Hi Scott,

Can you provide the full details of the camera type and model that you bought so we can better help you?

Also, FYI, video shot with a 360 camera needs to be stiched before imported into PowerDirector. Usually the camera comes with software that does this part for you.

So just provide your camera info and we can help you sort it out.

David

Quote Hi Scott,

Can you provide the full details of the camera type and model that you bought so we can better help you?

Also, FYI, video shot with a 360 camera needs to be stiched before imported into PowerDirector. Usually the camera comes with software that does this part for you.

So just provide your camera info and we can help you sort it out.

David

David:

Thanks for your help.
I'm not sure what to call this camera. It is not a brand name camera.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/360-WIFI-4K-HD-VR-Camera-Panoramic-Camera-Action-Dash-Cam-LCD-display-Sports/391945123920?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=660907327890&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

WRT Stitching, from what I've read (and I'm just starting with this so this could be wrong), stitching only needs to be done for the footage shot by multiple cameras, or when the camera shoots the footage in a double circle type format or the cube type formats. If my footage does need stitching, how do I go about that?

In any case, when I load footage from my camera into PD's library, it looks circular.

Again, thanks for any help you can give me. Scott Hendry
www.scotthendry.com
YouTube username TheCscottHendry

G'day Scott -

First up, I doubt I'll be much help. I've never heard of that camera before you posted & what I've learnt about it has been in the last 10 minutes or so.

This guy did an unboxing & showed how to use the XDV 360 app. One viewer asked if he could upload the video he was playing with in the app, but he hasn't done that yet.

My impression is that that camera would not be able to generate a 360° video. If you had two of them connected via the threaded "tripod" hole, you'd get a full 360° equirectangular video after stitching.

I saw that here.

Anyway - I'm thinking that's why there's a "hole". Based on what the first guy was doing in the app, where there were various view options... none of which appeared to be actual 360. Interesting though.

Is the app you're using called XDV-360?

Yeh - I know - about as much help as an ashtray on a motor bike.

Cheers - Tony
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Quote G'day Scott -

First up, I doubt I'll be much help. I've never heard of that camera before you posted & what I've learnt about it has been in the last 10 minutes or so.

This guy did an unboxing & showed how to use the XDV 360 app. One viewer asked if he could upload the video he was playing with in the app, but he hasn't done that yet.

My impression is that that camera would not be able to generate a 360° video. If you had two of them connected via the threaded "tripod" hole, you'd get a full 360° equirectangular video after stitching.

I saw that here.

Anyway - I'm thinking that's why there's a "hole". Based on what the first guy was doing in the app, where there were various view options... none of which appeared to be actual 360. Interesting though.

Is the app you're using called XDV-360?

Yeh - I know - about as much help as an ashtray on a motor bike.

Cheers - Tony

Au contraire Tony, that was very helpful!
Yes, that is the camera I bought, and yes that is the app I loaded on my iPad. On the iPad, the video can be displayed in a number of different ways, as you mentioned, but there are no holes showing in the views.
I haven't looked at this yet, but even if the app can convert the footage to something like what it displays on the iPad, I don't fancy running all my footage through the iPad to be able to use it.
I wouldn't mind that the video footage is not truly 360, but is in fact an extreme wide angle lens, if I could make some sensible use of the footage through PD or another NLE. The iPad app makes a useable display of the footage, which would be acceptable for my uses. I just don't know if there's another program to convert the footage from what it is to something more useful.

Failing finding a solution, I probably will just send the camera back. If they refuse the return of it, then I haven't lost much money. It was only $63US with free postage so it's not going to break the bank if I'm stuck with it.

In any case; thanks for your input. Scott Hendry
www.scotthendry.com
YouTube username TheCscottHendry

Scott -

I forgot to mention something else I came across right in these forums. One user posted a Windows version of the XDV-360 app. Don't know if that'll make it any better for you.

Cheers - Tony
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Quote Scott -

I forgot to mention something else I came across right in these forums. One user posted a Windows version of the XDV-360 app. Don't know if that'll make it any better for you.

Cheers - Tony

Hi Tony:

I looked at the XDV 360 "app" and you have to install an app environment program to run the "apk" file (whatever that is). I also came across some YouTube videos saying that you could use the Kodak PixPro software with the footage. But alas, Kodak have "improved" their software and now it won't run without their camera plugged into the PC.

Arrrgh! This seems to be a case of diminishing returns.

Thanks again though for your efforts. Scott Hendry
www.scotthendry.com
YouTube username TheCscottHendry

Hi All:
For the benefit of anyone else puzzling over this, the 360Fly Desktop Director will convert this type of footage to Equirectangular format that PD requires... But it is SLOOOOOOOW!

Given that these cameras are becoming cheaper and more prevelant, it would be really greate if PD supported this format for "360" video as well as the Equirectangular format, in the future release

HINT
HINT

;

Are you there Cyberlink???

Thanks all for the suggestions and help, especially Tony for the link to the other thread, and the poster of that other thread for putting in the hard yardds in the first place. Scott Hendry
www.scotthendry.com
YouTube username TheCscottHendry

I have a Samsung Gear 360 (2016) camera. I have to stich the footage in a Samsung OEM branded version of Cyberlink Action Director. That is also slow. It stiches the both very heavy wide angle lenses into an equirectangular format. PD 16 fully supports that format. A 360° video can be imagined as displayed in the inner of a big sphere. And you as the viewer of the video are right in the middel of the sphere. With viewer programs on a PC you can turn the sphere while watching. Or push it up and down. Or whatever. On a VR player on mobile phone you turn yourself in the middle of the sphere. You need a complete 360° footage to cover the inner of the sphere completely. You need at least 2 lenses in a camera for that purpose. But the inner of a sphere is much bigger that the normal view field of a human being. So most often, the video is not as sharp as a video from a 2D camera. So professional 360° cameras use 4, 6 or even more 4K cameras to cover the complete 360° area with good quality footage. Those cameras are very expensive and the stiching needs a super computer. I have seen a thing, where you can put 4 GoPro Hero 6 cameras in. Wow! Imagine that stiching process.
Your camera has just one lens. So you cannot cover the whole inner of the Sphere. Maybe the very, very wide angle lens can cover more that 180°, maybe 190° or even more, but never 360°. That is physically impossible.
With my camera with 2 lenses, one lens is front, one back. That gives footage with two square videos side by side. The videos in each square is round (pic1). After stiching to equirectangular, the programm brings the 2 sources together (pic2). And that footage can be imported into PD16. (pic3).
And now imagine, that your camera covers just the upper half (or a bit more) of the inner of the sphere.
And the lower half is the black hole, that you are talking about.

Hatti Win 10 64, i7-4790k, 32GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, SATA 2TB, SATA 4TB, NVidia GTX1080 8GB, LG 34" 4K Wide, AOC 24" 1080