VidCon: YouTube launches VR180 video format, cheap VR cameras in tow

YouTube intends to make VR content creation and consumption easier with the launch of VR180, CEO Susan Wojcicki announced yesterday at VidCon.

VR180 is a new video format that is intended to be easier for creators to work with, as well as visually appealing for viewers.

“VR180 video focuses on what’s in front of you, are high resolution, and look great on desktop and on mobile,” Product Manager Frank Rodriguez writes in a blog post.

The videos can be viewed using Cardboard, Daydream, and PSVR. They also allow for livestreaming.

Rodriguez writes that creators will be able to set up and film their videos like they normally would, but for now editing is limited. Editing suites like Adobe Premiere Pro will be compatible with the format “soon”.

Google’s Daydream is also working with manufacturers to create a VR camera that will cost roughly the same amount as a point-and-shoot. Its partners include YI, Lenovo and LG — all of whom should have cameras on the shelves this US winter.

YouTube: ‘VR180 video focuses on what’s in front of you, are high resolution, and look great on desktop and on mobile’

YouTube is currently loaning out the cameras from its YouTube Spaces to eligible creators around the globe.

Along with this news came the reveal that YouTube is now pulling in 1.5-billion users every month — all of whom watch an average of one hour of content per day on mobile alone.

It is also updating the look of its app and desktop site to accommodate all aspect ratios so that the likes of vertical videos automatically adjust to the user’s screen. Previously these videos were accompanied by black bars that shrank the video.

A preview of the desktop update was opened last month.

Finally, the company announced that it was still pushing through with YouTube Red. Twelve new projects will be added to the platform at an unspecified time in the future.

Feature image: Dan Lundmark via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY, resized)