YouTube at VidCon: New VR Format, Mobile App Update, YouTube TV Rollout Continues

[MacRumors]

YouTube made several announcements at the annual VidCon convention in California on Thursday, covering VR, YouTube TV, new original series, and a number of changes coming to the YouTube web and app interface.

First up, YouTube announced a brand new high resolution video format called VR180 that it said would make VR content easier to create. VR180 works on both mobile and desktop, and focuses on what is in front of the viewer, allowing them to turn 90 degrees either side of their field of vision.

The videos transition to a VR experience when viewed with Google Cardboard, Daydream, and PSVR, which enable users to view the images stereoscopically in 3-D, where near things look near, and far things appear far.

For creators, you'll be able to set up and film your videos the way you normally would with any other camera. And, soon, you'll be able to edit using familiar tools like Adobe Premiere Pro. From vlogs, to makeup tutorials to music videos - your videos will work great in VR.

But supporting the format is just the beginning. We want to make cameras that are easy to work with too. The Daydream team is working with several manufacturers to build cameras from the ground up for VR180. These cameras are not only great for creators looking to easily make VR content, but also anyone who wants to capture life's highlights in VR. They will be as easy to use as point-and-shoot cameras, for around the same price. Videos and livestreams will be easy to upload to YouTube.

YouTube said that cameras were on the way from YI, Lenovo, and LG, with the first ones making their way onto the shelves this winter. The company is also opening up a VR180 certification program, with Z CAM announced as one of its first partners. Content creators can learn more and sign up for updates at vr.google.com/vr180.

Elsewhere, YouTube said it would be bringing an update to its mobile app in the coming weeks that would allow the interface to dynamically adapt to whatever video size is being watched, whether vertical, square, or horizontal, in order to make better use of screen space. It also said it would be making its mobile video sharing feature available in Latin America and across the U.S. over the next couple of weeks.

Moving on, YouTube said that in the next couple of weeks it would be expanding its YouTube TV service to ten more markets in the U.S., including Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne and Charlotte.

The streaming television service that was first announced in late February before rolling out to five cities in early April. The service costs $35 and is already available in in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

A new slate of YouTube Red originals were also announced on Thursday. The company shared details on 12 new projects coming to the ad-free, all-access $9.99 per month subscription model, bringing the number of original series and movies launched on YouTube Red to 37.

Finally, the Google-owned video hub took the opportunity to reveal that 1.5 billion users now log in to YouTube every single month - the equivalent of one in every five people around the world. It said that, on average, viewers spend over an hour a day watching YouTube on mobile devices alone.

Article Link: YouTube at VidCon: New VR Format, Mobile App Update, YouTube TV Rollout Continues

 

[anthorumor]

How about support for picture-in-picture for iOS devices?
Not needing to copy the URL into some other webpage or app for this kind of functionality would be most welcomed!

 

[Essaux]

Just in time for iPhone 8 VR?

 

[QuarterSwede]

How about support for picture-in-picture for iOS devices?
Not needing to copy the URL into some other webpage or app for this kind of functionality would be most welcomed!

It would be YouTube Red only, no doubt.

 

[anthorumor]

It would be YouTube Red only, no doubt.

Yeah, well I have YouTube Red and it's a no-show (so far). Annoying because these alternate avenues prove that it's technically able.

 

[adamjackson]

I've been trying to justify spending $120 a year for YouTube Red but I don't think I'm a target for them.

• No interest in the programming that mostly features YouTube Stars my 15 year old sister know about.
• Google Music (I'm in the Apple Music Camp)
• Better mobile experience like playing videos in the background (I guess VEVO addicts use this feature to listen to music from Justin Bieber? But I don't need that)
• Ad-Free, I've never had an ad on my computers and via AppleTV, I see an ad once per day and it's always skippable

All I'd be doing is making sure 5 seconds a day I see an ad are no more. Not much of a value proposition for me. Is there something else I'm missing?

It does appear though that YT Red is a success or at the very least pays creators more than adverts do. Of the $100 a month I make on YouTube passively, $5 of that is YT Red revenue. I don't think 5% of my audience subscribes to Red. It has to be like half a percent or less so that tells me their money is going to more creators which is nice.

I'd love to be able to spend my YT Revenue on Red automatically with some kind of reduced rate.

 

[Internet Enzyme]

How about support for picture-in-picture for iOS devices?
Not needing to copy the URL into some other webpage or app for this kind of functionality would be most welcomed!

My theory is that they don't want to give the YouTube iOS app a feature that the Android version doesn't have.

 

[saudade]

YouTube = Update your Apple TV app

 

[macduke]

My theory is that they don't want to give the YouTube iOS app a feature that the Android version doesn't have.

No, it's because you could use that to stream audio in the background from YouTube, which is a paid Red feature. But it's pretty weird that they haven't unlocked it for Red users. I wonder if such features aren't allowed to be hidden behind a paywall on iOS?

How about support for picture-in-picture for iOS devices?
Not needing to copy the URL into some other webpage or app for this kind of functionality would be most welcomed!

At least in iOS 11 you can do a shoddy PIP with your slide over app, which is marginally better than having it docked to the side previously because you can swipe it back and forth to either side while working in the main app, but it's kind of tall and blocks more of the display. Better than what we've got now, though.

 

[Unami]

i wish they wouldn't call 360° (or in this case: 180°)-videos "VR". Those sucky, flat, panoramic videos give the technology a bad reputation.

 

[sudo1996]

Man, I remember watching 3D YouTube videos in cross-eye or split-eye mode. No glasses or special equipment necessary! They show two pictures side by side, and you just focus your eyes in a weird way. Kids these days won't know what we went through.
[doublepost=1498355132][/doublepost]

No, it's because you could use that to stream audio in the background from YouTube, which is a paid Red feature. But it's pretty weird that they haven't unlocked it for Red users. I wonder if such features aren't allowed to be hidden behind a paywall on iOS?

Until very recently, you used to be able to do this just by playing the video in Safari since it used the native QuickTime player instead. Unfortunately, they updated it with HTML5, so you can'd do it anymore. Never understood why people downloaded the YouTube app since it just added limitations like that and played ads.

 

[macduke]

Until very recently, you used to be able to do this just by playing the video in Safari since it used the native QuickTime player instead. Unfortunately, they updated it with HTML5, so you can'd do it anymore. Never understood why people downloaded the YouTube app since it just added limitations like that and played ads.

Use this site in Safari, and then right click, and right click a second time outside of the YouTube menu to get the Safari menu with PIP mode to pop up. Verified working right now in Sierra. https://ctrlq.org/youtube/pip/

Pretty sure the only reason you can do this is because HTML5 in Safari. They've been using HTML5 formatted video to feed to the iPhone dating back to the original YouTube app in 2007. That's why you could only watch certain videos on the iPhone as they were being converted. If it was Flash you wouldn't be able to see it on your iOS devices at all. YouTube just likes to replace the interface elements with their own. But Safari overrides it with the double right click.

 

[sudo1996]

Use this site in Safari, and then right click, and right click a second time outside of the YouTube menu to get the Safari menu with PIP mode to pop up. Verified working right now in Sierra. https://ctrlq.org/youtube/pip/

Pretty sure the only reason you can do this is because HTML5 in Safari. They've been using HTML5 formatted video to feed to the iPhone dating back to the original YouTube app in 2007. That's why you could only watch certain videos on the iPhone as they were being converted. If it was Flash you wouldn't be able to see it on your iOS devices at all. YouTube just likes to replace the interface elements with their own. But Safari overrides it with the double right click.

Ah, great! Thanks for the tip.