Viaccess-Orca and Harmonic partner on OTT and VR

Viaccess-Orca has partnered with Harmonic to bring two solutions to IBC – one relating to OTT applications and the other to virtual reality (VR).

The companies will showcase a new end-to-end video software as a service for OTT applications, as well as a new multiview app for the virtual reality (VR) environment.

By combining Viaccess-Orca’s Voyage – TV Everywhere as a service platform with Harmonic’s VOS 360 cloud media processing service, the two companies are offering pay TV operators a flexible OTT solution that runs entirely on the cloud.

The ecosystem is designed to streamline video management, security, and service delivery tasks, handling everything from contribution to transcoding, packaging, scrambling, and distribution of live and time-shift content to connected devices.

The new multiview app for the VR environment uses space-related UHD content from Harmonic, on a Samsung Gear VR headset with Viaccess-Orca’s Connected Sentinel Player, to simulate a live 360-degree VR environment that provides synchronised, multiple perspectives for a richer VR experience.

“Given the dynamic nature of the OTT environment, pay TV operators are looking to partner with technology providers skilled in data management and experiences, content protection, and delivering high-quality, exciting video experiences to consumers on a broad range of devices,” said Chem Assayag, executive vice-president of marketing and sales at Viaccess-Orca.

“Harmonic and Viaccess-Orca both bring a very high level of innovation to this collaboration, enabling safer, immersive video experiences to be enjoyed by end-users, with better video quality and advanced features like 360-degree viewing on VR headsets, along with increased savings and monetization for operators.”

Viaccess-Orca are exhibiting at IBC on stand 1.A51. Harmonic can be found at stand 1.B20