The social giant Facebook has a live-streaming feature and also the ability to show 360 footage. Since then, It has been predicted that the company will create a new product based on those two. And now it has.
On December 13th, 2016, Facebook is calling it Live 360. The feature is basically a live-streaming feature with a 360-degree ability.
Available for the News Feed only, the feature started its debut by live-streaming a broadcast from National Geographic from the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.
Eight scientists that emerged from their 80 days isolation for the first time was captured in the 360-degree live-streaming feature. The research was funded by the Mars Society, a group devoted to making that red planet habitable. Since September, the group of scientists have been living inside pods in the facility with total isolation from humanity feels.
As for Facebook's part, it's showing the footage for all users. The broadcast also included a Q&A with the scientists.
At the moment of its launch, Live 360 was more like a test - a debut to get more attention before a bigger moment happens. The Mars event felt more like a demo than a true storytelling.
But indeed, the experience is immersive. And because it's real-time, it can certainly be an option for what might become the home for pioneering videos that would eventually make be a new source of online entertainment.
Supratik Lahiri, Facebook's product manager, stated:
Facebook's Live 360 isn't having any support for 4K resolution or spatial audio whatsoever just yet. But Facebook said that it's thinking to bring those features to Live 360 somewhere in the future.
Initially only available for the News Feed only and not VR, users can however see the replays using the headset. Facebook recommends Nokia Ozo or Freedom360 Broadcaster rig with Vahana VR for high quality experiences, or the Giroptic iO, Insta360 Nano or Ricoh Theta S for less produced moments.
Coming to more people in 2017, Facebook is going to give other big publishers access to its Live API "in the coming months," Facebook said. Later on, Eventually, Facebook wants to roll the feature to all Pages and to all users.
Besides the API, to use the feature, users need to have a special camera to capture the moments live in a 360-degree viewable format.
Facebook in launching Live 360 is following YouTube after the video-streaming titan rolled out 4K 360 live broadcasting. Here, Facebook is left behind, but to make up to its late appearance, Facebook is taking Live 360 to be a more user-friendly feature. YouTube requires users to have special encoder software set up on their computer in order to live stream in 360. Facebook on the other hand, aims to allow normal user profiles to be able to broadcast 360-degree live-streaming videos using their mobile devices without requiring them to use desktop software.
Facebook and YouTube together, are having the potential to own most of the web's 360-degree live video broadcasting demands. Beating Twitter's Periscope fair and square since it currently doesn't offer any 360 support, although it's actually built the foundation for 360 streaming from encoders into its Periscope Producer feature.
Snapchat as another competitor, notably lacks 360 features. Its Spectacles can record contents in circular video so users can see it in portrait or landscape, but not around in a 360-degree sphere.