When Samsung approached me to take a technical long look at the Samsung 360 Round, my first reaction was ok sure, why not? It’s just another camera, right? I will just say it here right now — I was so wrong! The Samsung 360 Round isn’t just an amazing camera, it’s 17 amazing cameras in a very futuristic housing along with some advanced technologies that have redefined the 360 world. The level of attention to details by Samsung for the 360 Round is off the charts and something I can really appreciate.

From pre-production to final distribution, producing in 360 is a different animal. To really grasp this technology, you need to put aside your preconceived notions about production. I know that may seem like a bold statement but you will thank me after.

Josh Dixon, Senior Product Manager, VR and the guru on all things in the Samsung Round 360 universe, demonstrated all of the cool things this camera can do. Josh and the entire Samsung team was really focused on explaining, then demonstrating in detail what I can only describe as the holistic process of working in the entire 360 space…read more

With the growing popularity of virtual reality (VR), demand for 360 video production is also on the rise. Whether you run a video production company, you’re a marketer looking to create experiential brand content or you want to tap into the potential of VR for employee training, now is a great time to get the ball rolling on 360 video production.

Here are 10 reasons why you should invest in 360 video:

1. 360 Video Is More Engaging

360 video is immersive in nature, allowing the viewer to explore outside the frame and experience each story in a different way every time they view it. This immersive medium encourages viewers to explore. Compared to standard video, 360 videos can command more earned interactions, increase retention and have a lasting impact.

2. The VR Audience Is Growing

As VR reaches mainstream adoption, the 360 video viewing audience grows larger and larger. IDC forecasts 43 million VR headsets shipping annually by 2022. The price of VR headsets, such as the Samsung Gear VR, have come down significantly since early models were released, and new headsets are making it easier for consumers to afford and discover VR as first-time users.

3. 360 Video Is Easy to Distribute

Users can watch 360 video on any capable mobile device, with or without a VR headset. Viewers can simply move their phones to explore the 360 content, like a window to another world. It’s just as easy to view content on laptop and desktop computers, where you can click and drag to change the perspective of the 360 scene. The content can easily be adapted to all platforms and devices — it’s easy to shoot once and deploy to various platforms and devices. Tethered VR headsets and powerful computers are not required.

4. 360 Camera Tech Has Matured

360 cameras have become more affordable and easier to use at the consumer level. It’s easier than ever to shoot and stitch 360 footage with inexpensive entry-level cameras like the Samsung Gear 360. On the professional level, there are turnkey solutions for cinematic quality 360 video with bundled software for stitching and live streaming. Today’s 360 cameras give you the ability to live monitor everything you shoot, just as you would with a traditional video camera.

5. A Wealth of 360 Production Tools Are Available

Many of the top production software companies are jumping on the VR bandwagon by offering solutions for editing and applying effects to 360 video footage. VR support has come with offerings from Adobe, Final Cut, Foundry and Blackmagic Design, to name a few. Many of these tools are capable of working in both monoscopic and stereoscopic VR footage. There is also growing support from visual effects plugin makers for rotoscoping and compositing 360 video.

Professional grade 360 cameras like the Samsung 360 Round include full-featured software suites to guide every step of the creative process, from import, to stitching, to live broadcast. Many of these cameras can easily be added to existing production workflow with Ethernet and SDI connections.

7. VR Enables Immersive Experiential Marketing Campaigns

For destination marketing, 360 video and VR can take experiential marketing to the next level. This new medium is transportive, giving your viewer the next best experience to actually being there. Whether you aim to book vacations, find that perfect summer rental, or explore new and exciting tourist destinations, 360 video can take you there.

8. 360 Video Has Exciting Applications for Training

360 video can create immersive and distraction-free environments for trainees. Businesses in various industries can bring VR training to learners anywhere in the world, without the need for additional travel and personnel costs. Organizations can also eliminate risk by allowing learners to experience tasks before trying them in the real world.

9. 360 Video Is a Truthful Medium

There’s no better way to be transparent with your clients, shareholders and investors than to create facility tours in 360 video for VR. Corporate offices can dazzle new prospective hires with VR experiences in company culture. Potential buyers from all over the world can tour commercial propertieswithout having to get on a plane. Showing your state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in 360 video can help to persuade those clients who are on the fence.

10. 360 Video Can Be Delivered in Real Time

Advanced VR cameras like the Samsung 360 Round let you livestream immersive 3D 360 video in real-time, in 4K per eye resolution with minimal latency. You can broadcast directly to platforms like Samsung VR, YouTube, Facebook or through your own media servers.

Without a doubt, 360 video can be useful for just about every type of industry, and it’s one of the easiest ways for your organization to join the cutting edge. If you’re ready to begin producing content for this popular new medium, the time to start is now.

Ready to start creating content — or just curious to learn more? Download our free Ultimate Guide to 360 Video Production.

Click here to watch on YouTube.

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]

• 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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