Still wishing for a 360˚ camera like many cheapies that already exist so that one can capture not just a patch of spatial out in front but the entire scene all around the camera. Then Vpro or Oculus, etc wearer can look wherever they want to look and see what is beyond the edges of this kind of limited view.
If anyone is not quite getting the concept, think about the contrast between watching a sporting event on television vs. being there in person. On television, you watch what some director chooses for you. If they opt to focus the view on a spot on the field, that's ALL you are able to see too. If you are there in person, you can look wherever you want, whenever you want. Want to see what's up on the scoreboard right now, look up there. Hear a crazy fan over to the left? Look over there to see them. Possible UFO over the right field roof? Have a look.
Spatial delivers this little patch of view out in front, most like 3D TV... where the person shooting the video is basically controlling what viewers will be able to see. The 360˚ camera lets the viewer decide what they want to see. For example (one of seemingly countless VR360 videos on YouTube)...
Click in the video and drag around to look in
different directions: left, right, up, down, behind you. In Vpro or Oculus, instead of clicking & dragging, you just look in those directions.
The iPhone camera option is better than nothing but still thinking in a somewhat 2D mentality (viewer will watch on a virtual TV screen window, limited range of view chosen by the iPhone owner) instead of 3D (viewer will be as close to being there as possible, with the world all around them and able to look
anywhere to see what is there).
Take another look at the picture in post #1. She's capturing the 2 people playing music and maybe a bit of the friend(?) reading the book. How about other friends further left or right? What if there is a pod of dolphins leaping in the ocean to her immediate left? Everyone there might quickly look to see the dolphins. However, virtual viewers will only see them if she pans that phone over to capture them too. If she's slow, you'll miss them. If this was a 360˚ capture, you could look at the dolphins as fast as anyone else on the beach is looking. Look at the musicians out front, look left to see the dolphins, look behind you to see what's happening back there, look skyward to see some flying contraption overhead.
You choose what to see instead of the cameraperson.
IMO, this is the
ideal way to video capture for Vpro... and I easily imagine services such as sporting events, concerts, shows, etc shot this way so that those who can't actually be there can opt for something better than watching on a 2D television (window) but not quite as rich as physically being there. NFL ST VR, NBA Courtside VR, Olympics VR, NCAA VR, Broadway Shows VR, etc. Would this work for something like sports? Of course. Again, plenty of examples online. Here's one...
No, this doesn't replace a group gathering around a TV when several people are together. It doesn't empty arenas/stadiums/etc because it wouldn't reach the heights of the live, in-person experience... but it is in between the two for those who would/could opt to virtually be there. And people spend a lot of money on PPV sporting/live events to still watch through a 2D window called a television... so there is clearly some revenue potential in making it possible for NFL ST buyers and Boxing/WWE fans, etc to feel more like they are "there" than only peeking through a window to what is happening there.
(Hopefully it is a legit app! - the developer name etc look a bit sketchy)
