtual reality camera and Nokia Ozo Live software.

Nokia Ozo

This new combination is aimed to provide streams of VR experiences that combine 360-degree video and a 3D immersive experience for online audiences. The KB 4K encoder works with the Ozo Live for H.264/HEVC 4K streaming quality.

The combination has already been utilized for VR streams of events including a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert and the CMA Awards Red Carpet, per the press release.

BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC—Nokia has announced that it is adding Comprimato’s JPEG2000 software codec to its 360-degree virtual reality camera Ozo. The cameras output of eight 2Kx2K sensors will be compressed and packaged into a single stream, which Comprimato decodes in software for live monitoring and responsive post-production for rendering and real-time views.

Nokia Ozo

With the JPEG2000 software codec, the Ozo’s eight output streams and rendered together into an immersive virtual environment. The decoder uses Comprimato’s GPU accelerated processing, allowing users to see what is being shot. The consistency of the JPEG2000 encoding ensures post-production stitching is seamless, according to Comprimato.

Comprimato will showcase its JPEG2000 software codec at the upcoming 2016 NAB Show at its booth, SU13305.

LOS ANGELES—At a recent press event Nokia Technologies unveiled OZO, which the company describes as the first virtual reality camera aimed at professional use. The $60,000 camera, which is slated to ship in the first quarter of 2016, is smaller than a human head, weighs less than 10 pounds and is outfitted with eight synchronized, progressive scan with global shutter 2Kx2K camera sensors and eight microphones. Video is 30 frames per second, and the OZO is wireless and can be controlled remotely.

Nokia Technologies’ President Ramzi Haidamus introduces the company’s OZO VR camera

What Nokia Technologies President Ramzi Haidamus really wants you to know about OZO is that it’s the first VR camera to provide 360-degree live streaming, as well as the first to offer a simultaneous lower-res stream for monitoring. “Live monitoring was essential,” he said. “It’s a pain point for filmmakers and there isn’t a single VR camera that could do that.”

LIVE STREAMING VR
To show off these features, Nokia Technologies, with the help of partners Capitol Records and Akamai, live-streamed a performance by the band Best Coast from the roof of Capitol Record’s iconic Hollywood building to the Los Angeles Live Event space in downtown. “We could have moved the VR signal to New York,” notes Akamai Chief Architect Will Law. He reports that the biggest challenge for the demo was the bitrate, but that the VR footage, “approaches 4K UHD” in terms of bandwidth. “We’re used to distributing UHD today,” he says. In fact, most experts points out that VR video distribution will “piggyback” on the system upgrades driven by the 4K/UHD rollout.

OZO is intended to strip away some of the complications of making virtual reality, said Nokia Technologies CTO Dr. Guido Jouret. That’s why it records to a removable digital cartridge, which records 45 minutes, rather than numerous SD cards and why the stitching of images is automatic in live streaming. Post production (which requires stitching) relies on a suite of tools familiar to filmmakers, from Adobe Premiere to Blackmagic Design Resolve. Nokia also offers a free app, OZO Creator, to allow video to be transcoded and viewed on a Mac Pro 6-Core Dual GPU.

The $60,000 OZO VR camera is smaller than a human head, weighs less than 10 pounds and is outfitted with eight synchronized, progressive scan with global shutter 2Kx2K camera sensors and eight microphones.

Haidamus also made it clear that Nokia Technologies has no intent to distribute content, become a content aggregator or make a head-mounted display. “Our initial role in this ecosystem is to provide the capture solution,” he says.

Hardie Tankersley, senior vice president of innovation at Fox, which won the first VR Emmy for its “Sleepy Hollow” experience, described the OZO as “super interesting.”

“We do need camera technologies,” he said. “And I love an all-in-one unit."

Tankersley has issues with current VR camera technology. “It’s tricky to shoot with a ball of GoPros,” he said. “It’s difficult to preview an image, they have finicky Bluetooth connections and if one of them is low on batteries, it starts beeping. So it makes sense to have an integrated, customized camera.”

THE VALUE OF 3D EXPERIENCE (AND CONTENT)
SuperData Research, which analyzes the gaming and playable media market, has predicted that virtual reality will be a $15 billion market by the end of 2017. Whereas gaming is a no-brainer application for virtual reality, the studios—witness VR content for “Sleepy Hollow” and “Wild”—are also intrigued, as are several film/TV filmmakers. A sizeable trickle of former VFX and 3D experts have made their way into the VR space; former Digital Domain chief executive Cliff Plumer, for example, now heads up Jaunt Studios, which makes VR content.

Steve Schklair, who made his career in 3D, notes the overlapping skillsets. “3D experts have gone through a technology shift that taught them to deal with multiple images,” he said. “VR is nothing more than multiple images, so it’s the most logical extension of skillsets.” He worked on two VR videos for Nokia using the alpha version of OZO, he reveals, and has worked with other VR production companies and is currently co-producing, with director/writer Randal Kleiser, the 11-part episodic VR series “Defrost.”

Having ridden the 3D wave, Schklair is justifiably wary about VR. “The thing that scares me the most is bad content,” he says. “People who’ve never seen VR might say, ‘why would I want to watch that?’ And then it would take them a long time to get them back. The business really needs good content, and quickly, to outweigh the not-so-good content.” He further notes that, although games and VR are a good match, no one really knows about the prospects of “cinematics and VR.”

WHAT’S THE ‘SWEET SPOT’?
At the Entertainment Technology Center at USC, Philip Lelyveld, program manager for the think tank’s VR/AR initiative, notes that the biggest trend in the last year has been the release of the first wave of consumer products. “Samsung Gear VR was sold out on Amazon and Best Buy,” he notes. Another trend noted is that advertising firms are beginning to build VR into their marketing mix.

In the professional space, he believes that the effort will be “to find the price point and determine who pays—consumers, advertisers, backers.” Lelyveld points to inroads that VR has made in journalism (

The New York Times with its Google Cardboard series on refugees and ABC News’ VR reports from Syria); sports (NHL, NBA and Olympics) and music videos, mainly by small bands using GoPro rigs. “This may be the year where we see how the various ways of experiencing VR are adopted by the marketplace,” he notes.

Tankersley reports that Fox is busy at work on more 360-videos. “We’re doing a new 360-video every week,” he says. “We just launched with ‘Scream Queens’ where we go behind the scenes. We have videos on Facebook 360, YouTube and other places, available and live now.” But he notes the difference between 360-degree immersive videos and full-on virtual reality. “360 video isn’t a game changer,” he says. “I think the biggest distinction is head tracking. We’re trying to trick the viewer into thinking he’s really there, a truly immersive experience. And, today, that takes relatively high-end hardware and a dedicated space.”

At SMPTE, AMD Chief Technologist Layla Mah reported that achieving that level of true VR will take a paradigm of development that exceeds Moore’s Law. Lots of people and lots of money are trying to prove her wrong. But the outcome is still very much up in the air. “The big picture is,” says Tankersley, “that we’re still on the verge of something big. But that verge could last for years.”