Google, the software and search engine giant, is famous for providing the world with something new and something innovative with its every invention. Keeping in line with its this record Google launched Jump, a platform for VR video, back at Google developer conference in May this year. Along with the Jump came a slightly different camera rig called Odyssey.
GoPro Odyssey, ready for Jump platform, uses HERO4 camera modules and allows all 16 cameras to act as one. It makes camera syncing easy, and includes features like shared settings and frame-level synchronization. Google's Jump platform assembles these 360 videos that allows one to experience a scene in every direction.
Co-designed with GoPro, Odyssey was yesterday opened to prospective content creators to put their name down to get early access to the hardware. This particular move of the company is specifically aimed at professional partners.
A person will have to shed an eye-watering amount of $15,000 to get board on this particular Odyssey. This staggering amount of money will get you 16 GoPros for starters (that accounts for $8,000 of the Odyssey's cost at the camera's $500 retail price). Further, the package includes memory cards, cables, a pelican case, connectivity mounts for each camera and the cylindrical Odyssey rig itself. Once all of this is combined, the rig has the potential to shoot 2.7K video in 4:3 aspect ratio. The main selling point of course is the 360-degree/3D experience. Google with GoPro is positive that with Odyssey they can raise the standard in terms of immersive video quality.
In addition to all the hardware mentioned above, the Jump platform also comes with a video "assembler". The assembler is responsible for stitching all the files together to create one seamless globe, and then, there's of course a player on YouTube which will include support for viewing via Cardboard in stereoscopic/3D, or regular "flat" viewing via desktop or the YouTube app.
Click around on the video here. The view rotates allowing for unprecedented control. Use AWSD keys to rotate the video or click and drag if on mobile.
According to GoPro's spec-sheet, all the 16 cameras combined provide an output at 2K x 2K over/under (rather than side-by-side) panoramic MPEG4 video at 150Mbit/s or 8K x 8K at 600Mbit per second.
So, if you're based in based in U.S., UK, Canada, the EU, Japan, or Brazil, you can start your journey on this particular odyssey by applying here.
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