Fixed viewport applications for omnidirectional video content: combining traditional and 360 video for immersive experiences

With omnidirectional videos, the viewer is able to direct her Field-of-View (FoV) to any part of the scene while watching the content. This is achieved by rendering the 360 video content on the inside of a (conceptual) sphere in which the viewer is typically placed at the center. This is in contrast with traditional video that is rendered on a 2D plane and the viewer is watching always through a viewport directed by the content creator. These two approaches create a conflict between user experience and creativity, since omnidirectional video provides the user with viewing freedom, while traditional video allows for greater artistic expression by controlling the viewport. In order to combine these two approaches we propose an immersive setup in which the content changes between free-form viewing of omnidirectional (360 video mode) and directed viewing of traditional videos (director's mode). In this demo paper we present the benefits and reasoning behind this proposal and the means to implement it using the OMAF (MPEG-I - Part 2) standard.