New 360-Degree Video Capture Method Unveiled

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New 360-Degree Video Capture Method Unveiled

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday February 19, 2014 @12:52PM from the looking-around dept.

cartechboy writes "Mercedes-Benz has devised a crazy new 360-degree video capture method that allows you to follow live-action video from just about any angle you choose. This new piece of tech will launch with the Mercedes AMG F1 team this year, and gives you the ability to swivel and tilt the camera angle in pretty much any direction as the car speeds around the track. The device uses wide-angle cameras arranged in a ball and then stitched together into a panoramic view. Of course there's an iOS app that lets you watch all this."

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Gameboy Radar by GuitarNeophyte · 2014-02-19 12:55 · Score: 0

When I was little, I used to imagine what it might be like to somehow connect a radar system to my gameboy and watch as we drove down the road. As I was typing that, it seemed relevant. Now, I'm not too sure.
1. Re:Gameboy Radar by AK+Marc · 2014-02-19 14:27 · Score: 1
  
  I'm waiting for the driving goggles that have cameras around the car feeding into a VR headset. 360 view in 180 headturn. No blind spots. No need for windows, and optics that correct for any human deficiency (color-mapped to change traffic light color for colorblind drivers, off-center warnings to indicate emergency vehicles and situations). Piping information in to a driver in real-time with image processing is the next step of safety. Full HUD and image corrections to "fix" common human errors.
  
  --
  Learn to love Alaska
yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 12:55 · Score: 0, Insightful

Don't worry about the fact that Android is the dominate OS - 70% dominate
1. Re:yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 13:06 · Score: 0
  
  Apple brib^h^h encourages prominent developers to produce apps for their platform first.
2. Re:yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 13:28 · Score: 0
  
  Android dominates? but who even has the latest version that's been out for months now. Add in the crappy battery life and snooping done by google now - No wonder. Maybe you should actually educate yourself before you make blanket claims.
3. Re:yea IOS by GrahamCox · 2014-02-19 13:33 · Score: 1
  
  Domination isn't good for anybody, on either side. A balance promotes innovation. So whenever one platform starts to dominate, the *right* thing to do especially for nerds like Slashdotees, is to apply negative feedback, and always support the underdog.
  
  Besides, when did popular ever imply best? Look at the number 1 records in the pop charts since forever. I rest my case.
4. Re:yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 13:39 · Score: 0
  
  Who cares?
5. Re:yea IOS by morgauxo · 2014-02-19 13:49 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Really? As a confirmed Apple hater I would love to believe this but... to develop for Apple I would have to buy a Mac. Then I would have to pay what is it... $100/year the last I checked to get the development environment. (chump change I guess after buying a Mac) Then.. the only way the app could ever get on to more than a fraction of a percent of people's devices is to get it approved by the Apple store which everyone I have talked to claims is a real pain in the ass.
  To develop for Android just download the development environment for your favorite of Linux/Windows/Mac OS for free and start coding. It seems to me that Google is trying a lot harder to get developers than Apple is.
  What I think is the real issue is that a lot of developers don't want to deal with the variety of screen sizes one finds on Android. They like Apple's closed little world. HTML was supposed to free us of this issue. With sizes being defined in percents, data inside of elements that describe what the data is, not how to display it, etc... devices were supposed to determine how to display things best based on their own unique hardware profiles. That was html documents but by now applications should work that way too.
  But... thest f@!#ng graphics designers and marketers had to mess that all up. Instead everything is defined down to how it will look pixel per pixel. So of course... supporting many different sizes and shapes of devices means making sure your pixel by pixel design looks good on them all. So.. the lazy fckrs only want to support iOS because it is easier to design that way in a limited environment.
6. Re:yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 13:57 · Score: 0
  
  "but who even has the latest version that's been out for months now. Add in the crappy battery life and snooping done by google now"
  1. "Latest version?" - My Samsung Galaxy SIII does.
  2. "crappy battery life?" - I un-plug in the morning, plug-in at night, works for me.
  3. "snooping done by google" - You really that naive to think that Apple does not monitor everything that is done with any ijunk device?
  The only reason any apps even exist for ijunk is because Crapple bribes developers.
7. Re:yea IOS by GrahamCox · 2014-02-19 14:05 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  to develop for Apple I would have to buy a Mac. Then I would have to pay what is it... $100/year the last I checked to get the development environment. (chump change I guess after buying a Mac) Then.. the only way the app could ever get on to more than a fraction of a percent of people's devices is to get it approved by the Apple store which everyone I have talked to claims is a real pain in the ass.
  
  You're looking at it from the point of view of a dabbler; a hobbyist. If you're developing professionally the hardware and developer subscription cost is negligible compared to paying for the actual design, development and coding. Approval for the App Store is not difficult if you conform to the rules, which are there mostly to raise quality and security - as a professional developer you will want that.
  
  The environment is more controlled (yes, that's a good thing), though screen sizes vary quite a bit too. Apple have layout technologies that help you with that and yes, they are somewhat like HTML in intention, where you specify constraints rather than pixel sizes.
  
  But the biggest boon to professional developers is that the platform is really well-designed, has relatively few bugs and annoyances, is fairly secure, gives you an awful lot of good stuff for free, and supports a nice easy-to-use language as well. Obviously non of that matters to you because you're prejudiced - your first statement states that clearly. You're also not a professional developer, because your argument is irrelevant.
8. Re:yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 14:48 · Score: 0
  
  It seems to me that Google is trying a lot harder to get developers than Apple is.
  Google is providing more resources and better tools to everybody. That makes it a better system for the majority of "ordinary" developers.
  Apple identifies and provides extra re$ource$ to "showcase" developers - those who are in the public eye or who have access to media and/or power.
  TLDR, Google is egalitarian, Apple sponsors the 1%ers
9. Re:yea IOS by achbed · 2014-02-19 14:50 · Score: 2
  
  Really? As a confirmed Apple hater I would love to believe this but... to develop for Apple I would have to buy a Mac. Then I would have to pay what is it... $100/year the last I checked to get the development environment. (chump change I guess after buying a Mac) Then.. the only way the app could ever get on to more than a fraction of a percent of people's devices is to get it approved by the Apple store which everyone I have talked to claims is a real pain in the ass.
  To develop for Android just download the development environment for your favorite of Linux/Windows/Mac OS for free and start coding. It seems to me that Google is trying a lot harder to get developers than Apple is.
  What I think is the real issue is that a lot of developers don't want to deal with the variety of screen sizes one finds on Android. They like Apple's closed little world. HTML was supposed to free us of this issue. With sizes being defined in percents, data inside of elements that describe what the data is, not how to display it, etc... devices were supposed to determine how to display things best based on their own unique hardware profiles. That was html documents but by now applications should work that way too.
  But... thest f@!#ng graphics designers and marketers had to mess that all up. Instead everything is defined down to how it will look pixel per pixel. So of course... supporting many different sizes and shapes of devices means making sure your pixel by pixel design looks good on them all. So.. the lazy fckrs only want to support iOS because it is easier to design that way in a limited environment.
  The real issue is not the number of screen sizes combined with a marketing mandate. It's the sheer number of versions that you have to support. With Android, there are still devices being sold today with version 2.1 all the way to the latest release. Contrast that to Apple where pretty much the entire ecosystem adopts to the latest release very quickly, and if you want to worry about 3-year old phones you're still only one iOS revision back. The issues with handling that wide a range of operating system versions require a significant investment in both planning and support after the app goes live. Smaller companies or even company divisions that have a small team are going to go for the simpler solution every time. Better to ship on one platform than to try to support everything and never ship.
10. Re:yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 17:29 · Score: 0
  
  Don't worry about the fact that Android is the dominate OS - 70% dominate
  Closer to 80% now. Apple has dropped below 15%.
  Anyway, this whole story is about a rip-off of Google's Street View cameras. http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...
  Apple's probably sponsoring the effort as a marketing stunt for their own version of Maps.
11. Re:yea IOS by mjwx · 2014-02-19 20:22 · Score: 1
  
  You're looking at it from the point of view of a dabbler; a hobbyist.
  
  And the throngs of wide eyed, naive IOS developers who think it's the land of milk and honey where money falls from the cloud and their app will magically makes them rich.
  
  Most developers never break even on the $99 subscription fee, let alone for the equipment and almost never for the time.
  
  I know over 20, all hopped on the bandwagon and bought mac's. Not one has made $99. Most have abandoned their applications around the Iphone 4 days.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
12. Re:yea IOS by mjwx · 2014-02-19 20:26 · Score: 1
  
  The real non issue is not the number of screen sizes combined with a marketing mandate. It's the sheer number of versions that you have to support. With Android, there are still devices being sold today with version 2.1 all the way to the latest release.
  There, fixed that for you.
  
  Almost all the API's are backwards compatible, so the applications written for 2.1 will work on 4.4. This only becomes an issue when.
  1. you use a non standard API (I.E. one put in by Samsung on their phones).
  2. You target an API on a higher level (I.E. an API that started in 4.0 wont work in 2.6).
  
  Its better to support half of 80% of the market than 90% of 20% of the market.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
13. Re: yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 22:23 · Score: 0
  
  Love the Crapple...nicer than mine for MS...More S..t
14. Re:yea IOS by Jack+Griffin · 2014-02-19 23:00 · Score: 1
  
  You're looking at it from the point of view of a dabbler; a hobbyist. .
  You mean like Woz/Jobs/Gates/Allen/Page/Brin/Zuckerberg et al and now Acton and Koum? Our industry is built by dabblers and hobbyists, they shape our world. "Professional Developers" are merely wait staff in the grand scheme of things.
15. Re:yea IOS by Applehu+Akbar · 2014-02-20 01:46 · Score: 1
  
  There's an iJunk now? Cool!
  But does it only connect to Apple interns?
16. Re:yea IOS by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-20 02:41 · Score: 0
  
  The only reason any apps even exist for ijunk is because Crapple bribes developers.
  Then it would be prudent to develop for Apple. What's the issue? Bribe away!
17. Re:yea IOS by coinreturn · 2014-02-20 02:51 · Score: 1
  
  Most developers never break even on the $99 subscription fee, let alone for the equipment and almost never for the time. I know over 20, all hopped on the bandwagon and bought mac's. Not one has made $99. Most have abandoned their applications around the Iphone 4 days.
  [citation needed]
  Your claims are nonsense, unless all your friends are just basement-dwelling YOLOs with no actual programming skills. I have been an independent iOS developer for years (in my spare time, as I have a full-time job) and my proceeds always surpass the measly $99/year - which also gets you two "incidents" for access to Apple engineers to help debug your problem. Oh, and I never have problems with getting apps accepted, never. Your friends abandon their apps after 4 days! Hah! Real pros, I'm sure.
18. Re:yea IOS by coinreturn · 2014-02-20 02:53 · Score: 1
  
  Its better to support half of 80% of the market than 90% of 20% of the market.
  Um, no. All data points to iOS developers making more money than Android developers. Google it.
19. Re:yea IOS by almitydave · 2014-02-20 05:32 · Score: 1
  
  ...Most have abandoned their applications around the Iphone 4 days.
  ...Your friends abandon their apps after 4 days! Hah! Real pros, I'm sure.
  Just a clarification, I'm sure GP meant his friends "abandoned their apps around the days of the iPhone 4," not "abandoned their iPhone apps after 4 days."
  
  --
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  I'm, you're, he's/she's/it's, we're, you're, they're
Panono? by NiteMair · 2014-02-19 13:00 · Score: 1

Sounds like they teamed up with this guy: http://www.panono.com/ballcame...
1. Re:Panono? by ColdWetDog · 2014-02-19 13:10 · Score: 1
  
  Or Google Maps. This has been done a number of times. The 'interesting' spin here is that it is hooked to a Formula One car and they have rigged the streams to allow multiple people to 'point' the camera. And of course, an iOS app. Gotta have one of them.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
2. Re:Panono? by graphius · 2014-02-19 13:17 · Score: 2
  
  CBC used to do this for hockey games. You could go to the website and choose your angle of view. Formula One would probably be a better use for it though.
Son, I am dissapoint. by Stoutlimb · 2014-02-19 13:05 · Score: 4, Insightful

A new 360 degree video capture method? Or the same old method, done again? I read the article and I can't think of what's new about this method. Now a spherical CCD would be new and interesting. It's a nice system, but new method?
1. Re:Son, I am dissapoint. by marcosdumay · 2014-02-19 13:19 · Score: 2
  
  If it ain't broke, you just patent the same solution again
  
  --
  Rethinking email
2. Re:Son, I am dissapoint. by viperidaenz · 2014-02-19 13:27 · Score: 2
  
  New patent: panoramic video stream.... on a mobile device!
3. Re:Son, I am dissapoint. by cheater512 · 2014-02-19 14:14 · Score: 2
  
  ...from the cloud!
Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 13:08 · Score: 1

I have seen this done before and it isn't so "crazy". Yay sensational media!
Same as F-35 Helmet Display by MatthiasF · 2014-02-19 13:11 · Score: 1

Seems like a good idea for a race car and can probably be integrated into self-driving cars at some point.

http://www.northropgrumman.com...
AwSOME! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 13:16 · Score: 0

That is a wicked cool video.
We just need to wait until the porn industry figures out how to get their actors to wear that "camera" on their head.
1. Re:AwSOME! by jones_supa · 2014-02-20 03:51 · Score: 1
  
  With their head bobbing around while fucking?
This is not new by Obfuscant · 2014-02-19 13:35 · Score: 2

This.
1. Re:This is not new by rHBa · 2014-02-19 14:10 · Score: 2
  
  Or this perhaps?
2. Re:This is not new by bigrockpeltr · 2014-02-20 02:10 · Score: 1
  
  Or This. Eye-Mirror seems to be the coolest method of doing 360 degree video with a single camera! https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...
  
  --
  $ unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more, yes,fsck,fsck,fsck,umount, sleep
3. Re:This is not new by Obfuscant · 2014-02-20 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  Nor is a simple conical mirror in front of the lens really new. I saw papers on that probably ten years ago. The disadvantage is that you are getting lower resolution by using one sensor, and those at the edges have serious distortion to them.
  It's also not a spherical system, it's only circular. While the camera is looking up, the mirror makes it look sideways and blocks "up", and you have no "down" at all.
You mean the old way? by im_thatoneguy · 2014-02-19 14:00 · Score: 2

Mercedes-Benz has devised a crazy new 360-degree video capture method

What is this crazy new system you ask? The exact same system that 360 degree video has always been captured!
1. Re:You mean the old way? by meta-monkey · 2014-02-20 02:06 · Score: 1
  
  Find out what one weird clickbait headline will generate the most ad views!
  
  --
  We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
...And this was done 10 years ago using 1 camera a by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 14:24 · Score: 0

They used a spherical mirror in front of a camera, and their software corrected the video in realtime. They claimed that only BeOS was suitable for this type of software.
Re:...And this was done 10 years ago using 1 camer by Gavagai80 · 2014-02-19 14:35 · Score: 1

Obviously the ability was lost when BeOS died, and they've now invented a way to do it without BeOS.

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This space intentionally left blank
Video too slow by ortholattice · 2014-02-19 14:38 · Score: 1

On my 2GHz laptop, the CPU is pinned to 100%, and all I see are frozen frames that skip through the video every few seconds. The dragging response is so sluggish as to be meaningless since any visual feedback is delayed many seconds. I guess this technology isn't ready for prime time unless you have a bleeding edge gamer GPU or something.
1. Re:Video too slow by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 15:32 · Score: 0
  
  Like my low-end i3 from a few years back? If you don't buy your machine from WalMart you won't have a problem with the video.
2. Re:Video too slow by ortholattice · 2014-02-19 16:19 · Score: 1
  
  So how come I have no problem with streaming video, youtube, etc. which typically use about 20% of the CPU? What makes this so special?
Not just 360 degrees... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-19 14:40 · Score: 1

...but four pi steradians.
Re:...And this was done 10 years ago using 1 camer by wiredlogic · 2014-02-19 15:26 · Score: 2

You can get panoramic mirrors for your iphone and many other applications now. No BeOS required.

--
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Re:...And this was done 10 years ago using 1 camer by jcr · 2014-02-19 16:22 · Score: 2

You can also get a superior optic that lets you actually see the display while you're shooting the video.
-jcr

--
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
As usual, beaten by Red Bull by Palms1111 · 2014-02-19 17:20 · Score: 1

Red Bull did this a year and a half ago... http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/S...
360 video by nylocations · 2014-02-19 20:11 · Score: 1

the mercedes project was shot with this device - http://freedom360.us/

basically it is an array of gopro cameras which has been used in many 360 video projects over the last few years

more info on the mercedes shoot here - http://visualise.com/news/2014...
"Of course there's an iOS app" by SigmundFloyd · 2014-02-19 22:41 · Score: 1

Apple's marketing dept. couldn't have said it better.

--
Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
Hard way of doing something simple by Badger+Nadgers · 2014-02-19 23:49 · Score: 1

Assuming the racing car is going around in a loop of some form, just fix the camera to the car and you'll get a 360 image.
Slashdot by ThatsNotPudding · 2014-02-20 00:54 · Score: 1

Where an article about a Mercedes-Benz camera devolves into a thread about Apple developers within one page.
Not the slightest bit new by EmagGeek · 2014-02-20 04:11 · Score: 1

We have a video conferencing device that does the exact same thing. Nothing new here.
Already Done; I see a patent lawsuit by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-20 05:20 · Score: 0

I foresee a pantent fight. The was a developer on Indiegogo recently that already has a panoramic camera shaped like a ball.
ScreenShake 2.0 by danknight48 · 2014-02-20 05:37 · Score: 1

Now with Fisheye as standard.
360 view, nothing new.
At least get the camera smoothed out like the gyro system in Moto GP, then it will be news worth reading.
Really? I only ever worry about 1 version. by morgauxo · 2014-02-20 07:22 · Score: 1

Just pick the lowest version you care to support. Target it. Backwards compatibility does the rest. It's not that hard.
No blind spots by stepho-wrs · 2014-02-20 13:19 · Score: 1

No blind spots - until a glitch disables your goggles... :)
1. Re:No blind spots by AK+Marc · 2014-02-20 13:28 · Score: 1
  
  Then you take them off and are no worse than today.
  
  --
  Learn to love Alaska