GoPro is diving head first into VR with the announcement of their latest six-camera array capable of capturing images and video that can be stitched together to create virtual reality content. The news announcement comes from GoPro CEO Nick Woodman this Wednesday during an onstage interview at the Recode Code conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
GoPro’s Six-Camera Spherical Solution is a housing accessory that will accommodate six Hero4 cameras, capturing high-resolution images and video from all angles. GoPro plans to roll out the six-camera product in the second half of this year, with pricing suggested north of $3,000.
GoPro was already working on the concept, but expedited its development effort after Facebook spent $2 billion on virtual reality start-up Oculus last year.
GoPro CEO Nick Woodman and Recode’s Kara Swisher (Image via Recode)
Last month GoPro hinted at their interest in the growing virtual reality space with the acquisition of VR media company Kolor. With the help of software from Kolor, consumers will be able to stitch together and create 360-degree spherical videos that they capture using the new GoPro 360 housing mounts.
“VR is going to be popular just based on gaming alone,” Woodman said at the conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. “But for VR to be appealing to non-gamers it’s going to need content. It’s going to need photo and video content, and GoPro is positioned better than anyone in the world.”
Over the past couple months we have seen Facebook and YouTube both announce support for spherical video playback on their platforms. GoPro is positioning themselves nicely as the recording device of choice to now show your epic moments in full 360.
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