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Lenovo mirage headset and VR180 camera at CES 2022, by David Cardinal

In their zeal to promote virtual reality, companies have introduced a slew of 360-degree cameras of various sizes and cost points. While some like the Ricoh Theta family unit and the Samsung 360 are much-loved past their owners, they haven't caught on in the mass market. Despite being aimed at creating immersive experiences, they besides aren't 3D. To get a expert 360-caste camera with full audio and 3D video means spending around $ane,000 or more and hauling around a tripod. And 360-degree capture besides means having to think virtually the unabridged scene — including where to hide yourself if y'all're not role of the action.

All that work and expense might be worth it if zillions of consumers were hungering for 360-caste experiences. But the non-gaming VR industry isn't turning out that way. Nigh users aren't all that interested in swiveling their neck effectually to see what's backside them, and don't accept enough space (or energy) to view VR content continuing up. It's also hard to know where to look in one case you offset moving your gaze effectually as well much.

Companies have finally realized they can address well-nigh of these issues by simply changing the designs of their consumer "VR Capture" cameras to 180-degree stereo (3D) instead of 360-caste mono (2d). At first it was just from startups similar LucidCam, which we covered at last yr's CES, but now a number of major players are jumping on the bandwagon. More chiefly, the format itself is getting some dear. YouTube has added support for what it calls VR180, specifically designed to suit 3D video covering just one hemisphere.

Google Puts Some Musculus Behind VR180

Google's new VR180 app is designed to make it easy to capture 3D, 180-degree images and transfer them to your phone and then the cloud.When Google start appear back up for a VR180 format earlier this year, at that place wasn't much to dorsum it up. At present, nonetheless Google has partnered with Lenovo, Yi, and LG on VR180-uniform cameras, and have also launched a new app for creating and viewing VR180 content. Google's dedicated VR180 application can both transfer your photos and videos from your VR180-compatible camera to your telephone, and also onward to Google Photos or YouTube. It even supports live streaming your experiences direct from your camera and phone.

Currently there are two VR180 cameras appear that support both the format and Google's Daydream VR initiative, from Lenovo and Yi. LG and Panasonic have been appear equally partners, only details aren't available on their cameras all the same. With this move Google has also created some confusion past adopting what is the generic name for 180-caste, 3D capture — VR180 — equally the name of its initiative that includes a specific format, tools, and co-marketing.

Lenovo's Delusion Camera With Daydream

Lenovo's Mirage camera is very compact, but doesn't sport the LCD of Yi's versionCapitalizing on the momentum Google has been building for Daydream — its entry-level VR ecosystem — Lenovo has introduced a 3D wide-angle betoken-and-shoot camera that is compatible with Google'southward VR180 format and app. It features wireless upload to your Google Photo or YouTube accounts, making the creation of VR content easier than it's ever been — no stitching or tagging required. The  unit'due south two cameras are 13MP with full 180-caste-by-180-degree field of view. Yous get a choice of recording video at upwards to 4K, nevertheless images, or alive streaming.

The device is tiny, weighing in at but 139 grams, so you can have it with you anywhere. Equally a squeamish touch, the Mirage starts with 16GB of on-board memory (especially helpful if you forget to put a card in it before running out for the day), and supports a microSD upwards to 128GB for additional storage. It tin upload and stream straight to the spider web using its built-in Wi-Fi. There is likewise an LTE-enabled version. Both versions use Qualcomm'southward 626 SoC, which offers integrated dual-camera back up. You tin get about two hours of continuous recording, and the battery is removable, and so heavy users will presumably be able to stock spares. Lenovo is working hard to make VR content creation affordable, and says it will exist selling the Mirage camera for nether $300.

You can't see it from the front, but the Yi Horizon has a flip-around LCD screen which is helpful for framing.

Yi Horizon VR180 Photographic camera

Chinese camera company Yi has pushed its new cameras VR180 specs fifty-fifty further, to 5.7K resolution at 30fps. It too has a pretty cool 2.2-inch affect screen and a four-microphone design for audio. I but got a brief opportunity to play with the photographic camera, and didn't have a chance to shoot any video. Information technology seems like a good design, with a swiveling LCD that provides for framing of those ever-so-important selfies (I'm more than than a bit skeptical that people will await their best when posing two feet in forepart of a 180-degree stereo camera, but I'm sure nosotros'll encounter plenty of it done). Unlike the Lenovo camera, the Yi Horizon uses the new Ambarella H2V95 chipset. Like the other VR180 cameras, the Yi is expected to ship in the spring, although pricing wasn't part of the declaration.

Volition VR180 Rescue VR or Wallow Like 3D Television set?

Information technology 's still early on days for VR180. It's also like shooting fish in a barrel to encounter why camera makers want information technology to succeed. The traditional action camera market seems to be saturating, and the point-and-shoot market place has pretty much been wiped out by the smartphone. If aught else, VR180 seems like a superior format to 2D capture for anyone already creating action videos. However, every bit standalone devices, VR180 cameras cost near as much equally a midrange phone. So, for the format to actually catch on, it will need to become role of future phone designs. There is no reason it can't, since many phones already spend the coin for ii cameras. Supporting VR180 would probably mean moving them farther apart, and greatly increasing the video processing bandwidth, only eventually those will be possible. It would also hateful coming to terms with field-of-view-versus-resolution tradeoffs.

The bigger question is whether the additional effort is justified for viewers. Sure, Daydream headsets are inexpensive, and Paper-thin is even cheaper, but they're both a lot more work that merely looking at a screen. It'due south possible an even simpler solution similar second 180 might catch on. Perchance smartphones with one traditional photographic camera and one 180-degree camera, so viewers could look at what you're shooting, but also have the ability to move around the scene using the wide-bending stream.