360 Camera News and Info 3D

NAB Show 2017: Yi Halo 2nd Gen Google Jump 8K 3D 360 rig

At NAB Show, Yi Technology launched the Halo, a 360 camera capable of shooting at 3D 360 video at 8K.  Check out the sample 360 video!

Yi made several announcements at NAB Show 2017, but the two most significant were the announcement of the Yi 360 VR, a 5.7K 360 camera, and the Yi Halo, a Google Jump rig.  We’ve talked about the Yi 360 VR and showed samples here.  In this post, we’ll talk about the Yi Halo.

Last year, at the 2016 Google IO conference, Google announced that Yi Technology was creating a version of the Google Jump rig.  Everyone in the industry assumed that Yi’s Google Jump rig would be a lower-cost version of the first commercial Google Jump rig, the GoPro Odyssey.  Instead, the Yi Halo offers additional features for the same price as the Odyssey.

Here are the key specifications, highlighting differences from the GoPro Odyssey:
– video resolution: 8192 x 8192 @ 30fps or 5760 x 5760 @ 60 fps.
– sixteen Yi 4K cameras plus one up-camera.
touch control panel
live preview via mobile app
– realtime monitoring system alerts users to low battery, low memory card storage, or other issues.
– operates at temperatures up to 95F
– MSRP: $15,000

I saw the Yi Halo at NAB and it was more compact than I expected — it’s only 11.2 inches (28.7 cm) in diameter, and the unit weighs only 8 lbs. (3.6 kg), batteries included.  The kit fits in a Pelican 1610 case, which comes included.

 

Here is a sample video from the Yi Halo, in 8K 3D 360 (note: the YouTube setting says 8K 60fps, but a Yi representative said it is limited to 30 fps).  To view it in 3D, you will need Google Cardboard or a VR headset.

At 8K, the images are impressively rich and detailed.  Here is a crop:

The up-camera ensures a clean stitch even when looking directly upward.

The Yi Halo is fully compatible with the Google Jump assembler, which can stitch videos seamlessly even at very close distances.

Here is a 3D version (not yet corrected for distortion, which depends on the viewer / headset being used):

The Halo can also generate a depth map automatically.

The Yi Halo will be available late summer 2017.  Here is the official webpage.

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Mic Ty

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