We’ve seen first-person video games, immersive films, and interactive dioramas, but we have yet to see live streaming video and virtual reality (VR) collide. Now, the team who manages VideoStitch, a program that stitches together multi-directional camera footage to create a 360-degree video, has unveiled the Orah 4i, a camera that streams 360-degree VR video at 4K resolution to the Internet. It allows you to watch the stream on any connected VR headset.
If you’re viewing a concert, live streaming virtual reality makes it seem like you’re actually there. The device can live stream just about anything, including sports and news, allowing anyone with a VR headset to immerse themselves in any location around the world in real time.
The Orah 4i is approximately the size of a baseball, fits on any standard camera mount, and is small enough to squeeze into a backpack. The camera is equipped with a stitching box, which is similar to a small compact computer that takes video feed, stitches it together, and sends it to a router that allows it to be streamed anywhere.
With four fisheye lenses (two angled down and two angled up), the device is capable of capturing 4,096 x 2,048 (4K) video, which is fed to the stitching box via an ethernet cable. The stitching box itself contains 120GB of storage and enough ports to plug a microphone, headset, four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth capabilities, as well as LAN and Wi-Fi capabilities.
Compared to other 4K or live streaming VR cameras, the Orah 4i is a great bang for your buck. A 4K DSLR can cost you $6,000, while GoPro’s VR array is priced at $15,000.
The Orah 4i produces high enough quality for power users, but may not be something we can expect to see on a Hollywood set. Beginning April 13, 2016, the Orah 4i will be available for preorder for $1,800 online, which includes the camera, stitching box, and necessary cables. Consumers can expect to have it by the summer.
The price will only remain that low until April 30, and then slowly increase over time until reaching $3,600. So if you want to get your hands on the Orah 4i, do so during the month of April to ensure you don’t have to shell out more than $1,800.
Source: Mashable
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