Facebook now automatically stabilizes shaky Live 360 videos
Facebook today announced a series of new features for Live 360 videos, including automatic stabilization for some videos uploaded to the social network. Auto stabilization will be deployed by Facebook algorithms anytime a video is found to be too shaky. Live 360 videos can now stream live in 4K resolution and will soon be able to stream live in 4K in VR when using the Samsung Gear headset.
Video makers can now schedule alerts to followers about live broadcasts, and Donate buttons can now appear in Live 360 video.
Also new to Live 360 video, Facebook launched its Ready program to invite camera makers and software developers to earn Facebook pre-approval for Live 360 video. Products pre-approved by Facebook may be recognized because they may carry the Facebook Live logo on their packaging.
The launch of the Ready program adds to a list of roughly a dozen cameras pre-approved by Facebook. New to the list are Garmin VIRB 360, Orah 4i, 360fly 4K Pro, and the ION360 U. We covered other pre-approved cameras here, and this Facebook blog post lists software solutions.
To stave off competitors like YouTube and Lytro, Facebook has continued to add new features and updates since 360-degree video was first introduced for a limited group of users in 2015.
Closed captioning for live video became available last month.
In March, Facebook users gained the ability to broadcast Live video from their computer and to broadcast 360-degree live video from all pages and profiles.
Tracking where viewers spend the most time can be difficult when you’ve given them a 360-degree canvas, so last summer heatmaps were introduced for 360 content, as was the Guide feature to help a viewer navigate through your content.