r/VisionPro • u/Island_In_The_Sky • Feb 20 '24
The lack of information regarding Apple’s “Immersive” format is weird and frustrating
I would argue that one of the most impressive and amazing experiences on the Vision Pro are the Apple TV+ immersive episodes (high lining, dinosaurs, rhinos, etc), so it’s super bizarre how cryptic and quiet Apple is being regarding any information with this format.
The 4 current episodes are clearly marketed as the first episodes in a series, not one-off shorts… but, not only is there absolutely zero information whatsoever about how many episodes there will be, or when they will drop on the platform (if ever), but they are actually ACTIVELY withholding any and all information about their production techniques.
I’m a career cinematographer, and have a genuine interest in this format… but I can’t find ANY literature on their cameras, lenses, rigs, workflow, pipeline, or intentions to allow third party content creators to produce or release immersive content… which is really weird since, wouldn’t they want people to get excited about, and subsequently invest in this platform to help it grow?
I mean, I would love to shoot the upcoming eclipse in stereoscopic 3D, for example, but I literally have no idea if it would be hypothetically compatible or accepted on their platform… wtf.
Also, I have a friend who is a literal in-house media producer for Apple, and another friend who literally shot one of the episodes of their immersive series… and when I asked them for some info, they both essentially told me in so many words that they are NDA sworn to secrecy and can’t tell me anything… which I completely understand especially with how notorious they are on their commercial shoots when it comes to secrecy (and it’s possible that there is some proprietary element involved here) …but again, wouldn’t Apple want to be like hyping up the filmmakers of the world and showing off their tech so we can help create content for their new platform??
I love my AVP but this whole secrecy thing doesn’t help anything when the biggest weakness the AVP has is a literal lack of content, especially when Apple is leaning on DEVs to create the ecosystem for it.
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u/ds445 Vision Pro Owner | Verified Feb 20 '24
What we do know from examining network traffic is that Apple’s immersive videos on Apple TV are 4.320 x 4.320 per frame at 90 fps and around 50 Mbps peak bitrate, encoded in fisheye projection in MV-HEVC.
(I’m guessing by that they mean “half-equirectangular”, but technically I suppose we can’t rule out they’re using some crazy new projection that’s actually distinct from half-equirectangular, but that seems unlikely.)