Groupe Média TFO and Zero Density take great steps in the advancement of virtual reality on television

Laboratoire d’univers virtualls (LUV / Virtual World Laboratory), an initiative of the Canadian broadcatser Groupe Média TFO in which Zero Density collaborates, is carrying out interesting virtual reality tests in the studio with the most realistic results.

Groupe Média TFO (GMTFO), a public company in Ontario (Canada), is achieving interesting results in an initiative that aims to advance the development of virtual, augmented and mixed reality in television environments. Its Laboratoire d’univers virtualls (LUV / Virtual World Laboratory) is using the advanced technology of Zero Density to carry out tests with the most realistic results. Specifically, IBC awarded this initiative the Innovation Award for Content Creation and the Jury Award.

GMTFO Vice President of Technologies and Optimization, Éric Minoli, acknowledged when collecting these awards that it was an honor for "a non-profit broadcaster and content creator to win this IBC Innovation Award. I would like to thank the IBC jury, our partners, Epic Games, Zero Density, STYpe and CEV and all the employees of Groupe Média TFO who accepted the challenge. The Laboratoire d'univers virtuels was a truly unifying project."

Although called a “lab,” LUV is a revolutionary production environment that enables the creation of virtual sets that are nearly indistinguishable from physical sets, enabling significant cost savings as well as encouraging new levels of creativity in storytelling.

The story behind this remarkable achievement began in 2014, when a team of people with extensive experience in production, post-production and visual effects came together for this groundbreaking project. They had conceived a brilliant idea: a powerful engine that dominated the gaming industry could serve the broadcasting industry. By making this engine broadcast-ready, Zero Density enabled the bridging of two industries and provided new options for advanced applications in VR and AR production.

A meeting between Zero Density and GMTFO in Las Vegas led to Zero Density, based on the Unreal Engine, participating in this project with its proposals Reality Virtual Studio and Augmented Reality Platform, both based on Unreal Engine.

“GMTFO is changing the game with LUV, using technology and innovation to pioneer new and easier ways to create content,” said Kuban Altan, Director of Research and Development at Zero Density.

“LUV leverages the enormous power and flexibility of Reality, bringing the incredible worlds possible in video games to the broadcast world,” Altan continued. "Groupe Média TFO is saving thousands of dollars in design and post-production expenses and making post-production much faster. Reality has also made a significant contribution to TFO's ability to create new content, such as 20 YouTube channels, including Mini ABC, one of the best French-language educational channels in Canada."

“LUV is showing incredible potential for real-time virtual production in a broadcast environment, and together with partners like Zero Density, we are happy to support Groupe Média TFO in this effort,” said Marc Petit, CEO of Epic Games, developer of Unreal Engine. “We are very pleased to see this innovation recognized by IBC leadership, and hope that LUV serves as a model for other broadcasters looking to think outside the box.”

Zero Density Reality is powered by Unreal Engine 4 and features a powerful integrated toolset that provides solutions for all types of virtual studio production workflows, including augmented and data-driven graphics. Reality aims to set a new industry standard in virtual studio production in terms of image quality, speed of operation, key technology and in many other ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGJX3-0t1WA