NextComputing will be using the Samsung 360 Round camera to demo their new units.  The software used to the stitching and live streaming is all provided by NextComputing so if you want the most out of your 360 Round, you need one of these computers to go with it.  But NextComputing isn’t just looking to enhance the live aspect of 360-degree video, they also have extensive post-production utilities allowing users to use the 360 Round in a multitude of purposes.  For anyone interested in 360-degree video on a small or grand scale, seek out the information from NextComputing or better yet, head to Vegas for NAB 2018 and see for yourself!

The NextComputing units on display and being demonstrated are:

Radius Live

A portable, all-in-one workstation with integrated 17-inch HD display and dual NVIDIA GPUs, capable of stitching and live streaming a single 360 Round camera at maximum 4K 3D quality. This system can simultaneously stream online and output over 6G-SDI, as well as perform offline stitching and post-production.

Radius Edge

A slim portable, all-in-one workstation with integrated 17-inch HD display with a single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPU. The Radius Edge is the ideal “laptop replacement” system for offline stitching and post-production of 360 Round footage, more powerful than any laptop on the market.

Nucleus 2U

A compact, short-depth 2U rackmount server for live stitching with dual GPUs and redundant power, designed for flypacks and server room installations where portability is not required.

 

Multi-Camera Rackmount System

A complete multi-camera live production solution in two (2) 14U rolling rack cases. This turnkey system enables live switching and streaming of up to four (4) Samsung 360 Round cameras in full 4K 3D, as well as graphics and HD video overlays, multiview monitoring, Dante audio mixing, and 4G LTE uplink.

Kyt Dotson with SiliconANGLE spoke with two VR insiders Jon “Neverdie” Jacobs from Neverdie Studios and Dipak Patel co-founder and CEO of Zeality Inc. about the future VR has and what’s to be expected in 2018.  They both seem optimistic of the technological advances that will be making virtual reality easier to acquire.  A lot of 360-degree equipment to produce and watch virtual reality content is as of right now pretty pricey.  But as the demand grows the price will naturally come down and now the innovations for the devices are finally meeting to allow more users to access the equipment.

As for right now, producing virtual reality and 360-degree video is in the present.  With many camera and housing setups like the 360Rize Yi 360Orb and the affordable YI 360 VR Camera available now, novice filmmakers and content creators can get a hold of this technology now.  For those more experienced and ambitious, the Samsung 360 Round Camera is the best option for those serious about diving into virtual reality.  The diversity in the technology in these products plus the experience levels being met by the manufacturers, this is proof that virtual reality content will only grow.

The year 2018 may be the start of VR hitting the mainstream as headsets come into their second generation and will become cheaper, lighter and easier to use. Head-mounted displays released from Facebook Inc.’s Oculus VR, HTC Corp. and Sony Corp. in 2016 and 2017 can cost anywhere from $400 to $800, which is a barrier to wide adoption.

“I don’t expect the headsets to fly off the shelves,” Patel told SiliconANGLE, imagining a ramp-up in the market. “Rather, I see steady but small growth within the video game community driving the majority of it. They will get smaller and more consumer-friendly.”

“I predict constant progress with the technology, which is going to make it sexier and sexier,” Jacobs told SiliconANGLE, “in particular ‘inside-out’ and ‘eye tracking’ for VR.”

The concept of “inside out” tracking is that VR headsets can keep track of orientation and position in space – basically how a VR game or environment would allow a user to look around and move around. With inside-out tracking, the headset determines its own position with sensors without the need for a room to be outfitted with extra hardware and sensors.

Eye tracking, in particular, will be fundamental to VR technology in 2018. This is because rendering a VR experience even, on tiny screens near the eyes, takes a lot of computer power. That limits how games, entertainment and apps that can be written.

The year 2018 also has something else weird going for it: more movies that use VR as a foundation for the plot such as “Ready Player One,” expected to release in March. “Ready Player One” posits a dystopian future, a world wrecked by an energy crisis, in which much of the world is wired in to virtual reality, and VR is the way people interact, play games and experience entertainment….[continue reading]

…Watching video from this camera through the Gear VR left an immediate impression regarding how high quality the optics are on this new camera…

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• 17 cameras with 1/2.8-inch, 2MP image sensor and f/1.8 Lens

• Six internal microphones with support for two external mics

• LAN or USB-C connectivity

• 10GB of RAM and 40GB of internal memory

• Up to 2TB SSD, up to 256GB SD card

• Weighs 1.93kg, or 4.25 pounds

• 19V, 21.1A power input

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The live aspect of events has yet to be replaced by any major medium.  Concerts are recorded and major sporting events can be seen live on television but nothing replaces seeing an event live.  The same can be said for many festivals and live events that may not be broadcast in other ways.  That’s where the phenomenon of live streaming media has come into play.  With festivals like Coachella, Global Citizen and Panorama, live streaming technology is to bring these to viewers who can’t attend for any number of reasons.  But is this a good thing?  Does this take anything away from the “live” aspect?  Will this deter people from attending these festivals since they no longer have to?  These are among the many questions and concerns with integrating live streaming media into the festival world.  But if anyone has any actual reservations they’re too late anyway.  Many of these festivals have already started doing it and benefiting from the revenue potential.  The obvious consequence is the commercialization of these events but everything comes with a price.  The promoters are able to make the festivals bigger and better and benefit from they’re growing popularity.  And in the immediate study of these events being streamed live attendance has not decreased.  With these streams becoming more and more advanced and with 3D, 360VR and Augmented Reality coming into the fold we can only watch and see how the festival crowds react but they’re likely to remain the same or grow.

Livestreaming is an intrinsic part of nearly every festival today. From nonprofits like Global Citizen to festival cash kings like Panorama, the industry embraced livestreaming full audio and visual with open arms. This summer, Coachella live streamed three stages with more than 60 acts, garnering 9 million online viewers. With ads on the sides of the screen and popping up in between acts, there’s fortune to be from the millions of music festival followers.

But livestreaming wasn’t always sought after — festival organizers worried it was too expensive and consumers would begin to only attend virtually. At the start of the industry’s foray into live video, only a few people like John Petrocelli, the co-founder of BullDog Digital Media, understood its potential for profit.

Livestreaming events entice viewers by sparking the psychological stressor of the internet age — FOMO. Live streams of festivals and concerts have a largely millennial audience that spends an average of 24 minutes with each stream. And with 77% of Americans owning smartphones, it’s easier than ever to be a part of the conversation around festivals from miles away. After seeing a livestream of an event and familiarizing themselves with a brand, consumers are more likely to attend in person in the future….[continue reading]

Have you experienced live 360-degree videos?  If you have it’s probably from a concert or a sporting event you couldn’t get to in person.  Now Facebook is getting in on the act with announcing their Live 360 Ready Program.  With the help from Wowza Streaming Cloud services, now you can stream live 360-degree videos yourself for Facebook Live.  For content creators this is an amazing opportunity to work with 360 video technology and get instant feedback from those watching.  For viewers, here is another way to enjoy the technological advances just that much easier.

The recent rise of 360º video allows viewers to be virtually transported to a live event, such as a sporting event, concert or political rally. But to feel like you’re there, you need the highestquality possible. Resolution is critical when you need to show depth of field, crystal-clear images and rich color. Facebook has already led other platforms in playback innovations with its cube-mapping and pyramid-projection technology. Now, with the support of 4K content, Facebook gives content creators the ability to deliver breathtaking experiences to the world’s largest audience….[continue reading]

The holographic display is, according to Jim Jannard, “incredible. It is multi-view (4-view) as compared to stereo 3D (2-view). Watching shocked faces light up when people see it is really motivating. There is no good way to describe it until you see it. Hopefully we will get some skeptics eyes on it soon… then they can tell you.”

Right now, still following the information provided by RED and Jim Jannard, we know the smartphone “also comes with internal storage and an external micro SD card slot. And a headphone jack. A selfie camera and a back camera. These cameras will not produce cinema quality images. No cell phone does. What we will have is a modular system that adds image quality well beyond any other camera short of our professional cameras.”

Is HYDROGEN ONE a viable product? I do not have many doubts about it. On one side, we’ve the fact that this modular product will be part of RED’s cinema cameras system, used for everything from controlling cameras to image monitor, as many smartphones already do. So, there is no reason to doubt that RED has covered those aspects already, even if only in conceptual form, and only needs to put them together to introduce a new tool within its own ecosystem, which will, like a Transformer, able to shape shift into different things, from a DSLR-like camera to a not yet imagined cinema camera.

What many doubt is the ability of the smartphone to be a holographic display. In fact, the industry has been after the holographic dream for some time now, and although you can create a simple holographic-like display with a plastic prism placed over your smartphone, we’re not there yet in terms of the holographic concept as we dream it. But we’re getting closer, have no doubt.

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Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

For example, an employee is using smart glasses as they examine a system in a remote location. The diagnostic information that shows up in their field of vision indicates the system is not working properly. Customized repair instructions based on the machine’s service and performance history pop up, along with insights gleaned from the broader equipment fleet and the manufacturer. Because the IT worker’s training records indicate the required procedure is beyond their certification level, a skilled technician at a different location connects to the worker’s glasses and can see what this worker sees. The off-site technician then guides the worker through the repair process. This example can be applied to similar scenarios across various industries because MR provides the ability to deliver actionable information to any location where work is done –in the office, on the shop floor or out in the field.

Ultimately, mixed reality may transform how we interact with technology. We’ve already moved from “point, click and type” to “touch, tap and swipe.” MR opens the door for “talk, look and gesture”– game-changing communication and collaboration paradigms that operate in concert with humans’ natural behavior patterns. The ability to grab information from the objects around us — and for that information to respond to our visual and physical cues — will change the way in which we consume and prioritize our work.

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It seems, for at least the time being, that technology can move forward by taking a step back.  Who knew that something like this was possible?  Well, it’s not that crazy of an idea, just an alteration of a basic principle.  By now everyone has been introduced to 360 VR videos and entertainment, but Google is looking to cut that in half by launching a 180-degree video format called VR180.  Technology has always moved faster than the artists using the devices needed, but the gap with 360-degree video is much shorter.  Google is working with companies like Yi, Lenovo, and LG to produce these cameras, some of which have already created 360-degree cameras of their own.  The idea is similar to VR360, but by cutting the view this allows filmmakers and crew to avoid having to hide in their shots to move ahead with production.  Perhaps this innovation might allow creators of 360-degree video the ability to produce similar looking material, but without the hassles of that type of productions.  By taking this step back, this might open up different ideas for technological advances with VR-type entertainment.

As the name suggests, VR180 videos don’t stretch all the way around a viewer in VR. They’re supposed to be immersive if you’re facing forward, but you can’t turn and glance behind you. Outside VR, they’ll appear as traditional flat videos, but you can watch them in 3D virtual reality through the YouTube app with a Google Cardboard, Daydream, or PlayStation VR headset.Creators can shoot the videos using any camera with a VR180 certification. Google’s Daydream team is working with the three companies above, and the first of their VR180 products are supposed to launch this winter, at roughly the same price as a point-and-shoot camera.

So far, the only image we’ve seen is the one above, a line drawing of Lenovo’s design. It appears to have two wide-angle lenses that can shoot stereoscopic video, and it’s a far cry from the expensive alien orbs that we often see in VR film shoots.

Moving toward 180-degree instead of full 360-degree video has a few big advantages. It doesn’t need the same time-consuming (and often expensive) stitching as videos made with, say, Google’s 360-degree Jump system. You can put a person behind the camera without them appearing in the shot — in full 360-degree videos, filmmakers often literally hide behind objects during a scene. And it could push down file sizes, so viewers are less likely to get annoying buffering gaps while they’re streaming…[continue reading]