MWC 2017: Ricoh starts pre-orders for first of its kind 360-degree live streaming video camera

Ricoh has started pre-orders for the first of its kind 360 degree live streaming video camera known as Ricoh R Development Kit. The device was initially announced at the Consumer Electronics Show 2017 held in January.

The device is priced at $499 (roughly Rs 33,290), with shipments expected to start from May 2017. The Ricoh R system is available in only select markets as of now, and the pre-orders are not officially available in India.

The device outputs 360 degree videos at 30 fps, by stitching together the images from two fisheye lenses in real time to the Equirectangular Projection Format. The resulting feed can then be output through HDMI, USB or written to removable storage on board. The device allows for up to 24 hours of continuous live streaming if attached to an AC Adapter. If being written to memory, the expandable storage supports memory cards up to 32 GB, but a single file can only be 4GB or smaller.

The camera is a little sensitive to heat, and Ricoh recommends that the ambient temperature is 30 degrees Celsius or less for twenty four hours continuous live streams. The camera is configured to shut itself down if it gets too hot.

Ricoh plans to open source the code for the software control of the camera, so that users and the community can enjoy maximum flexibility. Apart from live streaming, use cases include surveillance, telepresence and computer vision applications.

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