GoPro has announced that its six-camera Omni VR Rig will start the shipping process from August 17 to customers who pre-ordered it. New customers will also be able to get their hands on the rig to create 360-degree, spherical, VR content. GoPro reiterated that the Omni was much more than just a rig for holding GoPro cameras, dubbing it “an end-to-end content creation ecosystem.” GoPro expects the Omni VR Rig to help users publishers push out more high-quality content.
The $5,000 rig consists of six HERO4 Black cameras that have been programmed to operate harmoniously. Instead of having to operate six cameras or manually program each one with the right settings, users can simply program the primary camera to perform those tasks. This helps easily align and synchronize settings for all cameras, which can be particularly useful when shooting out in the field. GoPro claims that its rig ensures that the cameras are synchronized at the pixel level, and that the rig will not start shooting if everything is not fully synchronized.
Among other perks, the Omni rig is designed to disperse heat, which can otherwise have been an issue when six cameras were placed in such close proximity. The rig comes with an external battery pack, and users can alternatively choose to draw power from the batteries of each of the HERO4 Black cameras. GoPro also offers a “battery ghosting” mode whereby the batteries in the camera are removed. By only using external battery power, GoPro’s rig manages to further reduce heat emissions.
The Omni rig is made from “rugged aluminum” to protect it in case of falls. In case any module is damaged, it can be replaced separately instead of having to cart the entire rig to the repair shop.
Data from each camera is stored on a separate SD Card, but users simply have to plug the cards into the USB Hub provided with the rig. GoPro has programmed each SD card and file with metadata to ensure that the Omni synchronization mechanism sorts out the files accordingly. Once the data is transferred, users do not need to worry about placing the SD card in the Hero4 Black camera it came from, because the metadata will arrange the file sequence automatically.
GoPro’s Omni software is particularly impressive – the Omni Importer can help preview, stitch and publish videos in no time. Provided free of cost along with the AVP 2.5 software, the software provides an instant preview and renaming option to help organize files. Users can trim shots before they are rendered and exported to save time and space. Three levels of color correction are offered, and users can choose to add optical stabilization to their output. Videos can be exported in 2K, 4K, and even 8K formats.
Omni also works with Kolor Autopano Video and Facebook’s Oculus headset. The Omni software can also be used to create 2D video using input from each of the cameras. Using the “reframe” option, directors can capture the ideal 2D angle and then fix the horizon to produce 2D output. All content captured with the rig can be shared with the GoPro VR player, which is available as an app for desktop and web.
The rig costs $5,000, which is certainly more than what most casual users can afford. Users who already own a number of Hero4 Black cameras can simply buy the basic rig for $1,500. Productions and crews might actually find value for money in the Omni rig, given that Nokia’s Ozo camera costs $60,000. Casual users might veer toward the Samsung Gear 360, which costs $350.
It will be interesting to see which niche of the market GoPro manages to capture with the Omni rig. The rig is certainly useful from both a hardware and software standpoint. As such, it is possible that the Omni rig might even be purchased and rented out to production crews for usage from time to time. All in all, the prospect of ultra-high resolution 360-degree videos is very much a reality now.