Nokia OZO Live

Nokia OZO Live is a real-time broadcast solution that delivers live virtual reality experiences over IP. The software runs on standard reference hardware, delivers a standard 4K/UHD SDI video outputs or IP based streams as output. Integrates seamlessly with your existing 4K broadcast equipment. Select monoscopic 2D or stereoscopic 3D and use standard switchers, color correctors, audio mixers, and other support gear for a full production workflow. Supports up to 4K/UHD per eye over dual SDI outputs, and a maximum of 4096x4096 resolution while using encoded stream output.

OZO Live enables the Nokia OZO+ VR Camera to be used for multi-camera live VR broadcasts. A live production studio, OZO Live is a software product. Running GPU-assisted reference hardware, OZO Live converts your compressed 1.5Gb/sec HD-SDI signal from your OZO into a number of formats:

• Standard 4K UHD video signal for real-time post production
• Delivered via quad-link HD-SDI
• Single 12G SDI
• TMP uplink to a cloud delivery service or an RTMP-capable platform
• MP4 file export for fast turn-around

OZO Live provides advanced real-time multi-point stitching functionality, spatial audio processing, color correction, H.264 encoding, H.265 encoding, plus a variety of advanced options in a powerful and easy-to-use package. You can operate OZO Live from a web browser, including: Chrome, Firefox, and Safari mobile.

NOTE: OZO Live does not support Internet Explorer.

OZO Live can also mix external audio sources from Dante (128 channels) or local sound cards with the OZO camera audio. The audio sources are positioned live in the full spatial environment. Multiple mixes and audio format outputs can be created at the same time. Quick to set up, easy to use, and highly reliable, OZO Live immerses you in an event as if it's happening around you.

You can either direct video output over SDI or output an encoded video bitstream via RTMP or File Output.

• SDI - AJA output cards support 29.97, 30, 59.94, and 60. Tested Blackmagic output cards currently support 29.97 and 30fps
• Stream - Output H.264 Baseline/Main/High
  • RTMP Delivery - Uses the hardware encoder on your NVIDIA GPU Card. Delivers an encoded stream* to a wide variety of streaming services including YouTube 360, Facebook 360, Periscope 360, and virtually any video platform which can accept live RTMP ingest.
• File - Output both H.264 and H.265 Main

* NOTE: Please note you can not save a file while streaming via RTMP.

Professional Workflows 

OZO Live is designed for professional broadcast production use. It supports (3) primary deployment modes:

1. Single camera workflow with direct RTMP uplink

2. Single camera workflow to a single external broadcast encoder

3. Multi-camera workflows with full production switching ans sound reinforcement

Beneficial Video and Audio Formats

Multiple video output formats:

• 4K/UHD per eye over dual SDI
• 360° stereoscopic (Top/Bottom) or 180° stereoscopic (Left/Right)
• 360° monoscopic
• Equirectangular, Cubemap or Lambert projection
• SDI resolution only limited by SDI card
• Frame rate of 29.97, 30, 59.94 and 60 (limited by SDI card capability)
• Custom resolution possible by letter boxing the SDI output

Video Frame Rates

The OZO camera runs at a fixed 30fps. OZO Live enables alternate frame rate output in order to support downstream equipment. These rates are supported with simple frame removal or doubling: 29.97, 30, 59.94, 60fps.

Video Formats

OZO Live can output the following resolutions over quad-link HD-SDI or 6G-SDI (depending on your output card):

• 1920x960, 2:1
• 1920x1080 Full HD, 16:9
• 2160x1080, 2:1
• 2560x1280, 2:1
• 2560x1440 QHD, 16:9
• 2880x1440, 2:1
• 3840x1920, 2:1
• 3840x2160 UHD, 16:9
• 4096x2048 4K, 2:1
• 4096x4096 Dual 4K, 1:1
• Custom 

NOTE: Resolutions or framerates exceeding the SDI card's capability will result in blank frames. Custom resolutions that are foreign to the installed SDI card will appear starting from the top-left corner of the first SDI output. File and RTMP output can support resolutions of up to 4096x4096.

Multiple audio output formats:

• Stereo 2.0
• Surround 5.1
• Surround 7.1
• Binaural
• Ambisonics (first-order)
• Pass Through (8ch 48kHz 24-bit)

Multiple audio formats and mixes can be outputed on SDI (a total of 8 channels maximum), via Dante (no limitation) or local sound card (number of channels depend on sound card).

Audio is an essential component of the immersive 360 video experience: While our eyes give us about 110°, or 170° if we turn our heads fully, our ears allow us a full 360° of immersion.

OZO Live contains an audio processing subsystem which can convert the 8 microphone signals from the OZO into a number of output formats. Standard output is at 48kHz, 24bit.

Encoder support:

• Encoded stream output, either as RTMP or .mp4 file output
• Custom resolution up to 4096x4096
• Native support for Facebook 360 Live broadcasts
• Support for h.264 baseline, main and high profiles. MP4 file output also support h.265 encoding
• Configurable video and audio bitrates
• Configurable GOP size
• Output monitoring via SDI or application preview while streaming

OZO Live is production format agnostic, and supports both 2D 360 and 3D 360 delivery.

Real time camera switching: Use multiple OZOs with standard video switchers / Standard 4K video output for easy integration into your existing workflow.

Production-grade reliability: Frame accurate, reliable and stable for hours upon hours at a time.

Capture events large and small: Scalable multi-camera support via standard workflows to broadcast events of any size.

Flexible Configuration

• Wide range of video output alternatives. SDI, RTMP and file (.mp4)
• Wide range of audio input alternatives. 8-ch via SDI input, Up to 128-ch via Dante or other sound cards.
• Wide range of audio output alternatives. 8-ch via SDI output, Up to 128-ch Dante or other local or other sound cards.
• SDI input timecode (SMPTE RP 188) pass through to SDI output. Runtime timecode on SDI outputs if no timecode on input.

Stitch Correction Features

• Automatic and Manual 3-point convergence adjustments along each vertical seam
• Automatic and Manual seam location and seam width control, per-seam
• Real-time variable-width multiband blending

Color Correction Features

• Convenient touch-friendly client-server based web application
• Per lens and global control of black level, white level, and gamma
• Illumination setting
• Static and temporal denoising
• Vignetting control
• Saturation and Hue control

Two Ways to Operate OZO Live

You can operate OZO Live either via a web browser or via the OZO Live Control App on your computer.

Web Browser Operation

The GUI provides easy control of the functionality of OZO Live, and has been tested on a range of browsers including Chrome, Firefox and Safari mobile. (note: OZO Live does not support Internet Explorer.)

To access the OZO Live GUI, point your web browser at the IP address of the OZO Live server.

• Ubuntu: You will see the IP address in your shell as the program launches
• Windows: Point your web browser to loalhost

FREE OZO Live Control App

The OZO Live Control app is a native helper application that runs on your PC or Mac, and can be downloaded for free from the OZO Software download page. (The OZO Live Control app downloads and installs automatically into the Nokia OZO directory when installing OZO Live for Windows)

Install the OZO Live control app on any of your networked computers to be able to access available OZO Live nodes without needing a web browser. OZO Live control app runs on Windows 7 or later, 32-bit or 64-bit version.

Inside the OZO Live GUI

Broadcast Tab - Provides access to basic settings for control of the OZO Live server. 

Multinode Licenses & Feature - Add the IP addresses of your servers and rename them. Node View alerts indicate the current status of your OZO Live system.

Under Multinode you can also use Multiview for the convenience of a multiview monitoring system on your desktop, including:

• Full Screenwidth
• Half Screenwidth
• Divide your screen into thirds
• Auto (this accommodates all chosen nodes with the height and width of your display screen)

System Workload Monitor - a visual indication of the load on OZO Live so you can avoid overloading your CPU/GPU, which might result in overheating, frame drops, and other anomalies. NOTE: High-end GPUs, such as the optional 1080 Ti/Titan can sustain more workload without dropping frames than lesser ones, such as the 1080/1070.

Audio Settings - Allows you to adjust your audio delay and gain. You can delay audio from -500ms to 3000ms.

Color - Enables control over color correction, white balance, denoising and sharpening. Adjustments are processed in real time. You can either color correct each lens or the entire visual frame. You can also modify and edit single channels or select the Link button to modify levels across 3x channels simultaneously.

Color correction tools include:

• Link - to modify and edit up to 3x channels simultaneously
• Illuminant - affects the white balance of your image. It is metadata carried within the image and does not modify the RAW file so you can modify the settings within OZO Live
• Video Filters - provides your colorist full control over the imge, iwthout the need for external color correction devices. Modifying filters include:
  • Denoising — Temporal denoising especially useful for dark sequences
  • Sharpening — Increase apparent resolution; but can cause artifacts. Start from 3; adjust from there.
  • Saturation — Go from bright color to moody monotone with one adjustment
  • Hue – Completely change your color pallette

Stitch - allows control of real-time stitching parameters, including blend width, convergence (double image) adjustment at three vertical places along the seam and digital pan.

Stitching Auto Tune creates an automatic stitch, which often does not need further modification, to speed up your workflow.

Audio for Live 360 - includes multiple audio solutions, including:

• Loudspeaker 2.0
• Loudspeaker 5.1
• Loudspeaker 7.1
• Binaural
• Ambisonics (first-order)
  • SDI: Output over the first 4 channels
  • RTP: Output as a 4-channel AAC-encoded stream
• Pass Through (8-channel, 48kHz, 24-bit)

Mixer - Similar to hardware mixing consoles. Provides global sound source controls (also available under Sound Sources Sidebar) and per-channel input gain trim control.

Includes these interfaces:

• Mix Column - status of your currently selected mix
• Live Stream Column - audio outputs of all mixes broadcasting currently
• Adjusting Gain - balance output formats of a single mix or multiple mixes, amount other Master Gain controls
• Mute and Solo - to adjust solo, mute, plus fader, gain, and peak level indicators
• Source Position Controls - supports full spatial audio
• Delay Setting - The time required to route and process the sound sources may vary among audio input devices. OZO Live currently supports values from -500 to 3000 milliseconds for mix outputs and and 0 to 3000 milliseconds for sound sources. Delay allows you to sync your audio with the OZO Live broadcast.
• Pass-Through Mixes and Sound Sources - While the purpose of OZO Live Audio is to create spatial audio mixes, in some cases it may also be desirable to connect sound sources directly to the output of the OZO Live server, bypassing any spatial processing. For example, your production may rely entirely on pre-recorded stereo soundtracks or 5.1 audio played from a DAW.

Position - Visually modify the elevation and azimuth angles of each sound source

Configuration Scenarios for How You Might Use OZO Live

One OZO, one encoder, external audio only:

• Create mix with external mixer
• Embed audio upstream of OZO Live
• Configure OZO Live for passthru

Multiple OZOs, OZO ambient audio only:

• Audio from OZO Live
• Switch audio along with camera
• Trigger scenes on mixer

Multiple OZOs, external audio only, unswitched:

• Separate mixes for each OZO
• Requires 6 output busses per OZO (This becomes your main constraint on the number of cameras you run)
• Embed audio upstream of OZO Live
• Configure OZO Live for passthru
• Delay not required

Multiple OZOs, ambient audio PLUS external audio mix:

• De-embed OZO audio downstream of OZO Live
• Delay all external audio by ~1 sec
• Separate fixed mixes for each OZO (mixing both ambient and external)
• 6 output busses required per camera
• Re-embed 5.0 audio downstream of the switcher
• Slave the audio mixer to the video switcher