Condition One, that cool new video startup that enables video creators to shoot immersive, 180-degree video mainstream, has announced a new player for ultra-HD playback and compatibility with RED and GoPro cameras. Together, that should enable a new way of shooting and distributing video on iPhones, the iPad, and the web.
The startup has technology that provides a unique, 180-degree field of vision. It basically mimics the human eye, and allows viewers to watch navigate around the fringes of the frame, just like usual peripheral vision. To do so, Condition One relies on a specialized lens that can be used with cameras that shoot ultra-HD 2.7K resolution like the RED — or the lens built in to new GoPro cameras, which captures 170 degrees.
Condition One has a specialized player, which essentially breaks the videos into four quadrants, each of which display 720p video, and then stitches them all back together. The new Condition One player, being announced and made available today at CES, will also now handle live video in addition to that which is shot on-demand.
Condition One was founded by war videographer and documentary producer Danfung Dennis, whose film “Hell and Back Again” was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award. Together with Chief Product Officer Takaaki Okada, the two have brought the technology to market, enabling other filmmakers to display their content in the same way. Since being founded in 2010, Condition One has raised $2.35 million from Mark Cuban, Manilla CEO George Kliavkoff, and other angels.