Robbie Ferguson is a local guy, but his reach online is growing by the thousands.
Ferguson owns Category5 Technology TV, an augmented reality show, which started as a technical support business in 2007.
"It was designed as a way for people to get free technical support. In its infancy, we started up a YouTube channel, although it (YouTube) didn't exist yet and was just starting up," Ferguson tells BarrieToday. "We had a video channel that was designed for people to do Q-and-As surrounding technology."
Category5 Technology TV has shifted its production and become an entertainment show, of sorts, and the Barrie-based business has removed physical constraints of a traditional studio environment. It's now in its 15th season online.
The channel has around 33,000 subscribers and is growing every day.
Category5 Technology TV uses software originally designed for virtual reality, places its actors into simulated 3D environments without the space requirements and cost of physical sets, nor the limitations of traditional green screen.
Ferguson said Season 15 is significantly different from the previous seasons, as they were shot as a weekly live broadcast.
“Now we are more like a television show, where you sit down and watch it; it isn’t live, but rather fully produced,” Ferguson says.
Ferguson, 42, came to Barrie when he was 18 for a job in radio and says broadcasting has always been a passion for him. While he believes that is what led him to start this broadcast show of his own, he didn’t expect this type of success.
“I had such a desire to be back in broadcasting that I used that platform to be able to help me in tech,” Ferguson says. “That's the initial evolution of the show, but where we are now is so far beyond anything we could have ever imagined or anything I believe has ever been done before, just because our hand was forced due to the pandemic.
"It made us have no choice but to do something different.”
The show has Ferguson and his co-host, along with other guests, discussing all things tech and all from different locations, though due to the technology behind it, you’d never know. The software used in Category5 Technology TV is Unreal Engine, which has its roots in 3D video game creation.
Ferguson says it has been re-shaping the movie and television industries in recent years, allowing video productions studios to place actors on virtual sets, with big-budget productions such as The Mandalorian and The Matrix Resurrections utilizing the advanced technology on a grand scale.
More than 160 major motion pictures and episodic television programs have also adopted the production framework, he says. In 2022, Unreal Engine is poised to have a profound impact on how video is produced for YouTube.
While we hear of big tech giants talk about switching the online experience from being in front of a screen and moving into virtual reality and feel that is far-fetched, Ferguson says we’re already there.
“Remember, 20 years ago virtual reality was a concept in sci-fi movies, and now for $500 you can have a fully immersive gaming experience,” Ferguson says.
Ferguson and his team continued to produce educational content for YouTube throughout the first two years of the pandemic, though less frequently than in the past.
The Season 15 pilot episode of Category5 Technology TV aired on Feb. 23 and is available on their YouTube channel, bringing four real-world actors to the scene, one of whom was located in New York.
