Japan Team Lets Remote Fans to Enjoy Live Concerts in Virtual Reality

May 15, 2018

Tokyo- A University of Tokyo-led team said Monday that it has developed a virtual reality system that can make people vividly enjoy live concerts and stage plays wherever they are and whenever they want.

By wearing dedicated headsets, users can virtually be in the audience even if they are away from live performance venues. It is also possible to come over beside their favorite performers on the stage.

Furthermore, the Internet-based system, dubbed LiVRation, also enables karaoke machine-like use and screen viewing.

The system integrates visual data taken by 360-degree 4K cameras and audio data from multiple microphones and combines the virtual reality technology with high-resolution streaming technologies to keep audio data's quality unchanged after data compression and decompression for transmission, according to the team, also including researchers from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corp.

To vividly feel bass sounds, users can wear an oscillator that is adjusted to reproduce only low-pitched tones.

At a press conference to announce the LiVRation, Hiroshi Esaki, professor at the University of Tokyo, said the system can give a strong sense of being present even if used to broadcast performances to locations without sophisticated audio and visual equipment.

The development team hopes to commercialize the system. Jiji Press