New Depth-Sensing Cameras for Matterport?

WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host 31.36K Website Atlanta, Georgia Linked In Facebook Twitter YouTube TikTok Instragram Matterport Service Partner Google Street View Trusted Photographer Zillow Certified Photographer We Get Around Network Member	31.36K DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 1
	Hi All, ✓ The Verge (26 April 2017) Asus' new Xtion 2 depth-sensing camera isn't a huge upgrade For context about why this news story 'matters' ... please see this Forum discussion from nine months ago: ✓ New Matterport Camera to be Announced? Below are portions of that Forum discussion posted by @Tosolini Based on The Verge article and the insight from @Tosolini ... I could imagine that the Matterport Camera will soon get a refresh (and without any Matterport announcement). The Matterport Camera serial number will begin with a new letter and that will signal that something is different about this batch of Matterport camera. @Tosolini ... based on this news article, additional insight? Thanks, Dan --- Just sharing some thoughts based on personal observations. The MP camera is built on PrimeSense depth sensors. PrimeSense has been acquired by Apple and I'm not sure how long they will keep selling their sensors to OEMs. In fact, you can't buy them anymore as a consumer. This puts MP in a tricky situation. If they run out of sensors, they need to find an alternative, and there are a few out there (https://stimulant.com/depth-sensor-shootout-2/). Building hardware is expensive, risky and takes time. So if you do it, you want it to last for a few years, which means that using smaller and higher res sensors is the way to go. MP already proved that their software can support Project Tango + Intel RealSense sensors (https://matterport.com/matterport-and-google-atap-project-tango/) which positions MP as potentially an hardware independent service provider. However, RealSense hasn't caught up fast enough with OEMs, and these delays are exposing MP to potential competitors, like the Iris VR that was briefly introduced a few months back (thanks @garysnyder for spotting it - https://www.wegetaroundnetwork.com/topic/1940/disruptive-technology/). So, here is the dilemma for MP. Do you update the camera with new and better sensors (which you need to do if PrimeSense stops supplying OEMs), or you wait for the market to be flooded with Project Tango devices and make money with subscriptions? Not an easy choice when you have investors knocking at your door and hungry competitors pre-announcing alternatives. I personally think MP has still enough time advantage over anybody else, so they will be fine for the time being, which means, we may not see new hardware until there is a strong business reason for doing it. --- Hard to predict what MP will do in the future. I think refining the software ecosystem is their best bet, as regardless of the input (phones, camera PRO, etc.) it's not something you can replicate quickly. That's valuable Intellectual Property that will last for a long time. As per a brand new Camera Pro, who knows? It seems a lot of extra work that is not yet necessary. You can probably do incremental internal updates to the existing form factor without the need to announce it and create drama with your customer base (e.g. should I wait to buy the camera? Can I exchange my camera with the new one? etc. etc.). If there are minor internal updates, I don't think we'll be informed about them. --- If you read Intel's latest announcement at its Developer Conference, you can imagine how sometimes in the future, you'll be able to miniaturize a MP camera down to the size of a Ricoh Theta. Intel's Project Euclid is a RealSense module for robots http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/8/16/12504678/intel-project-euclid-robots-realsense-module-tiny-computer
	8 years ago	Post 1 • IP flag post

Looks like the specs of the new Asus depth camera are no better than the current sensor used by MP. There is not enough justification to embrace this new technology.

I'm no hardware engineer, but it seems that the MP camera is designed to be robust and probably with size specs to accommodate different sensors of similar dimensions of the current one, without changing its specs too much (check out the article Looking inside the Matterport Camera by @360Verbeelding).

As @dansmigrod suggests, silently upgrading the inside without changing much of the look, will be a smart business decision and will avoid customer dramas.

Also, check out this Depth sensor shootout by an agency called Stimulant. It shows that there is limited choice out there of HD sensors, and lots of software has to be written to support some of the most obscure high end devices.

Which makes me think that MP might prioritize platform updates and third party hardware support rather than releasing a brand new camera. I could be totally wrong, but these are my personal observations based on business tech common sense.

Tosolini Productions 4.34K Website Bellevue, Washington	4.34K Tosolini private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 0
	@dansmigrod If they run out of inventory, I hope it's because they are more successful than they forecasted. Which is a good problem to have. Unless... unless Apple has been still supplying sensors to OEMs, while we consumers, just can't buy them anymore. This could be a plausible scenario, as a company has still to make money somehow after an acquisition. Apple hasn't released any sensor based products, so how can a $360M acquisition sustain itself over these years? Maybe, by keeping selling its products, just not to everybody.
	8 years ago	Post 4 • IP flag post

Tosolini Productions 4.34K Website Bellevue, Washington	4.34K Tosolini private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 1
	@dansmigrod You are right, the RGB camera seems higher res than before. So the 360 should look better indeed.
	8 years ago	Post 7 • IP flag post

New Depth-Sensing Cameras for Matterport?4495