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Garmin Virb 360 adds 5.7K RAW stitcher, 4.7K 60fps stitching, HyperFrame Director mode

Garmin Virb 360
Garmin Virb 360

Garmin has released a new version of the Virb Edit software for the Garmin Virb 360 that adds the ability to stitch RAW videos from the Virb 360 and adds a new feature called HyperFrame Director for reframing content.

How to stitch: If you have some unstitched RAW mode videos, just plug in your Virb 360 to import them into Virb Edit, Virb Edit automatically recognizes them and begins stitching them. The stitching is all automated and appears to be template based.

The stitched video does appear to have stabilization and other G-Metrix data. For the 5.7K RAW mode, the stitched resolution is 5.7K (5760 x 2880). The stitching also works for the slow motion 60fps mode, with a resolution of 4736 x 2496, which I believe is the highest fully spherical video resolution at 60fps for consumer 360 cameras.  (Update: note that each hemisphere has a resolution of 1760 x 1760, so the 4736 x 2496 resolution appears to be inflated.)

As for HyperFrame Director, it appears to let you create a 1080p video, with “angles.”  For each angle, you can change the pan, tilt or zoom (interestingly, there was no roll option).  Virb Edit will create smooth transitions between each angle.  Here is a video showing how HyperFrame works:

It is somewhat similar to Insta360 Studio, although imho Insta360 Studio is easier to use and in its current version, offers more types of perspectives than HyperFrame Director.  Nonetheless, this is a welcome feature.

Meanwhile, Garmin also released a firmware update (version 3.30) for the Virb 360. Among other things, version 3.30 adds night photo shooting mode (to enable slow shutter speeds), additional time lapse intervals, and improves the stitching at the zenith and nadir.

Garmin Virb 360 version 3.30 firmware update
Garmin Virb 360 version 3.30 firmware update

This is easily one of the most important updates to the Garmin Virb 360 and addresses several of the most requested features (especially the RAW stitching). I will try comparing the raw and normal video modes to see how much additional detail you can get, if any.

Thank you very much to Wiebe de Jager (360Shooter.nl) for bringing this to my attention!

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Mic Ty

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  • Will be interested to see how they have improved the zenith and nadir stitching. If I recall there were some “artifacts” at those points. If not for the low resolution photos from this camera it might be a contender for me. I look forward to your new review with the updated firmware.

    • Hi John. If you connect the Virb to your PC and then launch the Virb Edit app, it will automatically detect the virb and download the photos and videos. Any unstitched videos will also be stitched, and iirc that’s true for photos as well.
      Best regards,
      Mic

      • The stitching works for videos, but photos are not stitched when connecting Virb to PC and starting Virb Edit.

  • As a potentional purchaser I would like further details or reports on the qualty of the slow motion 60fps mode, with a resolution of 4736 x 2496 or is it really 3.5k as you report the 4736 x 2496 resolution appears to be inflated? Can this be played back at normal speed but 60fps what is the actual resolution?