YI just announced it’s first 360° camera: YI 360 VR!
2016 marked already the start of 360° action camera with the release of Samsung Gear360 and Nikon KeyMission 360. 2017 seems to be the year of 360 VR cameras. Xiaomi Mijia was released in early April followed shortly by the announcement of GoPro Fusion. At NAB in Las Vegas YI technology revealed their YI 360 VR camera.
Careful you don’t mix up the cameras: There is YI 360 VR by YI Technology (manufacturer of YI Action Camera, YI 4K, M1,…) and there is Xiaomi 360 Mijia. This article is about YI 360 VR by YI Technology, here you can find my review of Xiaomi 360 Mijia.
YI 360 VR Camera
YI 360 VR Camera Specs
Lens
The camera features a 220°, F2.0 lens on each side, a JCD 6347.
- 5.7K(5760×2880)/30FPS
- 4K(4096×2048)/30FPS
- 2.5K(2560×1280)/60FPS
- 2.5K(2560×1280)/30FPS
- 1.9K(1920×960)/60FPS
Compared to Xiaomi Mijia and GoPro Fusion YI 360° offers the largest. While Mijia offers about 3.5K, Fusion was announced to offer 5.2K resolution at 30fps.
Video Format
Videos are recorded in .mp4 format with H.264 codec.
Photo Resolution
Resolution is the same compared to video: 5760 x 2880 px. Photo format is .jpg.
Display
On top of the camera sits a small 96×64 dot Matrix OLED display to control the camera settings. Next to it are two buttons for navigation, a live pre-view is available via Smartphone.
YI 360 VR Camera – Display and Buttons
Battery
A 1400 mAh battery powers the camera. That’s the same capacity as YI 4K and YI 4K+, currently I’m not sure if it is the same battery type. Battery life is stated with 60 min in the second highest resolution.
Microphone
Sound is recorded with an integrated 360 degree omnidirectional microphone, I’m currently not sure if you can use an external mic. YI 360 is equipped with a USB-C port which would make it possible similar to YI 4K+.
Besides the USB-C port a HDMI port is available as well. The footage is recorded on a microSD card and similar to the other action cameras a 1/4″ standard tripod mount is included in the body.
Wireless:
YI 360 VR is equipped with 2.4GHz & 5GHz dual wifi. 360° live streaming is possible – more on that later. It also features Bluetooth for the remote controller.
Video Settings
Video Resolution
- 5.7K(5760×2880)/30FPS
- 4K(4096×2048)/30FPS
- 2.5K(2560×1280)/60FPS
- 2.5K(2560×1280)/30FPS
- 1.9K(1920×960)/60FPS
EV
Manual exposure correction is available in following steps: +2.0\+1.5\+1.0\+0.5\0\-0.5\-1.0\-1.5\-2.0
White Balance
Several pre-defined white balance settings are available: Auto / Daylight（5300K) / Cloudy（6200K) / Tungsten（2800K) / Native（4000K) / Flat Color.
System Settings
Auto-Stitching
When switched on the recorded video from both lenses & sensors will be stitched to one file; no additional software required.
Video Standard
You can select NTSC or PAL for either 30 or 25 fps.
LEDs
You can switch on / off the LED lights of the camera when in operation.
Volume
To control the beep sounds of the camera: High / Low / Mute.
Auto Power Off
YI 360 VR will power off when in standby after 3 Min/5 Min/10 Min or Never.
Photo Auto Sync
Currently I’m not quite sure about this feature.
Live Streaming
A very interesting feature is Live Streaming of 360° content. It is not possible in 5.7K resolution, but 2.5K seems sufficient. Bitrate will be 6-13 Mbps. YouTube, Facebook and Weibo are available as pre-defined platforms, but a custom output can be set up as well.
Price
You can already pre-order YI 360 VR on YI Technology’s Website for 399 USD.
Interested in 360° cameras? Join the Facebook Group to discuss: 360° VR Action Camera Group
Comparison
Here’s a comparison chart including Xiaomi Mijia and Samsung Gear360:
| Insta360 One | Xiaomi Mijia | GoPro Fusion | YI 360 VR | Ricoh Theta V | Gear 360 (2016) | Gear 360 (2017) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Sensor | 2x Sony Sensor | 2x 16 MP Sensor Sony IMX 206 | 2x ? | 2x 12 MP Sensor Sony IMX 377 | 2 x 12 MP Sensor | 2x 15 MP Sensor | 2x 8.4 MP Sensor |
| Processor | Ambarella | Ambarella A12 | ? | Ambarella H2V95 | ? | DRIMe5s | DRIMe5s |
| max. 360° Video Resolution | 3840 x 1920 (30fps) | 3456 x 1728 (30 fps) | 5228 x 2624 (30fps) | 5760 x 2880 (30fps) | 3840 x 1920 (30fps) | 3840 x 1920 (30fps) | 4096 x 2048 (24fps) |
| Live Stream | 3840 x 1920 (30fps) | n/a | ? | 3.840 x 1.920 (30fps) | |||
| max. Photo Resolution | 6912 x 3456 24 MP | 6912 x 3456 23.8MP | approx. 6000 x 3000 18MP | 5760 x 2880 16.5 MP | 5376 x 2688 14 MP | 7776 x 3888 30MP | 5472 x 2736 15MP |
| Display | no display | no display | data display | data display | no display | data display | data display |
| Battery | 820 mAh buit-in | 1600 mAh buit-in | 2620 mAh exchangeable | 1400 mAh exchangeable | ? buit-in | 1350 mAh | 1160 mAh |
| Wifi | no (can connect to Smartphone via plug) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Bluetooth | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | yes | yes |
| Image Stabilization | yes | yes | yes | yes | no? | no | no |
| Ports | microUSB | microUSB | USB-C | USB-C | microUSB 3,5mm audio | microUSB | USB-C |
| Waterproof | underwater case available | IP67 splash-proof | 5m without case | no | underwater case | IP53 splash-proof | IP53 splash-proof |
| Dimension | 96 x 36,5 x 25 mm | 78 x 67.40 x 24 mm | 73 x 75 x 39mm | 102 x 53.2 x 29.6 mm | 130,6 x 45,2 x 22,9 mm | 56.3 x 66.7 x 60.1 mm | 100.6 x 46.3 x 45.1 mm |
| Weight | 83 g | 108,3 g | 200g | 170g | 121g | 152 g | 130 g |
| Price | Amazon:  | Gearbest: 229.99 USD | Amazon:  | Amazon:  | Amazon:  | Amazon:  | Amazon:  |
| Review | Review | Review | Review | Review | Review | Review |
Conclusion
GoPro Fusion will be available end of 2017 (no price mentioned so far). Max resolution will be 5.2K with no further specs announced at the moment. It seems that Fusion follows the design of Hero5 black and will be waterproof without a case.
First YI 360 video:
Sami took a video with a prototype of YI 360 VR. Best viewed within YouTube App or Chrome Browser:
