360 video hosting feature image

360Heros Announces New 360 Video Player

360Heros announced the release of its new interactive 360 video player and 360 Video Hosting & Syndication Center at CES 2015. This service has been in beta testing for the last 5-6 months, with over 700 producers, thousands of 360 videos and hundreds of thousands of cumulative content views. We’re proud to introduce the finalized version of this service along with a redesigned 360 video player.

Our new player features variable resolution content display (4K, 2K and 1K mobile streaming), optimized multimedia formatting and mobile browser compatibility, while the hosting service itself offers professional hosting packages and built-in content syndication services.

360 Video Player

The new 360Heros player features the ability to toggle between content resolutions and display modes.
The new 360Heros player features the ability to toggle between content resolutions and display modes.

The new interactive 360 video player comes as an upgrade to our previous player. New features include the ability to toggle between content resolutions (4K, 2K and 1K mobile playback), functionality in mobile browsers and a new flat view mode that displays the original equirectangular image prior to being morphed into a spherical presentation.

This new player optimizes the display content in H.264 format, generating both MP4 and WEBM format in 4K, 2K and 1K resolutions so all browsers and mobile devices can see the content. We encourage all users to upload their content at a 4K (4,000 x 2,000) resolution, as the new player will automatically adjust the resolution based on the viewing device. While desktop and laptop browsers will automatically default to 2K, users can choose to switch playback to 4K or 1K playback modes. Mobile browsers will default to 2K with the option to view 1K and the mobile app will continue to playback 1K content.

Mobile browser compatibility means that producers can embed their 360  videos on any webpage without the need to navigate to a separate app in order to play back the content. This is ideal for producers who wish to embed their content on their website or in blog posts without forcing viewers to navigate away from their site.

360 Video Hosting

Hosting Packages

The 360 Video Hosting and Syndication Center comes as the next generation of our previous hosting service. With this new service, producers can choose between a free package or professional hosting packages that offer custom player branding and greater media upload capabilities. This hosting center is also the world’s first integrated panoramic content syndication service, as it facilitates inquiries from potential media buyers and provides an avenue for producers to license their content.

Below are in-depth descriptions of our four-tier hosting and licensing packages, all of which operate on our high speed CDN:

1) Free

The first tier of our hosting service is consistent with the free service we’ve offered since the inception of our hosting center. Just like our original hosting service, users can upload and host their 360 video content free of charge. New features include the previously mentioned 4K content support, content licensing and adaptive video resolutions. With this free beginners package users can upload up to ten 300MB videos per month. Free users retain the ability to add their logo or watermark along with a link back to their website to all of their 360 video content.

2) Bronze

Bronze users enjoy all of the features of our free hosting service along with increased hosting power (400 MB file uploads) and the ability to upload 20 360 videos per month. Bronze users will  enjoy earning 60% of their content’s syndication. Bronze users also enjoy the ability to add their logo or watermark along with a link back to their website to all of their 360 video content.

3) Silver

Our Silver, or semi-pro hosting package is for producers who seek a higher level of control and power in presenting their 360 video content and is our recommended service tier. Silver users will have their logo replace the 360Heros logo on the 360 video player (360Heros watermark remains), a file upload capability of 400MB and the ability to upload an unlimited number of 360 videos per month. Silver users benefit from increased content exposure as well as earning 70% of their content’s syndication.

4) Gold

The Gold hosting package stands as our premium service and offers professional producers the highest level of freedom, power and control in presenting and hosting their content. Gold users can upload files up to 2 GB in size, enjoy unlimited 360 video uploads per month and earn 80% of their content’s syndication. With this premium service we will offer our player as a white label tool, allowing producers to present content solely with their logos and branding.

360 Video Syndication

The most exciting development with our new hosting service is the added layer of content licensing. 360Heros will provide an avenue for producers to earn residual income from their 360 video content. We’ve put together a professional team dedicated to handling the syndication of content for users regardless of their hosting package. This includes helping media buyers discover your content and facilitating deals that will earn producers income and gain exposure for their quality work. Our main goal for this service is to give producers the freedom to go out and film content while our in-house legal team handles the licensing, contracting and tracking for them.

Our new player, hosting and syndication services come as our latest effort to help people create, share and enjoy 360 video content. We hope everyone has fun using the new player and takes advantage of this great new tool in the world of 360 video production! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and check out the 360Heros Newsletter for more updates!