

Kodak SP360 Action Cam - makmanalp
http://kodakpixpro.com/Americas/cameras/activeCam/sp360.php

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smikhanov
I recently purchased Kodak's SPZ1 camera as a waterproof and shockproof
alternative to iPhone. I made few test videos and my conclusion is that the
camera is mostly unusable due to the poor video quality that is a result of
some poor choices in firmware settings (that cannot be adjusted by the user).
The overall video quality (sharpness, colours, etc) is noticeably worse than
iPhone's. I recorded the video in the same conditions using iPhone 4S and SPZ1
and noticed that the output video file is compressed by SPZ1 with really low
bitrate. SPZ1 records a file at 10mbps, while iPhone does 21mbps in the same
conditions, with the same resolution and framerate. 10mbps is way too low for
the HD video.

The Fujitsu DSP chip that SPZ1 uses is normally capable of a wide range of
output bitrates, including the higher ones. The bitrate could have been
increased (and video quality improved) by simply releasing a new version of
firmware, that utilizes the chip to its fuller capacity. On a positive side,
SPZ1 is using H.264 High profile for the output video, whereas iPhone 4S uses
just H.264 Baseline. My guess is that it's just the default setting in the
Fujitsu chip and not a result of someone's good will.

Another note is about audio. SPZ has a great stereo microphone, but the audio
stream is bundled uncompressed into a video stream, which means that of the
10mbps I mention above, 1.5mbps (15% of the total bitrate) is given to audio
and only 8.5mbps to video. This is such a waste -- the same Fujitsu chip can
easily compress audio as well. For comparison, iPhone 4S compresses the mono
stream into AAC with 0.06mbps (0.3% of the total bitrate). This also could
clearly have been made using another firmware settings, but it seems like
Kodak does not care.

As a conclusion, I'm pretty sceptical about anything Kodak releases lately.
They may understand hardware, but like Sony, their software choices are
questionable.

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fidz
> They may understand hardware, but like Sony, their software choices are
> questionable.

Could you elaborate? I know some Sony phone is not well-made (late release,
bug somewhere, laggy etc). But i don't knos about their other consumer device.

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hoopism
The expectation conceptually is so much greater than the results of this thing
that I can't help but think that EVERYONE will be dissapointed...

Just look at their example "extreme" videos... the 360 video is disorienting
and useless.

Is it just me? I clicked on the videos ready to be blown away... and I just
wasn't.

Motorcycle
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjybKOtJ9DE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjybKOtJ9DE)

Skydiving
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dItRHmvbSjI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dItRHmvbSjI)

~~~
joezydeco
I kind of wonder what would happen if you coupled this camera with some
software that let you virtually direct the shot in post-editing. The software
would demangle the distortion, maybe smooth out the motion, and perform the
pan/crop/etc.

I know that's not the goal here, they just wanted to one-up the GoPro. I agree
that the distortion verges on nauseating.

~~~
phkahler
Yes, 360 video is IMHO dumb. But the ability to select a "normal" shot after
the fact - or in real time without a gimbal - would be really awesome. Great
for capturing drone video for example.

~~~
joezydeco
Killer idea. Imagine one of those auto-follow drones mated with this camera...

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mrfusion
Would this be useful for viewing pictures in the oculus?

Could it be combined with some kind of depth sensor like the kinect then you
could actually move around in your pictures.

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sp332
I don't see how this would work with an oculus. This gives a 360 view looking
outward, but walking around something needs 360 looking inward. That said, an
oculus could be a great "monitor" to sit and look around while this video is
playing "around" you! You just can't move :)

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unwind
Interesting device!

Weird/unexpected/innovative form factor for an action camera, a segment that
is otherwise pretty much associated with the GoPro. The 360º thing is cool,
although I guess it's less suitable to be mounted on a person and do point-of-
view movies? Not sure, it does look pretty small so perhaps it's doable.

The specs sheet PDF
([http://kodakpixpro.com/docs/specsheets/actioncam/sp360/sp360...](http://kodakpixpro.com/docs/specsheets/actioncam/sp360/sp360-specsheet-
en.pdf)) was very hard to load, but it does have the dimensions. It's 41.1 x
50.0 x 38.0 mm i.e. fairly tiny.

I wonder if nobody at Kodak runs Firefox in Windows; for me the main copy on
the first image is black-on-black, i.e. unreadable unless I drag to select it.
"Oops", I guess.

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cuu508
If the optics and resolution is right, might this be Good Enough for
crowdsourced StreetView?

~~~
aruggirello
While 16Mp seems to be a reasonable resolution for traditional images, basic
pano resolution is usually (for instance, on 360cities.net) 6000x3000 for
equirectangular images, that is 18Mp. Of course if you wish to allow zooming
in even a little bit, that number is much, much larger.

A modern DSLR with a pano head and a super wideangle/fisheye lens typically
enables shooting somewhere in the range of (depending on actual lens setup)
60-300Mp panos with little effort - but of course we're talking about an
altogether different gear.

BTW, what's the purpose for a crowdsourced StreetView, when we have sites like
360cities.net?

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bqst
It makes me think of [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/giroptic/the-
worlds-fir...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/giroptic/the-worlds-first-
full-hd-360-camera)

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stangeek
Nice - I once had a playsport from Kodak (no longer produced I believe) and
really enjoyed it. If this is of the same quality it's certainly worth
trying...

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Tepix
I also noticed that there is a new model of the Ricoh Theta camera available
since yesterday and it finally also does 360° video.

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astrowilliam
I wonder if it is able to be used for astrophotography. If so, you can take my
money.

~~~
sxcurry
My first thought also - might make a great all-sky camera.

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swang
Anyone know if this was produced internally or outsourced?

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kevin_thibedeau
Outsourced. Kodak ditched its internal electronics development years ago. It
is now just a brand slapped on whitebox designs from Chinese developers like
Westinghouse or RCA or a host of other recycled domestic brands.

\-- Former Kodak employee

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ck2
Waiting for the $50 chinese clones...

