$3 App Shoots Better Quality Spatial Video Than iPhone's Camera App

[SebCohen]

They’re holding it wrong.

 

[miric]

They’re holding it wrong.

Wait, you're spatialing it wrong.

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

A $3 third-party app can now record spatial video on iPhone 15 Pro models in a higher resolution than Apple's very own Camera app.

Thanks to an update first spotted by UploadVR, Spatialify can now record spatial videos with HDR in 1080p at 60fps or in 4K at 30fps. In comparison, Apple's native Camera app is limited to recording spatial video in 1080p at 30fps.

Shortly after Apple's Vision Pro headset launched in February in the United States, Apple released iOS 17.2, which brought the new spatial video recording format to iPhone 15 Pro models.

When viewed on iPhone, spatial video appear as normal videos, but viewed on Vision Pro they provide an immersive viewing experience on Vision Pro that is almost three-dimensional.

Combined with advanced computational videography techniques and HEVC compression, spatial videos filmed at 30fps in 1080p take up around 130MB of storage space for one minute of video, so bear that in mind when shooting using Spatialify's higher resolution options, which will take up substantially more storage.

Spatialify first made headlines back in November, before Apple Vision Pro had been launched, when a TestFlight version of the app became available. This allowed iPhone 15 Pro users running the iOS 17.2 beta to record spatial video in a format that could be played back on Meta Quest 3 and other 3D headsets and TVs.

Spatialify is available to download on the App Store. The app costs $3 and requires an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max to shoot spatial video.

Article Link: $3 App Shoots Better Quality Spatial Video Than iPhone's Camera App

it’s a 4 year old app and the Dev name is…is that Chinese?

 

[ignatius345]

I don't have a Vision Pro and certainly have no plans to buy one. But occasionally I do take a video of my 4 year-old with the Spatial Video setting on, figuring that maybe some years from now it will seem like an awesome time capsule I'll be really glad I saved.

Just bought this app so I have in in case Apple bans it later :/

 

[Born Again]

Anyone with an avp comment how great spatial vision is?

Are you recording videos daily with this format?

 

[citysnaps]

No, Apple removes Apps that do this very thing. That is why it is important to be able to side-load or have a 2nd non-Apple App store.

Yet Blackmagic's most outstanding video camera app is there.

 

[NT1440]

Guys, the app is built using Apple supplied API’s. This isn’t a matter of Apple being “bested” in some way.

We also have no idea if the video types are directly comparable. If the resolution is higher, that means some of the pixel parent benefits can’t be used. We have no idea what this means when a spatial video in low light is made in this app and how that compares to Apples version.

There are technical ramifications of using the whole sensor vs pixel doubling (binning? I forget the term). Not to mention the already talked about file size ramifications.

 

[Rogifan]

Is this hardware or software? And are they using public API’s? This doesn’t seem like an instance where Apple is providing the bare minimum and allowing 3rd party developers to provide more full featured apps. My guess is this app won’t be around long.

 

[nt5672]

Yet Blackmagic's most outstanding video camera app is there.

For now. For whatever reason, including awareness, Apple does not consider that competition right now.

 

[boswald]

Could Apple buy this like they did Darksky (I think that’s what it was called, anyway)? 🤔

 

[Verified Whiskey]

This seems good, but I’d like to actually see the comparison. Higher resolution doesn’t always mean it’s better quality. A highly compressed or digitally enhanced 1080p video can be much less quality than a 720p video.

 

[Larabee119]

That's exactly how it should be. Haha. Buy more apps please

 

[t0rqx]

What. A. Joke. These are tactics they used to "improve" it next year and slap the slogan with the A19 chip we improved the recording quality. This developer just exposed Apple.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

What. A. Joke. These are tactics they used to "improve" it next year and slap the slogan with the A19 chip we improved the recording quality. This developer just exposed Apple.

Nonsense. Simply your own bias interpreting things the way you want to see them. There are a myriad of reasons why Apple might only be recording video at the resolution they do. Usually it has to do with their ability to be confident in the whole product. And 3rd party apps frequently push the window. It gets tiring reading this nonsense.

 

[sw1tcher]

sketchy developer

But Apple vets all apps on the App Store since they control it. Therefore there should be zero concerns regarding the safety of developers and their apps on the App Store as opposed to sideloading or using an alternative app store. Or so we are constantly told by Apple.

 

[HMI]

"Combined with advanced computational videography techniques and HEVC compression"

Is this just recording one camera at 4k, then interpolating the 2nd camera before compressing both together?

 

[Timo_Existencia]

l just did a side-by-side test but didn’t notice a huge difference. Will wait for Hugh Hou to do a review.

 

[citysnaps]

But Apple vets all apps on the App Store since they control it. Therefore there should be zero concerns regarding the safety of developers and their apps on the App Store as opposed to sideloading or using an alternative app store. Or so we are constantly told by Apple.

Have you ever heard of a story, either here on MR or elsewhere, where Apple customers have been harmed by one of the almost two million apps on Apple's App Store having a major privacy/security breach?

 

[dead.cell]

Like withholding features from the standard models just to include them in the higher priced pro models? /s

The ugly part of it is that people will talk about how they went Android for things like this, but then you see companies like Google do this too with their Pixel lineup. Similar to how Samsung/Google followed in tandem with dropping headphone jacks so they could make their own buds lol. It's always a stupid idea until they see money.

 

[citysnaps]

For now. For whatever reason, including awareness, Apple does not consider that competition right now.

Well... I have loads of apps on my phone that are very similar or better than Apple's - none have been yanked by Apple.

So... out of the almost two million apps that are on the Apple App Store, which ones are ripe for yanking by Apple? And which apps that were previously on the App Store, were yanked by Apple because they were too competitive to Apple's apps?

 

[sw1tcher]

Have you ever heard of a story, either here on MR or elsewhere, where Apple customers have been harmed by one of the almost two million apps on Apple's App Store having a major privacy/security breach?

Are you looking for something like this?

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Facebook today removed VPN app Onavo Protect from the iOS App Store after Apple decided that it violates App Store data collection policies, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Apple earlier this month told Facebook officials that the Onavo app, which serves as a virtual private network, violates June App Store rules that prevent apps from harvesting data to build advertising profiles or contact databases.

Onavo, a free VPN, promised to "keep you and your data safe when you browse and share information on the web," but the app's real purpose was tracking user activity across multiple different apps to learn insights about how Facebook customers use third-party apps.

 

[Taldric2022]

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.

I think you are confusing two very different things. One is 360 degree recording of a 2D image. The other is a 180 degree recording of a 3D image.

If you watch the immersive experiences that Apple has provided they are 180 degree recordings in 3D. And they are something pretty special.

But most of your examples of current videos are 2D videos that you can freely pan around in.

I have yet to see any recorded video of a combination of 3D video that has a 360 degree view. The trick to do this will be figured out, but it’s going to be complicated to do.

I’ll also point out that traditional pictures also have a frame that you can’t see outside of. We are taking steps to get a broader view, but even in 2D the ability to see in 360 degrees requires special hardware.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

For me, I’d rather freely pan around (look where I want to look) in 360 degrees than be limited to only a limited view out front… but perhaps that’s just me.

 

[Cuesca]

If Ap[ple makes best-in-class, no one buys a third pasaarty app. Ecosystem falters.

There are many better video products than the apple software at many pricepoints. Heck, the BlackMagic one is free.

I love BlackMagic, I wish there was a photo version of this app.

 

[FasterQuieter]

I rememember having an app that could record 3K video on the iPhone 6 when the camera app only supported 1080p. The video looked much better. Apple didn't ban that, so hopefully this one will survive as well.

Shame they haven't figured out how to bring spatial video to the 14 Pro or earlier.