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This is GoPro's new virtual reality camera rig

This is GoPro's new virtual reality camera rig

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GoPro unveiled a new look at its smaller virtual reality camera rig this morning. The rig is called the Omni, and it's essentially a hollowed-out cube that holds a Hero4 Black camera on each side, for a total of six cameras capturing footage at once. When stitched together, the six cameras will create a single 360-degree video.

We should learn more in a couple weeks

Pricing for the rig hasn't been announced yet, but you're looking at $2,500 or so for the cameras alone. At least one somewhat comparable third-party rig already exists, holding six GoPros and selling for about $500 (not including the cameras).

Even without an announced price, it's fair to assume that this is GoPro's attempt at a VR camera rig for filmmakers outside of the professional market. GoPro has already unveiled its professional VR rig, and it's much crazier: it's called the Odyssey, costs $15,000, and comes with 16 Hero4 Black cameras, plus accessories.

GoPro gave an early look at the Omni last month, and it doesn't appear that much has changed since then. But GoPro says it'll be bringing the Omni to NAB, a major video production trade show, two weeks from now. That may mean the rig is moving toward production.

The release of an official — and more accessible — GoPro VR rig could be a big help for the emergence of 360-degree video. Already there are a number of sub-$1,000 cameras that consumers can buy to start shooting, but their video quality is usually quite poor. GoPros, on the other hand, should lead to much better image quality, which ought to make actually watching VR video far more appealing.

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Image credit: GoPro.