4 ms·

It's a shame there's so little info on this page. There are several articles about this from various tech news sites[1][2] (there are a bunch more, but I'm not

It's a shame there's so little info on this page. There are several articles about this from various tech news sites[1][2] (there are a bunch more, but I'm not gonna link to all of them). If you want to try it out yourself, here's a playlist of videos on YouTube that are all "3D 180": https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLN_4SqVDVM7jCAt9RPKNrOzpa8FDhFxWp&v=xtjs5mUxpFk https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLN_4SqVDVM7jCAt9RPKNrOzp... One of the general ideas of this "VR 180" format is that it gives you a lot of the immersion of 360 video, but it's a lot easier for creators to use (you can still put all your equipment (lighting, sound, etc.) behind the camera and not worry about it being in the shot). The cameras capture 180(ish) degrees of view. When played on the web or iOS or Android, it will play/look like a normal video (with maybe a bit of a wide lense). But if you use a headset, then you can look around a little more and get the "VR immersion" experience. [1]: https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/22/youtube-chops-360-video-in-half-with-new-vr180-format/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/22/youtube-chops-360-video-in... [2]: https://www.wired.com/story/youtube-vr180-virtual-reality/ https://www.wired.com/story/youtube-vr180-virtual-reality/ Disclaimer: I work at YouTube and did some of the iOS work for this. I do not represent my employer in any way, and this post is just a personal note of mine.

prawn 9y ago
But what's the product? Is it that headmount thing they slide the phone into? Or is that Daydream? The cameras seem to be a separate thing arriving later, so it's not those. Or is it just the idea of trying to build a standard for 180 degree videos as opposed to static or 360? I'm often quite surprised that a massive company with such competent staff can overlook detail on a public announcement site. Surely the very first bit should be a statement about what's on offer?
- cornstalks 9y ago
  That "headmount thing they slide the phone into" is actually a Daydream[1], I'm pretty sure. The VR 180 "product" (that you can purchase) is, as far as I know, the cameras that are in development. However, there are a few other things that the VR 180 announcement covers: - Ingest support for VR 180 to YouTube's servers. The servers can now ingest, process, and serve VR 180 videos. - Player support for VR 180. YouTube clients now know how to handle (and play) 180-degree content. In the past you could just take a 360 equirectangular video and chop it in half and call it 180. But you couldn't upload it to YouTube and play it back, since it would try wrapping it to 360 still, and it would look wrong. So this announcement covers a few things: server support, client support, and new dedicated cameras for 180-degree content. [1]: https://vr.google.com/daydream/ https://vr.google.com/daydream/ (Edit: my comment about about the lack of content is now outdated, since the URL for this submission has now been changed to the Google blog post. The original URL was https://vr.google.com/vr180/ https://vr.google.com/vr180/)

prawn 9y ago

But what's the product? Is it that headmount thing they slide the phone into? Or is that Daydream? The cameras seem to be a separate thing arriving later, so it's not those. Or is it just the idea of trying to build a standard for 180 degree videos as opposed to static or 360? I'm often quite surprised that a massive company with such competent staff can overlook detail on a public announcement site. Surely the very first bit should be a statement about what's on offer?

cornstalks 9y ago
That "headmount thing they slide the phone into" is actually a Daydream[1], I'm pretty sure. The VR 180 "product" (that you can purchase) is, as far as I know, the cameras that are in development. However, there are a few other things that the VR 180 announcement covers: - Ingest support for VR 180 to YouTube's servers. The servers can now ingest, process, and serve VR 180 videos. - Player support for VR 180. YouTube clients now know how to handle (and play) 180-degree content. In the past you could just take a 360 equirectangular video and chop it in half and call it 180. But you couldn't upload it to YouTube and play it back, since it would try wrapping it to 360 still, and it would look wrong. So this announcement covers a few things: server support, client support, and new dedicated cameras for 180-degree content. [1]: https://vr.google.com/daydream/ https://vr.google.com/daydream/ (Edit: my comment about about the lack of content is now outdated, since the URL for this submission has now been changed to the Google blog post. The original URL was https://vr.google.com/vr180/ https://vr.google.com/vr180/)