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Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

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Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#111

Post by akersten »

weird-eye-issue wrote: post #57
abhv wrote: post #2

A good friend of mine at Google is the technical lead of this project (he has a Phd Princeton, and was a professor before joining Google). I've tried it in person and it was truly amazing. They used some very fancy tech when I saw the demo, so I'm thrilled it is finally being announced and possibly shared with a larger audience. Explanation of why it is amazing: It totally fools your perception. No glasses or goggles…

Do you think it's possible 90% of this is due to the studio quality lighting, large high quality screen, good mic/speakers, and low latency network? It seems like those factors alone would get most of the way there and the 3D aspect is just a bonus. Obviously I haven't used it in person but this was just a thought since most people are used to video calls on their small phone/laptop with poor lighting, mics, etc

My intuition is that a great lighting+microphone+speaker setup is necessary, but not sufficient, for this demo.

Even from viewing the short demo, the stereo display alone is an entirely new dimension that no amount of studio lighting will recreate. While better lighting and audio setup would certainly improve the average person's videoconferencing experience, this looks to be a genuine step beyond.

That said, we've been seeing holographic-display prototypes for the better part of a decade, and it'll be interesting if this actually pans out or fizzles.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#112

Post by MetalGuru »

xnx wrote: post #72
allenu wrote: post #30

Really cool execution. I wonder what the lag is like. I can imagine that's one thing that would break the illusion. I know with something like Zoom I've gotten used to managing the lag over time by taking turns with the other person. However, with the "live" feel of this, there could be an uncanny valley effect if the lag is subtle, but perceptible. Another thought: this is being presented as ongoing research. I wond…

It's advantageous to announce when you have a good working prototype so that when a competitor (e.g. Apple) announces something similar, the world is less impressed/amazed.

Advantageous even if you don't have a working prototype. See Microsoft vaporware

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#113

Post by wizzwizz4 »

robertlagrant wrote: post #74
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minecraft. Linux. (Really want to write GNU, but that's not true.)

Minecraft wasn't an important technology. It's a game built with important technologies.

Tell that to the mathematicians.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#115

Post by hiharryhere »

dialogbox wrote: post #102
defaultname wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating. So not only is it feeding it an 8K / 30 (60?) FPS image, it's feeding it numerous incident angle variations and displaying all of them simultaneously? Sounds like a monster data rate.

I think that is where the custom compression algorithm comes in. If you think the fact that human body and face doesn't change much, and the fact that it's a 3d model based, the compression ratio could be very high.

Good point. Also the very neutral background would contribute to that.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#116

Post by twobitshifter »

dbbk wrote: post #86
allenu wrote: post #30

Really cool execution. I wonder what the lag is like. I can imagine that's one thing that would break the illusion. I know with something like Zoom I've gotten used to managing the lag over time by taking turns with the other person. However, with the "live" feel of this, there could be an uncanny valley effect if the lag is subtle, but perceptible. Another thought: this is being presented as ongoing research. I wond…

If they wanted to capitalise on remote meetings, I assume they would have shown one in the demo video. Instead they focused on family members reconnecting.

With the amount of data needed, one on one is probably easiest. We saw teams and zoom struggle to support more people in a call last year. It’s also nice to have them be true to size. Mini people might be somewhat uncomfortable.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#119

Post by adam »

airstrike wrote: post #108

This , my friends, is how business travel becomes nearly irrelevant. This is a beautifully executed idea and if the demos live up to expectation the hype may even be warranted. But on a much more fundamental level (i.e. fancy 3D imaging and spatial audio aside), this also possibly suggests people would benefit from dedicated videoconferencing hardware. TVs and telephones do one thing really well (or at least historic…

I immediately thought of business travel as well. Project us all in to a virtual conference room and give us a suite of collaboration tools to use while we're all there.

The only thing missing is the after meeting drinks and dinner, but there will inevitably be services to put us all in a restaurant/bar environment, pipe in some bar white noise, have food sent from a local restaurant, etc. for an "in-person" virtual happy hour...

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