Google Jump, a 360 camera system and processing software platform announced at last year’s Google I/O, is adding IMAX and Yi Technology to its roster of camera manufacturers.

Clay Bavor, Google’s VR team lead, took the stage during the I/O 2016 talk ‘VR at Google’ to tell the crowd about the company’s future addition to the Jump platform.

“Hollywood is asking us for a cinema-grade Jump camera. And we’re going to build them one – with IMAX,” Bavor told the crowd. “[IMAX] is going to be bringing their decades of experience, camera design, optics, sensors and more to Jump, and we’re incredibly excited what we’re going to do with them.”

google jump imax

Yi Technology, a China-based manufacturer, will also be using their 4k action cam in a new rig—presumably similar to Google’s 16 camera GoPro rig Odyssey. The Yi-built 360 camera system will be available later this year.

Yi’s current 4K action cam is priced at $249, half the MSRP of GoPro’s HERO4 Black.

This comes hot on the tails of Google’s big VR announcement surrounding Daydream, the company’s dedicated VR platform coming to a number of select smartphone manufacturers this fall.

Google is staying mum on any further details of the official Jump IMAX rig regarding content production partners, and have yet to reveal the camera system in question.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • bennymann

    360 picuture/videos must be in 3D for VR HMDs. It seems most of 360 media only is mono which is not that great of an experince.