Baidu Investment Holographic Video 8i Receives $27 Million B Series Financing

[Baidu VR original manuscript, reproduced please indicate the source]

(Beijing time February 14, 2017) Recently, a New Zealand holographic video platform 8i announced that Baidu (Baidu Ventures announced its first investment project), Verizon, and Time Warner to jointly invest and complete a $ 27 million B The round of financing, at the same time, its team also released Google Tango technology-driven hybrid reality application Hlol.

8i 360-degree video capture technology

As early as 2015, 8i has completed a total of 13.5 million rounds of A financing, launched a 360-degree video capture system, allowing users to watch video from different angles, we all know that most of the current VR video is taken with a panoramic camera, although A 360-degree picture is achieved, but the fixed lens is not free to watch the world in VR, because when the video is taken, the camera position will fix the perspective. You can only see a part of the panoramic picture in this camera position, which will not only damage The user's immersive experience, the user is very passive in the VR world, in order to be able to enjoy the perfect 360-degree panoramic video in different positions, 8i team developed so that you use any angle to explore and experience virtual reality.

8i technology demo video:

Founded in May 2014, 8i was jointly founded by three founders: Linc Gasking, Eugene d Eon, and Joshua Feast. The current team has more than 30 members. Most of these members are from YouTube, PayPal, Microsoft, Sony, etc. The office is located in New Zealand. Downtown Wellington, San Francisco, California Hollywood have offices.

8i 360-degree video capture technology

At present, the technical scope designed by 8i is applicable to tourism applications, dating applications and fashion fields, etc. In the future, the center of gravity of 8i will not be fully invested in the R&D and manufacturers of shooting equipment. Instead, it will launch a platform for users to create through platforms. Experience and share V3D video in life (measured volume 3D video). They also released the initial version of the "3D Vido" player for Oculus Rift. As the Oculus Rift consumer version was not available at the time, 8i looks Avatar has the latest consumer device market, such as Google's capture technology Tango.

8i CEO Linc Gasking

8i executive director Steve Raymond said: “Now consumers are gradually creating content on their smart phones, and mobile provides an unparalleled opportunity for the distribution of holograms. We are very pleased to have the support of the media, communications, and vendors. With financing from global companies such as Baidu and Time Warner, we look forward to cooperating with investors from China, the United States, Europe and Australia, and will bring more outstanding technologies and content to users in the future."

8i Technology Demonstration

Currently, the mixed reality application 8i developed by Holo is still in testing phase and is expected to be released this year. The application allows users to use Google Smartphones such as Tango and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro to capture real-world videos and “incarnate” them. Into the scene to achieve translation and rotation match the camera's movement.

The working principle of the current Holo application Baidu VR community (micro-signal: BDVRbbs) is not yet clear, because the virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality are still in the early stages of development, I believe that in the future, 8i will bring you new holograms that are not available in the future. Video experience.