Back in January 2000, the Super Bowl XXXIV between Tennessee Titans and St. Louis Rams became the first main sports event to film nationally in HD. A decade and over later, High Definition (HD) have become the standard you’ll hardly find someone willing to watch such a big event in anything below 1080i.

This fall, NBA was the first big sporting league to provide a live-streaming version of the game using virtual reality. In the inauguration night matchup between New Orleans Pelicans and Golden State Warriors in Oakland, on the 27 days of October, the league offered fans a contested view entirely from the standpoint of a person seated at the courtside. Rather than paying $10000 for every seat, the price of the Samsung Gear VR headset for viewing broadcast did not exceed $100.

NextVR that pioneers this technology owes the exquisite images that are broadcasted onto the headsets to an exclusive, stereoscopic camera gear. The action is shot at 100 frames every second in 6k along with 3-D audio sound that is centered from the camera itself, forming a more lifelike experience for the users.

The stream of virtual reality that was used in the October’s game between the Warriors and the Pelicans let the viewers concentrate their attention anywhere within the arena, complete 360-degrees at any particular time. Efforts to replicate such experience of truly being at the game, there weren’t any commentary, just court and crowd noises. As the practice of game streaming becomes more common, most industries anticipate each broadcast would feature a couple of cameras that capture unique angles, which can be cycled through at the users’ control.

This past summer, the company did exactly that using five camera rigs to stream United States Open from the vantage points throughout the Chambers Bay course. This coming summer, they’ll do the same broadcasting the International Champions Cup (ICC), a soccer league/tournament, which pits the world’s top club teams against each other. Cameras will be placed beside every goal and at the midfield, the users will be given options to switch between the two cameras at any given time.

Creating realistic virtual reality is about more than simply creating spectacular visuals, though. Other wits take a big role in making a difference between viewing as well as experiencing, and that is why NextVR is using three-dimensional audio. A common fallacy is that 3-D audio is same as surround sound, but it is in some ways. What differentiates 3-D from surround sound is the fact that it allows users to customize the audio they are experiencing based on where they focus their devotion.

If the NBA game action is one happening at one end of the court, you face the opposite direction, and then the squeaking and shouting shoes sound diminishes. The result is a justly immersive spatial reality, which tricks the brain to believing that you are in the middle action.

NextVR was established in 2009 and raised more than $30 million recently in the Series a funding from Time Warner and Comcast. Their aim is not just to expand the extent and the depth of their sporting events coverage, but create a more immersive experience for the viewers through inclusion social media as well as augmented reality.

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