@jcasman Did you ever meet this guy, Kazunobu Saiki-san?
It looks like they have a demo of the spatial audio. Is our contact at Ricoh going to show that demo at the meetup in San Francisco?
1 Like
I met Saiki-san about a year and a half ago in Tokyo. He’s a marketing manager for RICOH THETA (sorry, don’t know his exact title) and seems like a good guy with lots of knowledge and enthusiasm. I haven’t heard back from TK (product manager, speaking at the RICOH THETA meetup next week) whether he’s including the statial audio demo or not. I certainly hope so. I’ve made sure we have a good AV setup for sound, just in case.
That interview indicates that you need a PC to do live streaming. However, as we saw with the Ricoh R Dev Kit, the company has the technology to stitch live streaming video internal to the camera. For the RICOH THETA S, the features came out over time. If you recall, at time of launch, there was no UVC Blender. This was added later with firmware and software upgrades.
We’ll probably need to evaluate both the feature set at launch and also what the camera is capable of with future firmware and software upgrades. The tantalizing information about the internal Android OS really opens up the possibility to do many things with the camera in the future.
1 Like
Wonder is it Audio out and Microfon in ?
Running Android 6.0.1Marshmallow you can even use the USB to connect external storage.
Edit: But will it be Mac friendly running Android ?
1 Like
I have no special knowledge and am only speculating. I think it is a microphone in jack to use higher-quality external microphones.
I think the camera will work with both Mac and Windows, same as now. I believe the function of the Android OS is to help with image processing inside of the camera, possibly related to stitching or other image processing. Once the image or stream is processed, it should interface with Mac/Windows the same.
I am just speculating.
2 Likes
All right test with @jcasman mac and connect Your Android Phone to his iMac
IF it functions with a THETA running 6.0.1Marshmallow it is good
hate to say but our experience on this are a bit troublesome 
1 Like
The product manager for the THETA in the US has a Mac and several engineers at RICOH working on the THETA have Macs. Once the camera is available, we’ll also test it with a Mac. Based on past history, I believe the Mac will be a tier-1 supported platform, no different from Windows and that the Mac compatibility will be tested extensively.
3 Likes
Sirs, would this release be the Ricoh Dev R or is it the continuation of Ricoh Theta S? Are they different products? I am very thrilled with ambisonic audio. Thank you!
The RICOH R Dev Kit is not connected to the THETA line. The THETA line is for consumers and in some cases, professionals. The RICOH R Dev Kit is targeted at developers that want to prototype a product, probably with live streaming. However, the RICOH R Dev Kit may be usable in certain non-developer projects. Note that the resolution of the THETA will be 4K for streaming. For the RICOH R Dev Kit, it is 2K, considerably lower. Unless your project is time-sensitive or budget is not a big issue, then you may want to wait for the next THETA instead of the RICOH R Dev Kit. Though, if you do get the Dev Kit, please post a review.
2 Likes
Sirs, I work exclusively with Live Streaming 360. Yes, I bought the Ricoh R Dev. But I am sad to know that only another model will be 4k. The model for consumers is 4K, but for us the professional product is full HD, very strange. Sad, but I’ll have to buy the two products.
Did you receive the RICOH R Dev Kit? I’ve never seen it. I’m curious to learn more about it. The RICOH R Dev Kit has internal stitching, right?
1 Like
I did not receive the Ricoh R Dev. As far as I know Ricoh will send from May. Has anyone received your Ricoh Dev R?
Yes, from what I read it has internal sewing.
Am very stoked about this announcement…like others here eager to know more details.
2 Likes
Paul, me, too! There’s a meetup in San Francisco next week, and the product manager will be giving an overview of the announcement details. Wish you were closer! I’ll let you know if we find out anything more:
2 Likes
From International VR Photography Association Conference (IVRPA) VIENNA 2017, June 3-6 2017, Tomohiro Noguchi, General Manager, Product Planning Division, Ricoh. (Audio starts at 1:25)
Dear RICOH
Please do not forget to make it possible to render a lossless stabilized border less 2:1 Video, by importing the Gyro Meta data from the image file
and a possibility to shot circular Raw images for 90 degree external stritch
Regards Svendus
1 Like
@jcasman Thank You we edited the text to make it more clear
possible to render a lossless stabilized border less 2:1 Video
90 degree external stitch
Note: 2 Shots = 4 images
Stitched in PTGui Pro
Crop and mask
or stitched in Auto Pano Giga
Files
Note You can only play the index.html file in the Output folder offline in the Mozilla Firefox browser
A 90 degree external stitch gives better image quality because the unsharp areas in the Lens periphery are cropped away and disappears in the overlay in the stitch it is only the sky and ground that little blurry 
Example Panorama
Well, this is interesting! The latest update information on the THETA apps on the official site includes the following improvements:
＜Editing app＞
■THETA+ for iPhone
・4K time lapse videos can now be saved.
*iPhone 6s and later
・The user interface was improved for easy use.
Emphasis added by me. Has anyone used this yet? Pretty cool!
1 Like
