SAN FRANCISCO, CA 

InstaVR, Inc., a virtual reality (VR) authoring, publishing, and analysis company, announced today support for 180-degree VR videos. The feature expansion allows owners of 180-degree cameras to create and distribute apps across all of the major VR headsets supported by InstaVR.

180-degree filming, though not as fully-immersive as 360-degree filming, still gives end users a level of interactivity that mimics real life, particularly if experienced through a VR headset. Recent data released by Google, and confirmed by InstaVR’s own heat map analysis, suggests that 360 media users spend upwards of 75 percent of the time looking within the immediate 90 degrees in front of them. This data underscores that a market for 180-degree VR experiences already exists.

To utilize this new feature, InstaVR users will upload their 180-degree mp4 videos to the InstaVR Console, in exactly the same way as they would for 360-degree video. In the Authoring tab, the user will select what type of 180-degree video they’ve captured (standard vs. fish eye side-by-side vs. fish eye top-bottom). Depending on video capture, the end packaged VR app will either be a flat 180-degree video or rendered in 3D.

Google plans to partner with Yi, Lenovo, and LG to launch a line of 180-degree cameras later this year. In the meantime, users can still capture the media and utilize it with InstaVR, including recording from select mobile devices.

“Capturing video in 180-degree format has a lot of advantages” said Daniel Haga, Founder and CEO of InstaVR. “With less expensive cameras, shorter planning time, and smaller total app size, we expect to see a lot of clients utilizing this media type in the coming year. And as confirmed by our heat map data, we don’t expect it to radically change the user experience too significantly.”

To sign up for a free account and create your own app using 180-degree video, please visit https://www.instavr.co

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About InstaVR, Inc. 

Based in San Francisco, InstaVR is a virtual reality focused technology company, providing tools and services to enable professionals to author and publish interactive VR experiences. InstaVR is completely web-based and requires no specialized engineering knowledge. Since launching in early 2016, over 10,000 companies have created thousands of immersive 360-degree apps for iOS, Android, Web, Gear VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Daydream. For more information and to access the InstaVR platform, visit https://www.instavr.co.