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YI Technology Announces YI 360 VR™, First High-end, Live VR Camera for Any Consumer

Newest pocket-sized, camera combining 360-Degree 5.7K VR capture, 4K instant in-device stitching, and 2.5K live-streaming debuts at NAB 2017 today and releases in June

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NAB Show – YI Technology, the leading, international provider of advanced, intelligent imaging technologies, today announced the new YI 360 VR™, a major step in making truly high-end virtual reality video easy and accessible to anyone who wants to create and share content. Scheduled to be released in June 2017, the YI 360 VR™ is available for early ordering now and will be on display at this week’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas, NV.

With a simple, handheld and mountable camera design, the YI 360 VR™ is the first VR camera to combine high-fidelity, 360-degree video capture, mobile application for easy use along with 4K instant, in-device stitching and 2.5K live-streaming to any sharing channel. With these innovations, the YI 360 VR™ provides a complete solution for anyone to create immersive, 360-degree video experiences easily, quickly and anywhere.

“Virtual reality is exciting. It promises a whole new range of opportunities for creating and sharing truly immersive experiences,” said Sean Da, CEO of YI Technology, “but it can also be really intimidating. For VR to truly take off it has to be easy and fun. At YI Technology, we challenge ourselves to bring the most innovative technologies together in a way that is simple, enjoyable and useful for anyone, from kids to professionals. VR is no exception. Too many of today’s solutions are exciting in theory but really complicated in practice. That is why we worked so hard to perfect YI 360 VR. Using the best components, rigorous industrial design and many years of testing, we eliminated the cables, confusing interfaces and bulky components and added 5.7K fidelity, 4K in-device stitching and 2.5K live-streaming, all in a handy, affordable package so everyone can share exciting moments live, from any angle.”

YI 360 VR™ CAMERA HIGHLIGHTS:

VIVID: The camera delivers stunning video and images – in 360. YI 360 VR™ features professional-grade video quality at up to 5.7K/30fps in 360 degrees for post-production work, thanks to Ambarella’s virtual reality SOC H2V95 chip and a pair of sharp 220-degree lenses mated to a pair of 12MP SONY IMX377 CMOS sensors. It also captures 5.7K 360-degree still photos. Most other multi-lens VR cameras give you clunky, choppy video images and require streams to be stitched together on a computer. The YI 360 VR™ offers seamless in-device stitching without added software so anyone can make high-quality 4K, 360-degree VR videos instantly.

EASY: YI 360 VR™ is lightweight and compact. At only six ounces and easily mountable wherever you put an action camera, it can go anywhere you go. Simple controls are on the device or the companion YI 360 VR™ mobile app allows you to control the camera, preview, playback, edit and share 360-degree videos from any smartphone. Record for over an hour on one battery charge (AC power also included) the YI 360 VR™ connects with WiFi so you can view, edit and share instantly and continuously right in the app.

LIVE: YI 360 VR™ features up to 100Mbps high-speed WiFi (Dual-band Wi-Fi 2.4GHz & 5GHz) to enable users to live-stream 2.5K/30fps 360-degree videos or download photos and videos from camera to smartphone. Connect with a WiFi network and you can start live-streaming everything around you to Facebook, YouTube, and more at 2.5K in 360 Degrees. The high-speed WiFi makes photo auto-sync possible and video download extremely fast. Photos taken by the camera can be automatically synchronized to any smartphone instantly so manual download is no longer needed. Use the app to easily post photos or videos with one click to all your favorite social networks.

Pricing & Availability

At $399 MSRP, YI 360 VR™ will be available for early ordering beginning today, with scheduled delivery for limited release in June 2017. https://yitechnology.com/yi-360-vr-camera

YI 360 VR™ is only one of YI Technology’s advanced 360-degree video solutions unveiled today at NAB 2017. The company also announced today the YI HALO™, the newest professional-grade 360-degree, stereoscopic camera for the Jump platform from Google.

See and experience YI Technology’s two new products, YI 360 VR™ and YI HALO™, at NAB 2017 in the Virtual & Augmented Reality Pavilion, Booth N1121VR. Visit http://www.yitechnology.com for more information.

First sample

Yi idea is now increase price to $499 or jus tease people with it

$399 preorder price is still same - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1337213-REG/yi_technology_360_vr_camera.html

If you ask me - avoid this camera at all costs until real performance and lens quality and firmware buys will be know.

Review. He also compares it to other cameras. It'll definitely be interesting seeing a comparison between the Yi 360 and GoPro Fusion in the future.

So, finally it was bullshit marketing stunt with $100 increase, price same as announced first

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1337213-REG/yi_technology_360_vr_camera.html

YI Technology (YI), the leading provider of advanced, intelligent imaging technologies, announced availability today of its unique YI 360 VR camera (“YI 360”) at Microsoft Store locations in the U.S. and Microsoft.com. The YI 360 makes high-end virtual reality video easy and accessible to anyone who wants to create and share content.

With a simple, handheld and mountable camera design, the YI 360 VR is the first VR camera to combine high-fidelity, 360-degree video capture, an easy mobile application along with 4K instant, in-device stitching and 4K live-streaming to any sharing channel. With these innovations, the YI 360 VR™ provides a complete solution for creating immersive, 360-degree video experiences easily, quickly and anywhere.

“At YI Technology, we challenge ourselves to bring the most innovative technologies together in a way that is simple, enjoyable and useful for anyone, from kids to professionals. VR is no exception,” said Sean Da, CEO of YI Technology. “Today’s solutions for 360 capture and sharing force users to choose between an affordable low quality, low resolution product and an overly expensive, highly complicated product. That is why we worked so hard to perfect YI 360 VR. By combining the best components, rigorous industrial design and many years of testing, we eliminated the cables, confusing interfaces and bulky components and added 5.7K fidelity, 4K in-device stitching and 4K live-streaming, all in a handy, affordable package.”

Already known for its YI 4K+ Action Camera, the YI M1 Mirrorless Digital Camera and the YI HALO professional 3D camera, YI’s launch of the YI 360 VR Camera offers users a consumer-grade, affordable yet professional quality option for capturing and sharing 360 degree footage.

Vivid, Easy, Live - Key YI 360 VR Features:

• Two 220-degree 8 aspheric glass lenses with f/2.0 aperture
• In-camera video stitching for up to 4K/30fps
• PC application for 5.7K/30fps video stitching
• Built-in 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi for live-streaming in 4K
• Five video preview options within the app including stretched view, little planet, round, panoramic and dual VR view
• Up to 60 minutes battery life recording at 4K/30fps
• Compatible with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets
• Pricing & Availability

At $399, YI 360 VR™ is now available for purchase at Microsoft Store locations in the U.S. and Microsoft.com. Go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/YI-360-VR-Camera/8ZG9K9SM5BSZ now to purchase or to find a store near you to see a live demonstration YI 360’s vivid capture and live sharing for yourself.

My initial review of an actual production model.

The latest consumer-grade 360 video resolution frontier is 5.7K. And the Yi 360 VR gives you that for $399. Note: the GoPro Fusion only gives you 5.2K (at $699); the Garmin Virb does 5.7K also, at $799!

The camera is easy to use with the (Android) app: connected instantly, no password asked for. All the settings were there. Live view with little lag. The max bitrate for 5.7K/30P is 120 Mbps. I chose that.

You can set everything on the camera without the app - there are buttons and a bright OLED screen with the settings and options.

I used the included tripod attached to the Yi "selfie" stick, making for an extendable, portable, sturdy and near invisible stand.

Shot for about one minute on a dim day at dusk - so little light. The camera has f2.0 lenses. The resulting video is also dull, but not noisy. Well exposed (there are ev controls, but I was on full auto).

I stitched the file in the free Yi 360 desktop software, using the best 'optical flow' setting. Stitching takes a long time, but it is really good. The one minute video took 22 minutes to stitch. The produced 360 stitched video at the highest quality setting is 5.7K at - 317 Mbps! The high bitrate (it's optional) is so that you can place the stitched video into another editor for color correction, clipping and merging, with little resolution loss.

I used the resulting video as-is to upload to YouTube, after injecting the metadata according to YouTube instructions - easy, instantaneous and no degradation of the file.

The uploaded raw video is here:

YouTube recognized it as a 360 video, and can play it in 5K, the highest resolution. You want to see it in 5K, no matter what your viewing screen, since, again, you are only really seeing a part of the scene at a time.

In terms of quality, I cannot see where the stitch is; best I have ever seen. No distortion, no CA, a good picture. Better than the 4K 360 videos of the previous generation for sure, but of course not 5.7K or even 4K as viewed in a 360 slice.

I also uploaded the video to Vimeo, which now plays 360 videos, so you can download the original raw (stitched file).

I can barely play the 5.7K, 317 Mbps file on my computer. But it was ingested easily into Vegas Pro 15 and I could easily color grade it and produce a new 5.7K version.

Next is to see how the video looks from a scene lit with sunshine.

I don't have the Yi 360 camera and I'm not sure if this will work for that camera but in my case with the Gear 360 camera, I use the phone app to stitch the footage and then edit the stiched footage in Smart Renderer 5.

Try stitching the footage first using Yi's 360 software and then try editing it in Smart Renderer 5 (The software was recently updated). Once you export the edited video, inject 360 meta data into it using the software that is mentioned here.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6178631?hl=en

In sunshine: