Today we are going to review another brand new stereoscopic 3D 360 camera,
the Live Planet.
The Live Planet is designed for 3D 360 and 3D 180 live stream
with supposed to be the best stereoscopic effects for human eyes.
The camera has 16 lenses to makes sure there is no blind spot in stereoscopic stitching,
and the stitching is all happen inside the camera
without needing any post production.
It has automatic HDR video feature to increase the dynamic range.
Subject supposed to be able to get close to the camera,
closer than any other camera currently out in the market.
Its maximum resolution is only 4K and it has a pretty hefty price tag,
almost $10,000.
Right now, both YouTube and Facebook does not really support 3D 360 live stream in 4K,
so Live Planet build their own platform for 3D 360 live stream
that use view-optimized cloud streaming,
live stream technology that's far superior than Facebook and YouTube.
In this video, we'll find out everything about this camera,
what I like and what I don't like
and what I really think with real world test footage
and image quality comparison between Live Planet and the INSTA 360 PRO 2,
KANDAO OBSIDIAN R and the best live stream camera,
the Samsung Round right here.
Let's dive right in.
[music]
Hi, what's up everybody? It's your boy Hugh here from CreatorUp.
If you are watching this video,
I assume you have decent knowledge about 3D 360 camera
and looking for a reliable 3D 360 live stream solution.
Live streaming is the best way to make money right now in the 360 industry.
It does not require any post production but it does require camera reliability.
A lot of the professional 360 cameras now in the market
are not so reliable in long hour recording.
They will freeze or over heat or shutdown during the live event.
Let's take a look at the Live Planet, a 3D 360 live stream camera,
their design from the ground up for live streaming.
It's an end to end live stream solution.
What I mean is that you don't need to purchase extra switcher,
SDI cards, expensive stitching computers or software to have a successful live stream.
Everything is built in.
It does save you a lot of money and headache
and less chance for hardware or software failure by simplifying the whole process.
It is nice to have if you have any experience in 360 live stream
using the Nokia Ozo or the Samsung Round.
Let's talk about the image quality.
This camera is very, very small but with 16 lenses,
more lenses that the Google Yi HALO and judging from the Z cam V1,
Yi HALO and Samsung Round more lenses usually mean better stereo
with better stitching, but this camera is only 4K
which is kind of low in 2019.
Again, resolution does not mean anything if the image quality is good.
Let's compare the Live Planet with some of the popular 360 camera in the market
to see if it hold up.
Here is the side by side comparison, from left to right we have the Live Planet,
Insta 360 PRO2 and the Kandao Obsidian R.
First thing you notice is that Live Planet has a bottom blindspot,
it can not capture the tripod area just like the Yi Halo.
The image is also not as sharp compared to the Insta 360 PRO 2 and the Obsidian R.
Let's zoom in and take a closer look.
Now you really see the difference.
If you've watched my latest video on max resolution of Oculus Go,
I mentioned, at the end of the video,
that 8K down sampling to 4K will always look better than 4K direct capture
no matter what your final output resolution are.
This is a prime example of that statement.
Even this video is 4K 3D 360,
but since both Insta 360 PRO 2 and Kandao Obsidian R are capable to capture 8K,
the image will look clear and sharper than Live Planet.
There are also a couple of noticeable blur spots,
pixelated edges and chromatic aberration as I point out in the video.
Now, let's see the stitching.
You will need to watch the actual test video in 360 or in a VR headset
with YouTube VR to really see the stitching quality.
Click the link in the top right corner to find that video.
In around two feet, when I circling around the camera,
you can see noticeable optical flow after effects
in both the Kandao Obsidian and the Insta 360 PRO 2 but not the Live Planet.
Live Planet, no doubt about it, win the stitching
but the chromatic aberration is getting worse
when crossing the stitch line in the Live Planet.
I hope they can fix that in the new firmware update.
Now, let's take a look at the stereoscopic quality.
Here is a screen grab of the Live Planet in anograph.
Here is side by side comparison with the Insta 360 PRO 2.
As you see the distant object, which is the white wall,
should have minimal parallax and definitely should not have any vertical parallax.
Live Planet did exactly that
but Insta 360 PRO 2 has pretty bad vertical parallax.
The stereoscopic quality is definitely better in the Live Planet.
Just to point out, here is the Kandao Obsidian R
and Kandao also did a great job in stereo quality.
As you see, no vertical parallax on the white wall as well. Just a word of warning,
if you want a solid stereo stitch to create good 3D
use Mistika VR not the Insta 360 stitcher
and fix the vertical parallax issue in post.
In conclusion, Live Planet, no doubt, has the best close distance stitching
make it the best live stream option,
but probably not a camera for regular 3D 360 production.
Both the dynamic range and the image quality are not as good as the others.
And 4K just don't cut it,
you need more resolution and bigger sensor
to just compete with the Insta 360 PRO 2 or the Kandao Obsidian.
Resolution and image quality
is not always the determining factors for 3D 360 production.
Until this point, provide a live 3D 360 preview
on set in a VR headset like that.
For the director and the client is not existence.
In a professional film set,
not be able to show what the final image look like
to the director or to the client on set
who pay you for the job is a huge problem in cinematic VR.
Asking the director and the client to trust you,
the DP is not always possible
especially for director or clients that never done VR before.
Showing them live what you're capturing give them confidence to direct
and to buy in for the final product.
When client see real 3D of what they pay for is always great for production.
It really involves the client in the creative process instead of blind trust.
If a budget allow,
I will definitely suggest get or rent the Live Planet
and put it on top of your bigger professional 360 VR camera
just to get a live feed out to show your client and director on set.
Other feature that make Live Planet stand out is
first, remote control of camera from the cloud.
Second, open camera API so you can integrate your VR app
or your live stream solution with the camera.
Third, simultaneously streaming to multiple platforms
like in Samsung VR, Facebook and YouTube at the same time.
It is actually a very important feature
and probably why you will buy the Live Planet.
No other camera can do that right now, at least not natively.
Four, integrated speed test and stream health monitor
which is always nice to have.
One big feature on live stream is view optimized foveation cloud streaming.
Live Planet use advanced algorithm
to predict head movement to enable VR video stream over LTE network
by using 80% less bandwidth.
Potentially, you can still see 4K or high resolution stream
even with very slow Internet connection.
This is so important as most people nowadays
still do not have a very fast enough Internet speed to watch 360 video in 4K.
All they left off is a very ugly stream
which is very not ideal and make 360 live stream a laughing stocks.
This technology can potentially change that.
What about a thing I don't like about this camera?
Live Planet is only 4K.
$10,000 for a 4K camera does not sound like a good deal in 2019.
It does not have internal audio recording ability at all.
You need to pair it with a Zoom H2n or H3-VR
which is a hassle.
It does have a little fan to keep the camera cool.
You can hear it sometime in a live stream.
It still require an Ethernet cable and a power cord to work
and do not has a internal battery solution,
which should make it hard to use outside of the studio environment.
You will need a D-tap cable,
V-lock battery or Gold Mount battery to run the camera.
The amazing Live Planet live stream platform is not free.
You get $10,000 credit when you start,
but still charging for platform fee for a camera that cost a fortune
is probably a little bit too much.
Thank you for watching this in depth review
of the brand new Live Planet VR live stream camera.
It is not over yet.
The next video, I will compare it with the Samsung Round.
I will do a real live stream with you guys on this camera
so you see the quality firsthand.
If you want to learn more about Live Planet,
and tutorial series on how to do a successful 360 VR live stream
with Live Planet or any other 360 live streaming camera like the Samsung Round,
don't forget to subscribe to this channel.
Please like and share this video, and I will see you next time.
We are greater level up on CreatorUp.
[music]