Content is king, as the saying goes (among people who get paid to create content, naturally). The adage is about to be put to the test yet again, as virtual reality headsets become a very real part of our lives. As undeniably awesome as the Oculus Rift is (honestly, it blows me away every time I use the thing), it's just a $600 pair of blacked out ski goggles without the right video and gaming fodder.
Thankfully, there appears to be a VR came explosion occurring in parallel with the rise of headsets. We've already seen a handful of prohibitively expensive professional solutions from the likes of companies like Google and Nokia, but until now the availability of more consumer-focused devices has been, at best, limited.
Vuze looks to be one of the more promising of the handful of devices on the CES show floor this week, offering up the capability for an anticipated price of around $999. No cheap, exactly, but keep in mind that the price on the Nokia Ozo, for example, is roughly 60x that.
The device s a sort of rounded square with two cameras on each side that sits atop a tripod - which doubles as a selfie stick, because of course it does. When it ships in August, the camera will be bundled with a VR headset and the company's proprietary software.
The video capture is pretty impressive, offering full 360-degree views. The demo looped footage shot from around Israel, which looks extremely clear, save for a bit shot in a stalactite-covered cave. The rep I spoke with admitted that the camera, in its current form, at least, in low light conditions.
But impressive nonetheless.
