Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is heading towards a new standard in VR (Virtual Reality) capture technology as it has partnered with Yi Technologies and IMAX. Through its Jump VR division, Google will join forces with Yi Technologies to develop an action camera. In addition to with IMAX to create a cinema-oriented camera.
Jump VR is an important player in the industry of VR video recording as GoPro has already announced its allegiance towards the company. It is known that important firms such as Paramount Pictures and Discovery Networks were allowed to make use of the new hardware developed in Jump VR technology.
The latest in VR recording
The camera is able to capture footage from several points of view which is then joined with each other. Therefore creating a single file that can be viewed in 360 perspective. It is much alike the already announced Odyssey, a disc shaped device that held 16 GoPro cameras together.
The new 360 cameras are supposed to produce video that can be watched on VR headsets, which have become an important trend in the market as Facebook, Google, Samsung and many other tech companies have chosen to launch their own headset.
It seems that both Google and Facebook are aware that VR technology will be a major player in the future of computing technology and interaction. As of now, Google is dominating the VR camera market due to the unveiling of its Odyssey project, which then translated into Jump VR.
IMAX’s opportunity
There are already several companies developing camera rigs that are able to capture 360 footage. Kodak is one of the most notable in this area, but none of these are capable of capturing depth just like a regular camera. That’s the reason why Google has decided to join forces with film making giant IMAX.
It is not just creating the camera what’s difficult, but to yield a piece of footage that can be interpreted by a compiler is also a complicated task. As it was mentioned, the new cameras developed by Google will have to record and then stitch the video together, which means that the camera is performing an editing task as it is recording new footage.
One of the obstacles of VR recording is that it is easily able to make people nauseous when shot incorrectly. Or when the user is viewing the footage through a poor-quality VR headset. Facebook is afraid of this issue because they want their users to post 360-perspective videos on their feed. But it will still be a long time until VR recordings become a casual task able to be accomplished by anyone.
Source: The Verge