How Display Shapes Affect 360-Degree Panoramic Video Communication

Field-of-view limitation has been a long-standing issue in video communication systems. With the advancement of omnidirectional panoramic technology, the omnidirectional camera, which can provide a 360° field of view, has become increasingly popular in the last few years. Previous research indicated that one-way video communication systems with a wider field of view improve task efficiency. Therefore, we propose to utilize omnidirectional cameras in a symmetrical video communication system and study how this configuration affects remote collaboration. In this study, we conducted experiments based on two conditions, which are an omnidirectional camera with a spherical display and an omnidirectional camera with a horizontally placed 2D flat display. Under these conditions, we analyzed how the display types affected remote collaboration. Our results show that participants marginally preferred the spherical display to the 2D flat display. We also show the advantages and disadvantages of each display. The findings contribute to our understanding of how to design an environment for remote collaboration that captures and shows a 360° panoramic view of a remote site.