GoPro Reveals First 360 Degree Video Shot with New Odyssey VR Camera

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GoPro’s ‘Odyssey’ VR camera camera is on its way with early access being given to selected directors soon. And, to whet the creative appetites of filmmakers everywhere, GoPro have released this beautiful time-lapse 360 degree film featuring the sights of New York City to demonstrate the new camera’s prowess.

Featuring footage captured in 360 degrees using GoPro’s recently new Odyssey VR camera, set to leverage the stitching pipeline of Google’s ‘Jump’ video assembler, this new short film shows the breathtaking possibilities of cinematic VR as a medium.

Set around New York city, the film puts you at and in various landmarks throughout the area. The film is directed by New York born and bred photographer Neil Britto and takes you on an immersive journey exploring his favourite sights throughout the city. From stunning cityscape vistas to more intimate landmark scenes, the film demonstrates what a difference being surrounded by such scenes makes to a films power to engage the viewer.

Although the Odyssey is capable of capturing stereoscopic spherical video, YouTube only supports monoscopic spherical footage for the time being, so the video above is not 3D. We expect to see a 3D version of the footage once YouTube adds support as promised.

The GoPro 16 Camera 'Odyssey' Rig
The GoPro 16 camera ‘Odyssey’ rig

GoPro’s Odyssey comprises a rig packed with 16 GoPro Hero Black cameras, capable of capturing footage in stereoscopic 3D, and the film serves as a usual glimpse at the quality the new rig will offer when paired with Google’s Jump assembler pipeline, announced at Google’s I/O conference back in May. The combination of hardware and software is reportedly capable of producing stereoscopic (over-under) footage up to 8k x 8k (600 Mbit/s bitrate), which should ensure fidelity is up to the challenges posed by 360 filming.

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See Also: GoPro ‘Odyssey’ VR Camera Priced at $15,000, First Shipments to Select Creators in November

The $15,000 Odyssey suite will be released in limited numbers to creators in November and represents a concerted effort to capture a piece of a potentially major market in the professional immersive video capture space.

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Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • David Mulder

    This seems quite… Unimpressive without the addition of the JUMP stitching. Like isn’t the entire point that this should be able to render stereoscopic content at any angle… Why would you then release a video that is unable to do that? Oh well, guess Google really is taking it’s sweet time.