Under the agreement between Carlsbad, California-based Kaiser Electro-Optics Inc and Boulder, Colorado-based VR1 Entertainment Inc, which will enable VR1 to offer Kaiser virtual reality headsets for people receiving virtual programming over television cable (CI No 2,234), VR1 hopes to create its own premium cable television channel, which it likens to Home Box Office. VR1 says it will license its software to companies interested in developing software for the VR1 premium service, and to existing cable TV programmers – and will release its protocols to major Hollywood producers and software development companies this fall. As a premium cable channel, VR1 will buy and deliver immersive visual experience and three-dimensional interactive programming to the cable subscriber’s home. It sees its second role being to create a much-needed and greatly desired technology and software that will be licensed to software and hardware manufacturers that want their material presented through VR1 and Kaiser’s headset. VR1 plans to launch its cable service in two phases. In the first phase, the viewer will be guided through three-dimensional visual experiences.
Visual Immersion Module Personal Viewer
In the second phase, via licenses with computer and consumer electronics manufacturers, VR1 plans to download to the customer’s home three-dimensional virtual reality games and experiences in which subscribers can interact with and multiply the virtual environment. Kaiser has given VR1 exclusive rights for use in the home-cable market to its patented VIM Personal Viewer, which is a high-resolution, lightweight, head-mounted display. The VIM Vision Immersion Module Personal Viewer can display three-dimensional computer graphics delivered to the cable subscriber’s home, where the viewer will be able to explore imaginary worlds, play virtual reality games, and take educational and entertainment explorations limited only by the imagination, Kaiser says. The visor-like Personal Viewer is claimed to provide varying degrees of immersion in three-dimensional images with a 100-degree horizontal total field of view. The new technology has only been available for advanced military applications until now, says to Jerry Carollo, president of Kaiser Electro-Optics. The company has begun to market its technology for applications in such industries as architecture and design, medicine, home and public entertainment, biotechnology, education, fitness and health, travel and consumer electronics. The company has previously specialised in optical instruments and systems for advanced military use, and is a subsidiary of Kaiser Aerospace & Electronics Corp. VR1 says that, operating under the name Global Entertainment Systems Inc, its co-founders developed Vector Quantization video compression technology and licensed it to cable television equipment maker Scientific Atlanta Inc. The group has since developed SkyConnect Inc, an advertisement delivery service that will interconnect markets via satellite. The VR1 company is owned by a privately-held multinational corporation with holdings in cable television, alternate access, oil and gas, and property. Its assets include a $60m uplink facility located in Denver, which will be the site of VR1’s digital feeds.
