Softseed: The future of Immersive Reality in entertainment

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Image credit: DFL

Softseed is a rapidly growing global Software as a service (SaaS) company with a diverse team of top developers – and their goal is to create Virtual Reality (VR) and Immersive Reality (IR) technology for consumers to broadcast events.

The company was established as recently as 2013 by three founders in Berlin who had an academic and media background.

They now have three locations that the company work out of: Berlin (Head Office), Bangkok (Product Development) and Palma de Mallorca (Sales & Distribution).

The Berlin-based start-up have three products (PLAIGROUND®, LOKI® and RE-PLAY®) based off this ever popular technology that allows people around the globe to enjoy their favourite content not as a spectator but to be right in the middle of it.

The company mentions the fact that Immersive Reality is the future of the entertainment industry because of its data processing speed and its sustainability compared to other similar technologies.

Products:

PLAIGROUND®

PLAIGROUND® is a cutting-edge, proprietary software solution designed to deliver live Immersive Reality experiences to the mass market. This patented solution is based on a novel 3DIR codec which execs said was an adaptation of the MV-HEVC codec, a Multiview extension of HEVC, developed by Fraunhofer ISS and for which Softseed is a test partner.

The technology sets the standard in innovation and performance, offering unmatched colour depth, frame rate, motion clarity, noise reduction, and resolution.

With extremely low latency, PLAIGROUND® ensures consistent 10K 3D stereoscopic quality at over 90Hz and a minimum of 30fps at a bitrate of 100mbit and 10-bit colour depth. This advanced technology is ideal for ultra-fast sports and music events that demand flawless live streaming as part of an individualised Immersive Reality experience.

LOKI®

LOKI® is the world’s first cloud-based Virtual-IR-Receiver, using AI-powered computing to process, encrypt, and adapt IR data for personalised playback on any device.

LOKI® can convert 2D video into native 3D in real-time, creating smooth, immersive 360° 3D video in 8K resolution—even from lower-quality input. Additionally, it seamlessly combines two 180° 3D video streams into a single 360° 3D image at 8K or 10K resolution.

RE-PLAY®

RE-PLAY® is an advanced software solution designed to monetise live event replays for a wider audience.

Exclusively on the Apple Vision Pro, RE-PLAY® delivers stunning 11K 3D stereoscopic quality, up to 90fps, with a 500MB/s bitrate and 10-bit colour depth. All of this includes a 360° camera and multiple angles that allows viewers to watch however they would like.

This system works with top tier audio and video devices ensuring a smooth, immersive experience that is perfect for sporting and musical events.

Involvement in 2024 German Supercup

Softseed featured in the 2024 German Supercup between Leverkusen and Stuttgart. Germany’s annual curtain-raiser in Leverkusen was the German Football League’s (DFL’s) latest chance to show off its innovative side.

The 30,000-seat BayArena was the scene for the DFL to deliver the world’s first 10K resolution VR live stream of a football match in partnership with Berlin-based tech start-up Softseed.

Fans were able to watch a 360-degree, 10K resolution stream of the SuperCup, with the stream providing a view for users that was as if they were standing in the stadium. Multiple perspectives were offered in the live trial and the Apple Vision Pro was used as the product to showcase this technology.

The 10K live stream had a latency of under 35 seconds, a remarkably short timeframe given one terabyte of data per minute is being processed. It provided a look-in to the potential future of how fans watch a streamed game.

Conclusion

Softseed Technologies have created groundbreaking technology which, even in its infancy, is proving to be a potential game-changer in how sports and music events are viewed using Immersive and Virtual reality.

It is a unique product that is proving successful and the technology is almost certainly going to be licenced by large sporting or music organisations in the near future.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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