Technological Trends to Look Out for in 2017 Episode 2: 360 Video
Now onto this week’s thoughts on Virtual Reality, specifically the use of 360 degree video.
If you’ve ready any of my previous blogs regarding VR or have seen my VR Whitepaper, you will already have some knowledge of what 360 video is, but for those who haven’t had the pleasure in doing so yet, a basic description is that it is a video recording where an omnidirectional camera records in every direction at the same time. During playback the viewer is fully immersed in the spot the recording was made, the panoramic feature allows you to scroll around to see the surroundings, or using a VR headset with a gyroscopic sensor the viewer turns their head to look around them, seeing the whole environment exactly as it was recorded.
VR viewers are becoming more and more available, but content is key! Everbody and their grandmother has been on a VR rollercoaster (producing some incredibly funny youtube videos, may I add!) but what we’re seeing more and more of is people filming events, shows even football matches in 360 degree video. One thing that helped me pick 360 video for this list was the fact that you were able to view the London 2016/17 New Year’s fireworks in 360 degrees. This wasn’t created and put out there by some start up tech-company; this was broadcasted by the BBC, which only reinforces my views on how big I think this is going to be this year, so look out for more 360 videos coming your way!
Last year in the promotional industry we saw an increased interest in ‘Google cardboard’ style headsets, these theoretically work fantastically in the promotional market because the whole item is printable, thus providing a blank canvas for branding. Whilst saying this, this year we are noticing suppliers seem to be concentrating more on the high end side of VR viewers, finding new and better ways for people to enjoy the experience in a more comfortable manner, rather than it just being a handheld device. Although these are more expensive then the cardboard option it does go to show, in the promotional industry the selection of quality over price definitely has it’s time and place, with this being one of them.
360 Video is a fantastic concept, now if you combine this with the technology virtual reality brings, alongside the upcoming trend in the next blog, you have life changing tech at the tip of your fingers.