Altia Systems just released PanaCast 2, a panoramic 4K real-time video camera with Virtual Reality mode. The plug-and-play USB webcam can be used for ultra-wide Skype, WebEx or GoToMeeting video conference calls. In VR mode users can upload or stream immersive content to YouTube360 or FaceBook360. The camera essentially combines two 1080p videos using a 3-camera system in real-time. The company says a new generation of global stitching technology and algorithms optimize the camera for outdoor and live-action use.
Other use cases include:
- Creative videography: Create short-form immersive content for advertising, entertainment, virtual tours/real estate, etc. Content can be experienced in real-time, recorded, or uploaded to cloud-based services such as YouTube and Facebook. The content can be experienced immersively on VR/AR head mounted devices or viewed on traditional screen-based devices.
- Immersive broadcast/live streaming: Live stream concerts as well as sporting, educational, or other live events.
- VR Telepresence/Shared Real-Time Experience: Share experiences in real-time from multiple remote locations. This has applications in a number of business use cases such as training, education, telemedicine, etc.
- Ultra-fast computer vision applications: For advanced real-time control within IoT applications as an intelligent imaging system to improve performance of artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms.
With its on-board PanaCast video processor, the PanaCast 2 outputs Panoramic-4K video with industry-leading sub-single frame latency. The PanaCast 2 offers a 3840 x 1080 pixels per frame resolution across a 180° field-of-view that mimics the natural human perspective. Relative to a 360° x 360° 4K camera, this results in significantly higher-quality video thanks to 2x higher horizontal and ~3.3x higher vertical pixel density.
PanaCast 2 Setup
Pricing and Availability
The PanaCast 2 is available now for $995 at Amazon.com
