Before we begin to see a massive takeoff in VR experiences, the cost of equipment which can record virtual reality style experiences needs to come down, in order for consumers to get in on the game. NAB is a show where new companies can show off their VR capabilities.
That said we’re not sure what to make of the $5,000 price tag that GoPro puts on its new Omni six camera spherical display. It’s certainly not cheap at a time when other companies are offering 360-degree (four camera) systems for as little as $360.
But given that GoPro talks about its Omni as a professional camera system, with which prosumers can make high-resolution virtual reality content, it sounds cheap. A single News Gathering Camera from someone like Sony kicks off at around $3,000 by comparison.
GoPro was also showing its Odyssey, panoramic stereoscopic 16-camera rig optimized to work with Google’s Jump VR Platform which came out 11 months ago. This is only a highly granular 360-degree system, which costs $15,000, and uses 16 Hero4 GoPro cameras in a rig. It was launched in September, for November shipment, capturing 8K spherical video at 30 frames per second.
But the Omni is new and is GoPro’s synchronized six-camera spherical array which has Kolor stitching software to produce continuous immersive content, allowing pixel-level synchronization between all six cameras. Again they are just simple Hero4 cameras which record at 8K and produce HD quality video as the final output.
It takes little imagination to think up something outrageous you could do with such a camera – stick it on a drone and have a VR experience of you flying for instance – and we’re sure that we are perhaps a year away from Virtual Reality film festivals, and perhaps two years from having VR upfront advertising campaigns. But before then, prices will have to come down still further, to create an audience that is able to watch the new VR content on smartphones with adapters.
GoPro will also introduce Custom Solutions at NAB which integrate camera technology and HEROCast, GoPro’s wireless HD micro transmitter, into products and systems used in professional productions. These are already used by MotoGP, MotoAmerica, the NHL, and the PGA TOUR.
Among other low end, consumer cameras produced at NAB included the new ALLie Camera from IC RealTech, a 360-degree everyday use camera which claims it is cheap enough to be used like a baby monitor or a home alarm, which starts around $600.