This is a “reprint” from the April edition of FDTimes.

Teradek Sphere

Teradek’s new Sphere is the core to monitoring a stitched 360 degree VR  quad HD stream wirelessly—without seeing yourself in the shot. It’s like VR Video Assist. Sphere also can do live web streaming of 360 VR content to compatible online platforms.

Let’s assume we’re shooting a VR scene with four cameras, aimed at 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees. Sphere’s four USB ports are designed to streamline VR rig setups—they can distribute power to commonly used cameras for 360 capture such as GoPro and a7S. Sphere’s  H.264 encoder compresses video up to 1080p30 at bit rates up to 5 Mbps. It connects to a wireless access point via RJ45 cable to stream the 4 compressed video feeds over dual band 2.4/5Ghz WiFi to as many as 3 iOS devices connected to the same network. 

Sphere’s 4 compressed feeds are received by the iOS devices (iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone) and the companion Sphere iOS application stitches and processes the video into three formats: a 2D panoramic view, a Google Cardboard mode, and a motion control (magic window) immersive view. Magic window view processes the video into a virtual sphere. Turn or tilt the iOS device and the video follows. The Google Cardboard live mode lets you view the real-time streamed VR footage as an end user would.