360 rumors

Another day, another clone of the Insta360 Nano.  But despite its odd robotic appearance, the Hi720 offers some advantages over other 360 camera accessories. Ever since the Insta360 Nano became popular, camera manufacturers have been scrambling to create their own 360 camera accessories.  Many of them are audacious clones of the Nano but some, like the Hi720, bring new capabilities to the table. Like the Insta360 Nano, the Hi720 can be either connected to a smartphone or used as a standalone 360 camera.  However, the Nano only works with iPhones, while the Hi720 works with iPhones and Android phones.  It works by using a removable connector that can be replaced with USB Type C or Micro USB (the connector is currently compatible with only Samsung or Huawei phones).  It can also connect to phones wirelessly. A wireless connection would be useful for triggering the Hi720 remotely with the smartphone and/or using the Hi720 while having it plugged into a USB power so...

I had the chance to try the Immersive Robotics (IMR) wireless adapter which enables you to use the HTC Vive wirelessly. IMR's Mach 2K system consists of two primary components: a transceiver attached to the PC and a transceiver with external battery pack, attached to the headset. On the headset side, the transceiver is worn on a belt which will also carry an external battery pack.  The headset is connected to the transceiver the same way as it would be connected to the Vive link box, with inputs for HDMI, USB, and power.  It's plug and play and doesn't require installing any drivers.  I asked if it was compatible with the Rift as well and they said they haven't tested it, although they think it would probably be. IMR claims that their system can support 4k per eye and can be used by 16 people in the same space.  The key to IMR's system is compression -- they compress up to 95% of the data.  Besides the key issue of latency, IMR's method raises a question about w...

Occpital Bridge is a mobile VR headset for the iPhone with untethered roomscale positional tracking. Desktop VR systems have thus far been only for Windows (and Linux if you include OSVR).   However, Occipital is making a VR headset that can be used with an iPhone.  It's called Bridge, and it even has positional tracking with 6 degrees of freedom, just like the HTC Vive , Oculus Rift and Playstation VR .  Bridge also features a motion controller with rotational tracking (similar to the controller for Google Daydream ). Moreover, the headset has important features that are not present in the Vive, Rift and PSVR: First, the headset is untethered and has no external sensors.  This makes it possible to do VR without wires, without a PC, and theoretically without limits (world scale VR).  Second, the headset can do both VR as well as augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality.  Third, whereas the Vive and Rift warn users when they are approaching the boundary of t...

​ UploadVR got to test the TPCast wireless adapter for the HTC Vive .  After extensive tests, including asking a gymnast to do backflips, they found that the TPCast works as promised, with no noticeable increase in latency.  The TPCast allows you to use the HTC Vive without any cables tethering you to your PC.  This increases immersion by allowing the user to move freely in the virtual environment, without being tangled, tripping over, or otherwise being limited by the headset cables.  There are several companies working on wireless adapters but TPCast is the first one to be commercially available, and it sold out within minutes of becoming available for preorder.  More importantly, TPCast does not add any noticeable latency, an issue that has affected other prototype wireless adapters. Unfortunately, there has been no confirmation about its availability or price outside of the US, other than to say that it will be available sometime in 2017. Check out Upl...