Title

ObserVR

Department - Author 1

Computer Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Computer Engineering

Date

6-2016

Primary Advisor

Lynne Slivovsky

Abstract/Summary

According to Superdata Digital Market Research, investors have poured more than $6 billion into the virtual reality market in the last three years, mostly to catalyze application development for virtual reality gaming. In the last decade, watching live streams of other gamers playing video games has skyrocketed, with the world’s largest esports streaming platform Twitch.tv receiving 53 million unique visitors daily. ObserVR intends to package these technologies and change the way users watch multiple 2D video streams in an immersive 3D environment. By accessing our service, a user can embed URLs for existing video streams through our online application and then launch a motion controlled multi-screen view within their virtual reality headset. By utilizing existing 2D content, our service is changing the current viewing experience by eliminating the hassle of manually changing web browser tabs and offering a way to become your own producer by choosing what camera angles you want to watch at any given time. By providing this service in three dimensions, we are able to bring benefits to each user that current technology does not allow. These benefits include saving time, decreasing hardware space, and providing a community base while enhancing current viewing methods. While most of the technology’s early adopters are gamers, virtual reality devices are expected to become the next household entertainment standard, meaning that the applications for this technology beyond gaming are boundless.

To meet our customers’ needs, we will be building an online application that allows users to incorporate any available online video stream into our interface and create a customized viewing layout. Our initial interface will support up to four streams at any one time. By allowing users to embed and launch personally selected content, we are decreasing the amount of behavioral change needed for user adoption. We plan to include the ability to select content directly through our application dashboard, providing a library of all online streamable content.

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