Video loading...
【Editor's Note】
In the 5G era of the Internet of Everything, the intelligence of media has become an unstoppable trend and development direction. How can artificial intelligence technology and media be integrated? What media ethics issues will be brought about by intelligence? In the era of intelligence, how can the media be a good "lookout" of society? Sina News and Cover News jointly launched the "Future Media Interview" program Smart Media Feature to explore issues related to smart media.
He Jingjing, the guest of this interview, is the president of Huawei's fusion video field and a senior expert in the field of video. He joined Huawei in 2008 and has been engaged in R&D and operation in multiple business areas such as SDP, DIC, and video, and has accumulated rich experience in the video industry for nearly 10 years. At this stage, huawei manages the strategic planning and operation of the converged video field, and has long been committed to building a video industry ecosystem and promoting the evolution of the video industry.
He Jingjing, President of Huawei's Converged Video Field and Senior Expert in the Video Field (right)
The following is a transcript of the interview:
First, high-tech video has taken the lead in becoming a typical application of 5G
Future Media Interview: In August 2019, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television officially proposed the concept of "5G high-tech video", why will high-tech video take the lead in becoming the application scenario of 5G?
He Jingjing: As an important national infrastructure construction strategy, 5G is developing in full swing. High-tech video is actually a new experience form of video entering the new infrastructure. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television also mentioned in the "5G High-tech Video White Paper" that high-tech video has a higher technical format, updated application scenarios, and will also have a better audiovisual experience.
Specifically, on top of the 5G infrastructure, high-tech video has the basic conditions for development. At the same time, people are also pursuing a better experience. There is also a very important background, in the post-epidemic era, online cloud performance, online video viewing has become the norm, how to make a better experience from offline back to online, but also through 5G infrastructure plus high-definition video, a new format superimposed together, including interactive video, immersive video, VR, cloud games, etc. high-tech video forms are booming.
Future media interview: The concept of "5G high-tech video" has been proposed for more than a year, what results have been achieved so far? Imagine what novel experiences high-tech videos will bring us?
He Jingjing: In the early days of high-tech video, we made a trend analysis of the video industry, and there are four changes in the video field: (1) from flat viewing video to immersive video viewing; (2) from standard definition video to high-definition video iteration; (3) from one-way video to interactive video iteration; (4) from watching video to using video. As a capability, video is empowering thousands of industries and helping them to transform digitally and intelligently. We really feel that video plays a greater value in more scenarios.
Second, the "black technology" behind the condensation of time and space - Huawei MediaCube
Future Media Interview: We have noticed that the experience of free perspective has increased recently, can you tell us more about how far the cutting-edge technology of free perspective has developed?
He Jingjing: Free perspective is not a new form of experience, as early as the movie "The Matrix", there is bullet time, bullet time is actually achieved with CG, the cost is very high. With the changes in infrastructure and computing power, such an experience form is entering the daily life experience of ordinary people.
In the past year, as a technical support, we have created the "Dance Storm 2" program with Hunan Satellite TV. Our ability to use free perspective to provide moments and show the dancers' stunning bodies. At the same time, as a new 360-degree video experience, the free perspective gives the interactive ability to the audience, the audience can choose to watch from any perspective, and can also quickly enter the "Bullet Time" experience like the "Matrix". After that, we cooperated with the CCTV Spring Festival Gala program, especially Wu Jing's "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" program and received good feedback.
Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Ox "Heroes of Heaven and Earth"
As the basic capability of high-tech video, free perspective is empowering the media industry, radio and television industry, sports industry, and moving towards more industries. In a word, free perspective is an ability that enriches people's experience of watching videos, and at the same time, this ability is being invoked by thousands of industries.
Future Media Interview: I have experienced a program shot from a free perspective, but when multiple cameras are switching, there is a problem of watching Caton, for this problem, what is our solution?
He Jingjing: You mentioned a key issue, which is the smooth video experience. Why camera cluster shooting and stitching can become a reality, because of the full support of algorithms and computing power.
130 cameras, each way is 4K, it will bring a huge data stream, at the same time, we also have to do these data streams to do effective processing, stitching, and finally restore to a 360-degree experience, which puts forward high requirements for computing power, traditional CPU can not meet, we need to superimpose more diversified computing power. On the basis of computing power, superimposed efficient algorithms can ensure that the camera positioning reaches the minute level, which is a very critical breakthrough.
If you manually adjust the free angle of view, it will take at least two days to set up the shooting scene of the loop camera. But with minute-level accurate positioning, after the dancers have finished a dance, we can immediately do another calibration positioning. All in all, the computing power, algorithm, and system optimization have realized the presentation of the final perfect effect from the 130-channel cluster camera.
Stage live camera butterfly deployment
Future media interview: Traditional TV programs mainly rely on the director to choose the viewing angle, but with a free viewing angle, users can freely choose the viewing angle 360 degrees, but this puts forward high requirements for shooting, transmission, storage, and processing, and the production cost will be very high. From a cost perspective, do you have some new solutions?
He Jingjing: This is also a common concern of everyone. First of all, the free viewing angle requires a camera cluster to shoot, which will incur a lot of costs, and at the same time, it also needs high computing power to support.
In the next phase, we will work with Huawei's 2012 Central Media Institute and partners to launch an important capability - through artificial intelligence, virtual viewing angle algorithms, in the case of reducing the number of 130 cameras by half, to achieve the same effect, which is the first step we have achieved so far.
In order to deal with the problem of high-tech video production efficiency and cost, we have specially created mediaCube high-tech video production solution, which is a hyper-converged integrated hardware that integrates network, storage, computing power resources, and switching equipment. The integrated cabinet of 1 meter and 2 meters high can make a high-quality free viewing experience and reduce the cost.
Future Media Interview: The emergence of a free perspective may make the director unemployed, and furthermore, automatic shooting can also be achieved, and the photographer will also be unemployed. In the future, will new technologies deprive media practitioners of jobs?
He Jingjing: Some time ago, we communicated with many top directors and cameras in China, our original intention is not to replace the director or photographer, in the process of artistic creation, beauty can not be completely replaced, the evaluation of beauty, the judgment of beauty, is the need for a very high level of ability, at present, artificial intelligence has not come to this stage.
In fact, free-view videos need more professional directors. Because the 360-degree perspective, there are some angles that are very professional, there are some "bullet time" must be in some frames, will be displayed better, our guide can give the recommended "wonderful moment", recommended "bullet time", the user slides at the same time, there is a large wave of recommended scenes below, users can quickly and not so professionally to choose wonderful content, which is a process of mutual help.
Professional guide chooses bullet time
Will VR be the killer app of the 5G era?
Future Media Interview: In the early stage of 5G application exploration, everyone thinks that VR is a killer application of 5G, can you tell us about the development of VR now? From a scientist's point of view, what do you think is the scenario that VR is suitable for development at this stage?
He Jingjing: I don't know if you noticed, around you, including shopping malls, tourist attractions, there are more virtual reality experiences, in the past two years, VR has gradually moved from theory to practice.
According to our understanding, whether VR can become a large-scale form alone remains to be seen. The trend from virtual reality (VR) to augmented reality (AR) to mixed reality (MR) is very clear, why there is such a shift. Everyone is familiar with the experience of "Ready Player One", but in fact it is still in an enclosed space, unable to communicate with reality, and even experts mentioned that if you are given 50 yuan, can you wear VR glasses to buy a cup of coffee, which may not be possible at present, because it will cut off the real and virtual worlds.
AR (augmented reality) communicates with the real world. Why did you still go to MR (mixed reality)? Simply watching videos, watching VR experiences, will also move towards applications. AR/MR is being applied to manufacturing, training, education and other industries, which is a very good development trend, such technology and capabilities are applied to production and life, will play a greater value.
For the trend of VR, my understanding is that it can be more calm, pay more attention to its application in the industry, and pay more attention to the value it brings to the industry. With the continuous lightweighting of glasses and the stability and strength of infrastructure capabilities, VR will certainly have room for development. Immersive video meets the essential demands of people, but the current technical means have not yet fully reached the ability to restore real scenes, but the distance is shrinking.
8K VR experience
Future Media Interview: In terms of VR technology, what level is our country at in the international arena?
He Jingjing: In fact, China has a good foundation for vr development. China's 5G infrastructure, including gigabit optical network construction, leads the world. Under the open network environment, VR technology is rapidly iterating. We also see that the VR industry chain is undergoing huge iterations from terminals to applications to intermediate transmission.
Yesterday, we found that some partners in the industry have also launched their own new products, the effect and price have a great advantage, in fact, there are giants overseas are trying to lay out AR.
In the early stage of VR exploration, we will also pay special attention to the issue of standards. In 2017, VR is facing the problem of non-uniform standards, and there will be great differences in the interface between the terminal and the application and the interface with the platform. Huawei has also focused on supporting this part, together with industry partners and with the competent authorities. First of all, the establishment of industry standards, on top of the standards, everyone work together to promote the improvement of the entire system, coupled with the strength of the infrastructure, I personally judge that the various applications and experiences in China still have obvious advantages over overseas.
Fourth, the development of high-tech video needs to establish a community of interests
Future Media Interview: In the development of high-tech video, is it synchronized at home and abroad? What aspects abroad are worth learning from?
He Jingjing: In fact, for high-tech videos, there are many studies at home and abroad, such as standard organization and verification. Foreign countries in the sports industry to do more attempts, in the NBA, football, baseball and other aspects have applications, everyone's research experience is basically similar, but the research direction and the platform carried is still slightly different, which is also in line with the entire infrastructure situation. But we found that everyone recognizes high-tech videos.
We Huawei are more from the broadcast system to cut into the field of high-tech video, recently, we are also in the sports industry to do in-depth applications. At the Ultra HD Conference, we officially released the MediaCube high-tech video production solution to the sports industry, which received great attention from the industry. In this part, we can work together, learn from experience, and provide users with a better experience, the purpose is to make high-tech video into thousands of households.
Whether it is research technology, research scenarios, or business models, it is ultimately necessary to return to the user experience, if it can not get the final recognition of the audience, I believe it may stay more in the technical stage.
Future Media Interview: Where is the bottleneck in the application and popularization of high-tech video? How can we achieve positive industrial circulation?
He Jingjing: This is a very good problem, innovative things will encounter many problems in the initial stage, in addition to the technical problems just mentioned, there are ecological problems, how to make more institutions and companies work together in the industrial chain, which actually requires the establishment of a community of interests.
Of course, it also needs the technical help of multiple parties. Every year at the VR Conference, we will see old friends leave the industry, and there will also be new friends entering the industry. In the process of industrial promotion, it is also necessary to continuously generate a community of interests to allow more people to invest in the industry.
Back to the business cycle, which is something we've been concerned about in the early days of innovation. Because there can be no innovation based on the absence of a positive commercial cycle, we in the theater and sports innovation scenes will especially consider the problem of the positive cycle of business.
We found high-quality online experiences that complemented the viewing experience of visitors in the museum. With the advent of the post-epidemic era and the booming demand for online culture, we must bring the experience of approaching the scene online, so that the second scene is close to the first scene.
High-tech video will also bring commercial assistance to the performing arts industry. Taking AR technology as an example, we do virtual modeling of each artwork, you can realize the free movement of the museum, we can also do some virtual advertising spaces through the form of VR/AR, as well as seats, parking spaces guidance.
In short, we will expand the user base from the efficiency and experience improvement of the production system, enhance the experience, and realize the business cycle. At the same time, at the operational level, we also explore new scenarios with industry partners and customers to achieve a positive business cycle in an all-round way.
Future Media Interview: What suggestions and expectations do you have for the future development of the high-tech video industry?
He Jingjing: First, after the release of the 5G High-tech Video White Paper for a period of time, all walks of life have an understanding of high-tech video, but now it cannot be said that everyone's understanding of the high-tech video industry is the same.
Second, the technical ability should be more combined with the industry to truly apply high-tech video to the industry. In addition to the development of the three dimensions of clarity, immersion and freedom, we hope that high-tech video can be more applied to industrial scenes and enter the core system of production, such as the application of industrial vision. I believe that in the later stage, more and more exploration and practice of this part will emerge.
<b>[If you have a news thread, please report to us, once adopted, there is a fee reward.] WeChat attention: ihxdsb, QQ: 3386405712].</b>