THETA 8K Video Bitrate

THETA 8K video in 360 is possible with the RICOH THETA X model. There are three framerates and three bitrates for the 8K video.

The available framerates are:

• 2fps
• 5fps
• 10fps

The video is used primarily in the construction industry for still image frame extraction and organization into virtual job site tours.

Using the official RICOH THETA WebAPI documentation, I set the bitrate to Fine in addition to setting the video width, height, and fps in the fileFormat.

The process is:

Set _cameraControlSource to “app”

https://api.ricoh/docs/theta-web-api-v2.1/options/_camera_control_source/

http://192.168.1.1/osc/commands/execute

{
"name": "camera.setOptions",
"parameters": {"options": {"_cameraControlSource": "app"}
}}

Set _bitrate to “Fine”

https://api.ricoh/docs/theta-web-api-v2.1/options/_bitrate/

http://192.168.1.1/osc/commands/execute

{
"name": "camera.setOptions",
"parameters": {"options": {"_bitrate": "Fine"}
}}

The API documentation indicates that these settings are for THETA X or later.

From the API documentation, I suspect that this means that Fine and Normal are supported on the Z1 and Economy is new to the THETA X.

Set fileFormat for THETA 8K video mp4

https://api.ricoh/docs/theta-web-api-v2.1/options/file_format/

http://192.168.1.1/osc/commands/execute

{
"name": "camera.setOptions",
"parameters": {"options": {"fileFormat": {"type": "mp4", "width": 7680, "height": 3840,
"_codec": "H.264/MPEG-4 AVC", "_frameRate": 2
}}
}}

Results of THETA 8K Video Tests

Fine: 32Mbps bitrate

48 second clip is 188MB.

Normal: 16Mbps bitrate

21 second clip is 43.2MB.

Economy: 8Mbps bitrate

Economy is the lowest bitrate available with a 23 second clip, coming in at 23MB.

Subjective Quality Assessment at Fine bitrate for 8K video

I’ll include different zoom levels of the video for you to assess the resolution yourself. The zoom on the clock and kitchen sign look excellent and readable in my tests.

click zoom button 3 times

Max Zoom

At max zoom, the clock numbers are easily legible.

Normal zoom of the sign above.

8K Video 2fps Frame Extraction

Extract every frame from a 2fps video and save to frames directory.

ffmpeg -i R0010598.MP4 -r 2/1 frames/R0010598-%05d.jpg

Next Steps

In the next article, I’ll load up the frames and actual video online so that developers can test the results themselves. I’ll also update the mobile test app we have with improved bitrate.