Enabling the Immersive Display-A New Paradigm for Content Distribution

Abstract

Immersive displays, including holographic displays, dense multiview displays, VR headsets, and AR glasses have begun to emerge as a new class of display technologies that not only have the potential to create visual experiences to engage the viewer in ways unprecedented for existing 2D screen technologies, but also create a "forcing function"for industry to recognize that such displays are heterogeneous in terms of the types of input media signals that are required in order for these displays to create their optimal visual experiences. That is, until now, standards bodies and industry have successfully addressed the needs of new display technologies by extending the densities, frame rates, and color gamuts for rectilinear video formats. But what if the best of these immersive displays cannot be driven off of rectilinear video formats? Is it impossible then for such displays to be adopted and supported at scale? This paper will briefly summarize historical events motivating the demand for immersive displays and content. Next, we will characterize immersive displays and the types of input signals that afford such displays the best opportunity to create their optimal visual experiences. Starting with VR headsets, which are a relatively straightforward extension of stereoscopic televisions, the various types of immersive displays and their optimal input media signals will be presented, leading to the realization that new paradigms for content distribution are needed in order to prepare industry for the availability of display technologies that until now, were previously thought to exist only in science fiction.