A little fun with a 360 degree video camera

[Keith Carter]

So this new indoor karting place opened on my way home from work....

I entered a Monday night league where we race weekly for 6 weeks. We have 20 or so people in the league with various motorsport backgrounds... Dirt bikes, circle track, sedan racing, kart racers, etc... Pretty neat to pass the winter months!

Here's 360 degree video footage from a Samsung Gear 360 camera. It's the 2016 model which is pretty awesome for what it does. I got mine from my uncle who bought it by mistake since it wasn't compatible with his phone, but they can be purchased for around $50 or so if you want to mess with one. The video quality once uploaded to Youtube is horrible, but raw video footage uncompressed directly from the camera is fantastic.

https://youtu.be/XJABKE1IG3U

[Nardi]

That view is too weird for my eyes!

[Keith Carter]

That view is too weird for my eyes!

At first the video will display in panoramic view until it can read the metadata in order to change the viewer to 360 degree view where you can pan around in all directions. Did you wait a few seconds for it to change?

[Nardi]

I watched thru a couple of overtakes, I presumed a couple of laps. Maybe 45-60 seconds? Perhaps my tablet is slow to respond. Kinda like me!

[Keith Carter]

I'd have to check, but you may need to use a standard browser like IE, Chrome, or Firefox if you happen to be using a proprietary browser on a tablet. You should be able to click and drag on the video to pan around and view whichever direction you want to.

[Jamesbe]

Works fine seems like the lens was a little dirty? Which camera is this?

I picked up a. Gear360 for next season.

[Keith Carter]

It's a Gear 360 (2016 version). The compression Youtube does to it really destroys the quality, but it's a lot of data to manage in one video. It's a 4K front facing camera and a 4K rear facing camera and then stitched together so essentially two 4K movies at the same time. When watching it from my phone, it looks fantastic!

[Beartrax]

There's a guy in the league that I occasionally run in who has one of those. Fun toy!

[Jamesbe]

Yeah same camera I have. Going to mount to the hoop of my FC this summer.

[Nardi]

Viewing is just fine on my phone. Has to be a browser issue.

[Steve Davis]

Cool video Keith. I have contacted Roger P and advised that he should check out the video for the 2 kids that put you in that 'sandwich' :-). Pretty tough competition from the youngsters these days... Having lost 2 videos of EXTREME importance to me and interested in something more reliable, I have a couple of questions...
Like .. that ~10 minute video .. just HOW LARGE is that file? and what does it take to START it when you want it to start .. and what does it take to STOP it when you want it to STOP??
I assume those are ELECTRIC cars ??
PS.. my viewing in firefox under Win7 was great.

[Keith Carter]

Yep, the ones used in this facility are all electric karts. I wasn't very enthused when a couple of the local places changed from gas karts to electric, but some of the newer electric karts have paddle shifters as well as a push to pass (boost) button that adds a bit of fun to the mix that makes electric karts tolerable. Another benefit of electric karts is that driver weight is less of an issue with electric karts because of the torque they have. I'm not going to say it equalizes everything since the kid that went by me in this video is about 125 pounds, but it definitely helps out heavier drivers with pull off the corners.

The camera is about as easy as it gets. You turn it on with the power button, the leds light up, you hit the record button to start recording. To stop recording, just hit the record button again. File size for that particular video of several minutes was about 2GB. It is pretty hefty, but the quality is high and there's a lot of it. I've got a 64GB MicroSD card for it. Another note to mention is that you need to use a high performing (Fast Read/Write) MicroSD card that is from a reputable OEM. Anything that performs poor will cause the card to not be recognized or can also cause the camera to heat up and lock.


One thing to mention about the camera itself, is it's a little on the heavy side. It doesn't appear to be intended for "extreme sports" or harsh environments, but the good thing is that these first gen Gear360 cameras are dirt cheap used off of ebay.

[Jamesbe]

They are dirt cheap new on Amazon. Like $60!

[OneWayOut]

...wasn't compatible with his phone...

If it has a SD card and a record/power button, why would you need a phone?

[Jamesbe]

It processes the files a million times faster on the phone then the PC.

Also there are some settings not avail without the phone to configure it.

[Keith Carter]

If it has a SD card and a record/power button, why would you need a phone?

Not sure exactly what he was going to use it for, but for direct connection using the Gear 360 app that you can use with the camera. There is post-processing that needs to be done to the video in order to "stitch" the front and rear facing videos together in order to make the complete 360 degree video. This can be done with either a Samsung phone or with a Windows application that is included with the camera.

[Jamesbe]

I got out on test day with mine.

Unfortunately it shut off after 20 mins, but I was going so slow you can see everyone pass me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdYmWgpPAUU

Apparently these things overheat after 20min. Kind of odd since it was out in the open and only 5c outside !

[Keith Carter]

I got out on test day with mine.

Unfortunately it shut off after 20 mins, but I was going so slow you can see everyone pass me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdYmWgpPAUU

Apparently these things overheat after 20min. Kind of odd since it was out in the open and only 5c outside !

Cameras with 4k ability write a whole lot of data to the memory card. You need to have a VERY fast micro SD card to record without lock up issues. For whatever reason the camera overheats when attempting to record to a slow memory card. I would make sure that the write speed of the memory card you have is at least 60-80 MBps if not more. You must also make sure that it's from a reputable source. A lot of places like ebay and Amazon have vendors that sell knock off impostors that don't come anywhere close to their listed performance.

[Jamesbe]

I'll try that. I'll get s good 64gig or something. Thanks.

[mikey]

Can you watch 360 video through VR headset of some sort so when you turn your head left and right it is like moving the camera angle?

[Jamesbe]

Yes, it works like that on your phone. So the VR googles for phones works like that.

[racerdad2]

Would these hold up on top of a Formula car ? Great video to share with the stewards if need be. Worth a try since they're so inexpensive.

[Keith Carter]

They would hold up for a while at least I would imagine. The lense is exposed and there are gaskets to seal the innards it looks like, but I haven't put mine to the test. For $60, they are kind of disposable I guess. It looks like GoPro is also coming out with one that would probably be a bit more durable.

[Jamesbe]

Yeah did you see my video? Who knows if it will shake itself to death but it worked.

Also it does die after 20min due to internal heat, reducing the quality one notch had it run 39 mins which is plenty for me.

[mikey]

I think I will get a Fly4K H when they come out. The shape allows for helmet top integration or could put it on top of car and have lower profile than GP or others.