Virtual reality is on
the rise. Popular gadgets such as oculus rift, which was recently purchased by
Facebook for two billion dollars, and Samsung are pouring money into new
virtual reality devices which promise to blur the line between reality and
virtual reality. This article talks about Samsung's newly announce Beyond camera which can
capture 360 degree panoramic video from multiple cameras arranged around a
6" disk. The camera feed can be stored or streamed live to Samsung's VR
goggles which will be added to their Samsung Gear line of products. The VR
goggles include gyroscopes, accelerometers, and a compass to track the movement
of your head while wearing them. This allows you to rotate 360 degrees to view
the entire panoramic, the beyond unit even includes a camera on the top to
capture video from the sky which you can view by tilting your head up when
wearing the goggles.
Like most new products
it is not without flaws, the camera records a gigabit of data every second
which means it requires a lot of bandwidth to stream the data seamlessly,
something that was lacking in its disastrous debut which included pixelated
video and loss of connection. The camera unit also requires a high speed
broadband connection in order to stream data, something that is often not
available on the beaches of the Bahamas or most places people would like to
escape too. When the camera is connected to the internet it can stream to
multiple people at once, but there is likely to be a limit due to bandwidth.
Connectivity issues aside, those susceptible to seasickness should stay away
from VR goggles as they require you to tilt and rotate your head while being
fully immersed in a video feed.
Virtual reality is not
only attracting people looking to escape daily life, hobbyists and drone
enthusiasts are purchasing VR goggles and FPV (first person view) cameras for
their multi-rotor drones and model airplanes. These FPV systems allow the
pilots to fly their model aircraft as if they were sitting in the cockpit, but
without the risk of death (assuming they don't crash into themselves which has
been known to happen). High quality systems can give the pilot the sense they
are flying through air, and makes it easier to capture more cinematic video.
These FPV systems rely on radio frequency communication which means they are
usually limited in range to about 100 yards and susceptible to interference and
poor video quality. Broadband internet provides a much better medium for VR
systems and as our data infrastructure adapts more fiber optic lines bandwidth
will no longer be a problem.
Soon we can expect to see VR goggles incorporated into online
games like World of Warcraft. VR goggles would give MMORPG players who already
have a blurred sense of reality a means to immerse themselves even further into
virtual worlds. For the everyday American VR technology means they can spend
their lunch break in one of many scenic locations, assuming they are
coordinated enough to eat their food without the use of their eyes which will
be busy taking in the virtual scene.
This topic reminds me of a lot of SAO. Awesome show if you haven't seen it yet.
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